Chemical hair straighteners have been a godsend for women with frizzy, stubborn locks that never naturally look sleek.
But getting the popular hair treatment done frequently could cause cancer.
WATCH: Dogs can smell cancer.
As first reported by The New York Times, a new study has released some rather alarming results; especially for hair straightener lovers.
After following 34, 000 American women for more than a decade, the study found that the risk of developing cancer of the uterus by the age of 70 for women who had never used a chemical hair straightener, was 1.64 percent.
However, women who regularly used straighteners on their hair had a 4.05 percent risk of developing uterine cancer by age 70 – more than double!
The study defined regular use as more than four times a year and included both women who applied the treatment themselves at home or got a professional hairdresser in a salon to do it.
Alexandra White, the study’s lead author and head of the environment and cancer epidemiology group of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said:
“We don’t want to panic people.”
A sentiment that was echoed by other researchers who worked on the study.
They cautioned that a cause-and-effect relationship between chemical hair straighteners and uterine cancer had not yet been established and the findings of this study needed to be confirmed with more research.
Although, in previous studies, hair straighteners have been tied to a higher risk of ovarian and breast cancers.
This new study did not find any link between any other hair chemicals – like the ones used to colour, bleach, highlight or perm hair – and uterine cancer.
According to the Cancer Council, cancer of the uterus is the most diagnosed gynaecological cancer in Australia.
Uterine cancer occurs when abnormal cells develop in the uterus and begin growing out of control.
There are two main types of uterine cancer. Endometrial cancers begin in the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, and this type of cancer accounts for about 95% of all cases.
The other type are uterine sarcomas, which develop in the myometrium muscle tissue. But this is a rarer form of uterine cancer.
Currently, the risk of an Australian woman being diagnosed with cancer of the uterus by the age of 85 is 1 in 40.
