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There is definitely an increase in the number of women who are choosing to wear their hair naturally. But there are still black women who prefer to have their hair chemically relaxed because they love the look or for personal reasons.

Take stylist Maya Cooper from Atlanta, GA. She told Fox 5 Atlanta that she tried to go natural but she sweats easily and her long hair required a lot of work in its natural state than she wanted deal with. Maya has been using chemicals to straighten her hair for 25 years.

According to Fox 5, when Cooper learned of a 2012 Boston University study that shared that black women who relax their hair chemically are at a slightly higher risk of developing uterine fibroids, she was intrigued and alarmed.

Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that grow in the uterine wall and cause painful periods, heavy bleeding and are a major cause of hysterectomies. The National Women’s Health Information Center said that fibroids are three times more likely to develop in African-American women than in other women. Black women tend to develop fibroids at a younger age and the tumors grow faster and are likely to cause symptoms.

But a professor of epidemiology at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, Dr. Carol Hogue, says that the link between hair relaxers and fibroids is weak and if there is an impact, it is very small. She acknowledges however that uterine fibroids are a big problem among black women but believes the focus should be more on weight and lack of exercise and Vitamin D deficiency.

More research needs to be conducted about the link between uterine fibroids and chemical hair relaxers. In the meantime, you can avoid any possible risks by simply unleashing your natural hair lusciousness and avoiding straightening cremes.

Author: Dianne

“Changing attitudes about natural hair” is what we do at Natural Haircare News. Through informative articles, podcasts and videos, we go beyond just sharing the latest advice and tips on kinky, curly, wavy haircare – We shake things up and focus on the realities of wearing our hair natural.