By: Nadia McSlide
Would you want the government to regulate your personal expression of beauty, all in the name of protecting your health? Should laws be passed to determine what you should put on your own body, while other groups practice the same dangerous behavior, yet are not penalized? This is exactly the current situation with the ban on hair relaxers in California and nationwide support for it. There are also proposed bans on hair braiding extensions throughout the United States.
The argument is that these products contain harmful carcinogens, such as formaldehyde, that raise the risk of cancer linked to reproduction. California passed the C.U.R.L ACT in late 2025. The bill has banned all sales and use of the chemical formaldehyde in hair relaxers. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control outlines its concerns on the government website: Decision Document for Hair Straightening Products Containing Formaldehyde. They highlight scientific studies that have been conducted to prove that formaldehyde contains carcinogens linked to cancer and other health risks, such as asthma. Also, the Federal Drug Administration wants to propose a nationwide ban [was not issued by the article’s date]. Braiding hair extensions used in natural hair styles are also targeted by the Safer Beauty Bill Package [was reintroduced in the 119th Congress in July 2025], citing cancer risks.
However, tanning beds, sunbathing, and cigarettes are not banned, which are known contributors to cancer. Yet for some odd reason, these other paths to cancer are not on the government’s radar. Formaldehyde is the best chemical agent that straightens tightly coiled hair. Other hair relaxer alternatives, such as formaldehyde-free products like keratin, do not achieve the same result. Relaxers are used by Black women, and tanning beds and sunbathing by the majority White populations. This is not about health; this is about legislation to remove Black women’s right to beauty. This is the same situation as the Tignon Law of 1786 in Louisiana which banned Black women from elaborate hairstyles, forcing them to wrap their hair in scarves. The goal was to make them look inferior to their White counterparts, during an era when African Americans were considered an inferior race, the goal was to make hairstyle to reflect the degraded status.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture mentioned the Tignon Laws as an example of discrimination on its website. Tignon Laws | National Museum of African American History & Culture. It is said, “Creative expression through fashion allowed Black people to define their own identities. Some of these stylistic expressions challenged notions of social control and ran afoul of authorities.” Eventually Black women found ways of protest through stylish scarves. Banning formaldehyde has unfortunately become a new race attack on Black women in modern times since tanning beds and sunbathing are not banned for White adults. Do not just ban one source of cancer, but ban them all. Do not deliberately target one group, target all groups, or do not target anyone at all.
Unfortunately, some Black women are advocating for the removal of formaldehyde hair relaxers and synthetic braiding hair extensions. Yet they do not stand against the hypocrisy of these types of regulation, which ignore tanning beds and cigarettes. They want to stop all Black women from using relaxers and braiding hair just because they developed health complications from it. Instead, there should be advocacy for package label laws with a health warning from the U.S. Surgeon General, just as cigarettes have cancer and nicotine warnings on their packages. There has never been an outright ban on cigarettes despite the devastating results that often occur due to smoking; any anti-smoking ad prove that. Warning labels are needed so that hair relaxer companies will not be legally responsible for health risks if a consumer chooses to purchase their products. Let every adult make their own decisions about what goes on their body as long as they are not harming anyone else. Many of us will continue to fight for our rights and bring awareness of this current so-called health concern hypocrisy.
