Lawsuit: Hair relaxers used by Black women linked to increased risk of cancer

Like many Black women, Jessica Harris started using hair relaxers when she was just a pre-teen.

Cultural pressures and beauty standards led the young girl, growing up in Wilson, to believe that was what she needed to do.

"Since probably I was about 13 or something," she said.

Now, she’s fighting ovarian cancer for the second time, though she has no family history of cancer. She’s among a growing number of plaintiffs around the country suing beauty brands, believing their products are the source of her disease.

"It feels like they targeted us," she told WRAL News.

Harris is represented by attorneys MaryAnne Hamilton and Stacy Miller from Miller Law Group in Raleigh.

"This is about Black women," Hamilton said. "But it’s also about women generally and understanding the effect on women’s health that we as a culture kind of require women to do."

"It’s about holding corporations accountable for the harms that they’re causing," Miller added.

The attorneys say companies named in the suit include L’Oreal and Revlon.

Numerous studies have looked at the link between hair relaxers and cancer.

One, from the National Institutes of Health, found that women who used the products "more than four times a year"… "were more than twice as likely" to develop uterine cancer.

The FDA has now proposed a recall on the products – which use formaldehyde – citing the link to the disease.

"This is clearly an example of putting profits over people," Miller said. "They’re still selling them today. In the face of a potential national recall."

Harris says her prognosis is unclear. Cancer has made everything in life a battle – from walking to getting into her car.

She mourns time lost doing things she loves – like working as a school counselor and being with her grandkids.

"I feel like I’ve been cheated out of some of my years of my life," she said.

While the lawsuit is likely years from any possible resolution, she hopes it can bring change to help save others.

"I hope they can make sure the companies that made these relaxers, they put some kind of warning signs, or let Black people know how they can harm them in different ways," she said. "Make a relaxer that can straighten Black people’s hair, just don’t put harmful chemicals in there."