Oregon women, lawmakers weigh the impact of FDA's proposed move to ban cancer-linked formaldehyde in hair relaxers (2024)

OREGON, USA — In the fall of 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban of formaldehyde, a highly toxic chemical found in hair-straightening products that is believed to have links to hormonal cancers.

In September, the FDA missed its deadline for that ban. And across the country, beauty companies that supply these products face several lawsuits about their carcinogenic affects — including one from an Oregon woman.

When you hear the word formaldehyde, your mind likely goes to things like medical research and preserving tissue in jars in a lab somewhere. But the strong-smelling compound is used in an number of things: building materials, paints, pesticides, the preservation of dead bodies, paper products and even cosmetics.

Last year, the FDA proposed banning formaldehyde from being used in hair-straightening products because it's a know human carcinogen — something that can cause certain cancers.

Hair relaxers utilize chemicals to straighten curly, textured hair, making it more manageable. Black women and women of other ethnicities have been the primary consumers of chemical hair-straightening treatments for decades, and many of the relaxers, creams and keratin treatments.

Some of those formulas include formaldehyde, a chemical that can be hazardous to breathe or come in contact with the skin or eyes.

Inside the Jayah Rose Hair Salon, located within Portland's Lloyd Center Mall, hair stylist Ruby Jones said that relaxing natural hair has always felt like a rite of passage.

"My hair was very coarse, very coily," said Jones, reminiscing as she prepped a client's hair to be relaxed. "So, my mom started sending me to the beautician early because she could not manage my hair because it was too difficult for her."

It's a similar story for Maria Elem, a long-standing client of the Northeast Portland hair salon. "I would probably say I started getting my hair relaxed when I was in my early 20s."

Non-toxic relaxers are still a big part of Elem's beauty regimen — Jones showed KGW how it's done by allowing KGW to record the relaxing process being applied on Elem's hair.

"So, what this first step is they call it basing the scalp — which can be a mixture of petroleum jelly, a few more like mineral oils," said Jones as she applied the mixture to Elem's scalp.

Two years ago, the National Institutes of Health released a decades-long study correlating the use of relaxers and hormonal cancers. The study's findings were especially concerning for Black women — who are far more likely to use chemical relaxers and other toxic hair treatments.

Not long after the study came out, the FDA proposed a ban on formaldehyde in these products. But it has not taken effect despite the FDA calling it a "high priority."

Initially, the FDA announced its intent to publish the proposed ban by April of this year, according to a document published in the Unified Agenda, a government website that provides information on regulations under development by federal agencies. The FDA missed its deadline for an unknown reason and pushed the initial April date to July. That deadline then got pushed to September. It has been crickets from the FDA since.

The target dates published in the Unified Agenda are only "goals and projected estimates," an FDA spokesperson said in a statement to KGW. It’s possible for the proposal to be released before the end of the year, or further extended to another date.

The FDA spokesperson briefly touched on the reasoning behind the push for the ban to KGW, while stating that the FDA couldn't comment on the timeline for the proposal's release date — further referring KGW to the Unified Agenda for any further updates on the process for the potential ban.

"As part of the rulemaking process, the FDA conducted and updated our literature search in addition to performing an extensive risk assessment on formaldehyde and methylene glycol as a cosmetic product ingredient in hair smoothing products and hair straightening products," the agency said. "Based on the science and data, including our risk assessment, focus groups, and evaluation of the current literature that includes more recent data showing a link between formaldehyde and hair smoothing products and an increased cancer risk, the FDA has been working on a proposed rule to ban formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals in hair smoothing and hair-straightening products.

"The rulemaking process takes time. Before a proposed rule can be published in the Federal Register for public comment, it must be reviewed and approved within FDA and other parts of the Federal government. We cannot comment further about timing or content for the proposed rule at this time."

But publishing the proposed rule is only one step in the process and it doesn’t ensure that the rule will take effect. After the FDA publishes the proposed rule and reviews public comments, there's a potential for the agency to either to stop the rulemaking process, propose a new version or finalize the rule, which would finally allow it to take effect.

In August, Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Shontel Brown of Ohio and Nydia Velazquez of New York pressed the FDA in an open letter to finalize the proposed rule — asking FDA Commissioner Robert Califf for a solid reason behind the delay.

In the meantime, thousands of Black women across the country are trying to hold manufacturers of chemical hair relaxers accountable through class action lawsuits.

That includes an Oregon woman from the small city of Huntington out in Baker County. Court documents show she used hair relaxers from the late '70s all the way up to 2009, developing uterine cancer in 2003 that she now blames on those products.

Many companies that make chemical hair relaxers have responded to the health studies implicating their products by alleging that they have no legal or scientific merit.

"Women are putting themselves at risk for the sake of beauty. There are a number of things that we do to our bodies — but putting formaldehyde in our hair or things that turn into formaldehyde, that's really a challenge," Janelle Bynum, then an Oregon state representative and now Oregon 5th District congresswomen-elect, said in a Dec. 2023 interview with KGW.

Bynum is a longtime champion of women's health, especially in the Black community. Back in 2021, she was the chief sponsor of the C.R.O.W.N. Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The bill prevents public schools and employers from discriminating against cultural hairstyles like braids, twists and locks.

But Bynum is particularly concerned with the price many Black women are paying for beauty.

"It's absolutely imperative that our federal government and our state government protect women's reproductive health and that is in essence what this bill or this call is talking about," said Bynum.

Many people, like hair stylist Santaj Mayfield, have taken matters into their own hands. She owns All Things Beauty Supply, which stocks natural hair care options. Mayfield has even created her own natural hair care line.

"I don't sell relaxers because for one, I encourage people to go to professionals to get it done — if they are going to get it done," Mayfield expressed. "I think that it's a personal choice for people. As long as we're putting awareness out there that you know the risk in getting it."

Despite all of that, chemical relaxers remain a beauty staple at many salons — including Jayah Rose. Manager Cherie Jones shared how they're trying to improve.

"We do have healthier relaxers. Relaxers that don't contain the ingredients that are pushed to be banned. We don't provide those kinds, the dangerous ones, but we still do relaxers," explained Jones.

And for now, those healthier relaxers work for longtime Jayah Rose client Maria Elem.

Around the world, other countries including Brazil and Canada have banned or restricted the use of formaldehyde. In Nigeria, consumers are warned to avoid the products altogether.

As of Nov. 21, the FDA has not given a timeline for when the proposed formaldehyde ban could take effect.