October has been quite a month for the relaxer business. First, most of the model girlies who graced the boxes of our childhood relaxers reveal that they were sporting natural hair. Then, the National Institutes of Health released a study in regards to the the product’s health risks: women who incessantly used relaxers (i.e.greater than 4 times a yr) were greater than twice as prone to develop uterine cancer as women who didn’t. Just days after that study got here out, a lady filed a lawsuit claiming that relaxers from five corporations led to her uterine cancer, The Washington Post reports.

Jenny Mitchell was 28-years-old when she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She only discovered after visiting a fertility clinic. After her diagnosis, Mitchell says she needed to get a hysterectomy, ending her plans to change into a mom.

Mitchell has now sued L’Oreal, SoftSheen Carson, Strength of Nature, Dabur, and Namaste Laboratories, alleging that the businesses knew or must have known about their health risks while they kept the products in the marketplace.

L’Oreal, which owns SoftSheen Carson, told the Washington Post that they’re “confident in the protection of our products and consider the recent lawsuits filed against us haven’t any legal merit.” They added, “Our products are subject to a rigorous scientific evaluation of their safety by experts who also make sure that we follow strictly all regulations in every market by which we operate.”

Because Black women use relaxers more often, the NIH study found that they be more affected by its risks: about 60% of the ladies within the study who reported using straighteners identified as Black.

Che-Jung Chang, Ph.D, considered one of the study creator’s studies points out: “Because Black women use hair straightening or relaxer products more incessantly and are inclined to initiate use at earlier ages than other races and ethnicities, these findings could also be much more relevant for them.”

Over 33,000 women participated within the research over an 11-year period. Based on an NIH news release:

We estimated that 1.64% of girls who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70; but for frequent users, that risk goes as much as 4.05%,” said Alexandra White, Ph.D., head of the NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology group and lead creator on the brand new study.

White also noted that uterine cancer is “relatively rare,” accounting for about 3% of all latest cancer cases.

After hearing in regards to the latest study, Mitchell said she felt “deceived,” and “hurt.” As she told the Post, “I’ve been lied to my whole life…In some sense, you had to evolve to look a certain way for societal norms.”