ArticleCarcinogenesis2018
Skin lighteners and hair relaxers as risk factors for breast cancer: results from the Ghana breast health study.
Article in Carcinogenesis, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of Mercury Exposures from Skin-Lightening Products.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Pooled it
- Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners and Menstrual Disturbances.Journal of women's health (2002) · 2026Article
- Cosmetic Habits Associated With Breast Cancer in Benin: A Multicenter Case-Control Study.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Article
- The Power of Strategic Social Media Influencer Communication to Improve Black Women's Knowledge and Awareness of Environmental Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Surveys of Instagram Users.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Validating the Black Identity, Hair Product Use, and Breast Cancer Scale (BHBS) Among Black Breast Cancer Survivors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Chemicals of concern in select packaged hair relaxers available on the Kenyan market: an examination of ingredient labels and measurement of pH.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Hair product use and urinary biomarker concentrations of non-persistent endocrine disrupting chemicals among reproductive-aged Black women.Chemosphere · 2024Article
- Hair Dye and Relaxer Use among Cisgender Women in Embu and Nakuru Counties, Kenya: Associations with Perceived Risk of Breast Cancer and Other Health Effects.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Personal Care Product Use during Puberty and Incident Breast Cancer among Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White Women in a Prospective US-Wide Cohort.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Use of personal care product mixtures and incident hormone-sensitive cancers in the Sister Study: A U.S.-wide prospective cohort.Environment international · 2024Article
- Hair relaxer use and risk of uterine cancer in the Black Women's Health Study.Environmental research · 2023Article
- Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners and Fecundability in a North American Preconception Cohort.American journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Relation of circulating estrogens with hair relaxer and skin lightener use among postmenopausal women in Ghana.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Determinants of breast cancer in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Ecancermedicalscience · 2023Review
- Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2022Article
- Associations of hair dye and relaxer use with breast tumor clinicopathologic features: Findings from the Women's circle of Health Study.Environmental research · 2022Article
- Use of hair products in relation to ovarian cancer risk.Carcinogenesis · 2021Article
- Hair product use and breast cancer incidence in the Black Women's Health Study.Carcinogenesis · 2021Article
- Prevalence and Mortality of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in West Africa: Biologic and Sociocultural Factors.JCO global oncology · 2021Article
- Associations of fecal microbial profiles with breast cancer and nonmalignant breast disease in the Ghana Breast Health Study.International journal of cancer · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Skin lighteners and hair relaxers, both common among women of African descent, have been suggested as possibly affecting breast cancer risk. In Accra and Kumasi, Ghana, we collected detailed information on usage patterns of both exposures among 1131 invasive breast cancer cases and 2106 population controls. Multivariate analyses estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) after adjustment for breast cancer risk factors. Control usage was 25.8% for ever use of skin lighteners and 90.0% for use of hair relaxers for >1 year. The OR for skin lighteners was 1.10 (95% CI 0.93-1.32), with higher risks for former (1.21, 0.98-1.50) than current (0.96, 0.74-1.24) users. No significant dose-response relations were seen by duration, age at first use or frequency of use. In contrast, an OR of 1.58 (95% CI 1.15-2.18) was associated with use of hair relaxers, with higher risks for former (2.22, 1.56-3.16) than current (1.39, 1.00-1.93) users. Although numbers of burns were inconsistently related to risk, associations increased with duration of use, restricted to women who predominately used non-lye products (P for trend < 0.01). This was most pronounced among women with few children and those with smaller tumors, suggesting a possible role for other unmeasured lifestyle factors. This study does not implicate a substantial role for skin lighteners as breast cancer risk factors, but the findings regarding hair relaxers were less reassuring. The effects of skin lighteners and hair relaxers on breast cancer should continue to be monitored, especially given some biologic plausibility for their affecting risk.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.