The US Food and Drug Administration is planning to propose a ban on certain hair-straightening products, such as chemical relaxers and pressing products, that have been linked to health risks, according to an entry in the Unified Agenda, which lists actions that administrative agencies plan to issue.
The agency plans a proposed rule that would specifically ban hair-straightening products that contain formaldehyde and other formaldehyde-releasing chemicals like methylene or glycol.
If such a proposed rule is issued, the FDA will receive public comments on it, and after reviewing those comments, the agency will decide whether further action is needed, spokesperson Courtney Rhodes said Friday.
It’s about goddamn time. In case anyone is unaware, the process of hair straightening involves, in essence, decomposing your hair with a powerful base. Oftentimes the scalp suffers chemical burns as a result. Relaxers are horrifying.
First menthols and now this.
Ok so at least I’m not the only one about to say some crazy shit about this. This shit is not about to fly with the sistas. There will be a reckoning brought on by the black women of America. I’m so internally frustrated by this and Ive only used the products 2-3 times in my adolescence. Is nobody talking to black people at all before making decisions that directly affect us?!?
Sidenote: s-curl texturizer was a stupid decision and I should have had the option to begin locking my hair as a preteen instead.
Big edit: …that shit is linked to causing cancer?!? Yeah let’s wrap this shit up and find a new formula or something.
I’m glad you edited because this shit has formaldehyde, yikes. If you want straight hair, cool. But corporations need to stop selling shit that they know causes cancer and if the market is there I guarantee they can come up with something safer. And if not then I guess society is going to have to accept black women having curly hair. The horror…
Black women have what???
…I mean most black people have curly hair. Unless we flat iron it or put a relaxer/texturizer in our hair.
Edit: hello, I’m the idiot who just missed the joke due to sleep depravation. I’m going to bed.
I just want to say that this comment was a rollercoaster of emotions and I enjoyed the ride.
GOOD. Get rid of all that carcinogenic shit we’ve been told we have to put on our hair to make it socially “acceptable.”
While I agree with some of the FDA cumbersome, they should be focusing on toxic chemicals and ingredients used on the daily basis in our food industry. It’s embarrassing when Europe and around the world these ingredients are banned and here we get to eat them like it’s nothing. Please don’t hate me, I’m just trying to figure out which is their best interest… Chemical in hair products or Food?
I don’t agree. FDA is doing their job here. They should get a bigger budget so they can monitor more products, especially all the Amazon ones that come straight off a container ship.
My company imported sunglasses one time with a certain ballistic designation. They halted it at the port until we paid for a US test of the lenses. Costed us a lot and delayed things for months but I was glad they kept us responsible for the claims, wish they could catch everyone.
I wish so many black women didn’t feel the need to straighten their hair out of a misplaced effort to be accepted by society in the first place. And I wish institutions like schools didn’t realize that black people generally have naturally curly hair.
Guess I’ll just have to continue using a flatiron 🤷🏻♂️
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