Sunday, September 21, 2014

Good article on stigma attached to natural black hair

Speaking from the perspective of someone who is white and who thinks that natural black hair is beautiful, the situation described in this article is so incredibly sad. And not to mention, the chemicals used in perms and relaxants have been proven to contribute to uterine fibroids. That's probably one reason that African American women have a higher incidence of fibroids than Caucasian women.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. I've carried fibroids for more than 20 years AND use a relaxer regularly. I've lived and continue to live everything in the Akilah Richards article. I'm especially interested in the not-surprising link between relaxers and fibroids. I live in SF and would love to dialogue with you on healing fibroids holistically. I currently don't know anyone I can converse with beyond just suffering and sucking it up. You can contact me at vlhbeautyqueen-diva@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Fibroid Shrinker said...

Hi Anonymous
Thanks for your note. Here are links to two previous posts on this topic that you may be interested in. http://shrinkingfibroids.blogspot.com/2012/02/hair-relaxers-cause-fibroids.html and http://shrinkingfibroids.blogspot.com/2012/12/should-black-women-have-to-risk-losing.html

Anonymous said...

I think more importantly than relaxers, are the chronically low levels of vitamin d black women have. They need to spend more time in the sun than lighter skinned women. Many of them don't know this, because many do not have access to regular well care visits. There have been rodent studies indicating that an increase in vitamin d can reduce fibroids. Study needs to be replicated in humans I know. There is also a study showing that increased vitamin d intake during pregancy reduces incidence of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. There are many black women who've had relaxers all their lives and no fibroids. I would argue that women who live in the tropics have a smaller incidence of fibroids than women who live in temperate climates.