Health experts are cautioning against potential risks associated with certain hair treatments after a young woman experienced kidney damage following a session at a salon.
As detailed in a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, a 26-year-old Tunisian woman encountered three instances of acute kidney injury spanning from June 2020 to July 2022. French medical professionals authored a letter to the editor linking specific smoothing and straightening hair products to renal impairments.
The woman, previously in good health, presented symptoms including vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and back pain when she sought medical attention.
“Each episode of acute kidney injury had coincided with a hair treatment at the same salon on the day the symptoms began,” elucidated the journal letter.
During examination, elevated plasma creatinine levels were detected in the woman’s blood. Plasma creatinine, a byproduct of muscle metabolism, is typically filtered out by the kidneys.
The salon procedure involved the application of a cream containing 10% glyoxylic acid to the woman’s hair, suspected by researchers as the causative agent for the kidney damage.
“These results provide evidence that hair-straightening cream containing glyoxylic acid is responsible for calcium oxalate–induced nephropathy after hair-straightening procedures of the type described here,” the letter contends. “Glyoxylic acid was patented and introduced recently in hair-straightening products as a seemingly safer alternative to formulations containing formaldehyde.”
The article also referenced 26 cases in Israel where patients suffered acute kidney injuries following “Brazilian-style” hair-straightening treatments.
In 2022, a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggested a potential link between chemical hair-straightening products and increased risk of uterine cancer in women, attributing this to endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in such products.
