EASY WAY #3
Know About Safe Cosmetics
Use Safe (low estrogen) Hair and Body Products
Women whose mothers used high estrogen hair and body products when they were in utero, along with children and teens who use these products, may face higher risks of developing breast cancer in their 20’s 30’s and 40’s. The majority of younger women who develop invasive breast cancer are diagnosed with estrogen negative types of breast cancer, considered to be more advanced that estrogen positive diagnoses and usually more aggressive or faster growing than estrogen negative tumors. (e.g. triple negative or HER2+)
There is very little research data available on this subject; However, we have tried to compile existing information so that you can make your own common sense decisions when it comes to the products you rub into your hair, scalp and skin.
Are Your Cosmetics Safe?
What's in your bathroom? The Environmental Working Group collects data on the safety of cosmetic products. Visit the cosmetic safety database for information on each of the body care products now on your bathroom shelf.
Cosmetics and African American Women
African American women and other women with ethnic hair have a higher incidence of aggressive breast cancer and higher mortality rates than other women. Studies show that the hair straightening products typically used by black women could be part of the problem.
In a survey on naturallycurly.com, 56% of respondents said they don't think America is ready for a First Lady with an Afro. But what if processed hair raises a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer? Why Michelle Obama’s Hair Matters
Read more about Breast Cancer and African American women.
Safe Cosmetics and Cleaning Products
Safe Cosmetic Resources
Movies
"My Nappy ROOTS" — Award winning documentary on Black hair.
"Good Hair" — Chris Rock's 2009 documentary
Black Feminist Review of Chris Rock's documentary "Good Hair"
"Black Bold and Beautiful: Black Women's Hair"
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People: by Ayoka Chenzira
Articles
Summer 2009, Sistersong.net — The Health Repurcussions of Chemical Hair Products for Black Women
Find out if the skin care and cosmetics you use are safe
To see if your cosmetics are safe, visit the cosmetic safety database and enter in any product to see how your skin care and cosmetics products are rated for cancer risk.
Medical Hypothesis Published by Elsevier Health
Personal care products that contain estrogens or xenoestrogens may increase breast cancer risk —Medical Hypotheses, Volume 68, Issue 4, Pages 756-766
M. Donovan, C. Tiwary, D. Axelrod, A. Sasco, L. Jones, R. Hajek, E. Sauber, J. Kuo, D. Davis Download PDF of Report
The Girl Disrupted Report
In January 2008, leading researchers gathered at Commonweal in Bolinas, California to determine what's known, what's suspected, and what should be the focus of additional research regarding environmental contaminants linked to conditions including early puberty, infertility, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, breast cancer and others.
The researchers determined that manmade, hormone-like chemicals in the environment harm women's reproductive systems - particularly when exposure occurs during prenatal and early life development - but more research is needed to fully understand how.The meeting, known as the 2008 Women's Reproductive Health and the Environment Workshop, resulted in three publications on hormone disruptors and female reproductive health, including the recently released lay report, Girl, Disrupted: Hormone Disruptors and Women's Reproductive Health. Girl, Disrupted translates the science from the workshop into understandable language, and summarizes critical research gaps highlighted by the workshop participants.
Download the Girl Disrupted Report (PDF)