Link to Fibroid - that hair relaxer could cause you fibroid.

A new study in the American journal of Epidemiology has linked hair relaxers to uterine fibroids, as well as early puberty in young girls.

Scientists followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two-to three-times higher rate of fibroid among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers.

Women who got their first menstrual period before the age of 10 were also more likely to have uterine fibroids and early menstruation may result from hair products black girls are using, according to a separate study published in the Annal Epidemiology last summer.

Three hundred African American, African Caribbean, Hispanic, and White women in New York City were studied. The women's first menstrual period varied anywhere from age 8 to age 19, but African Americans, who were more likely to use straightening and relaxer hair oil, also reached menarche earlier than other racial/ethnic group.

While so far, there is only an association rather than a cause and effect relationship between relaxers, fibroid tumors, and puberty, many experts have been quick to point out that the hair care industry isn't regulated by the FDA, meaning that there's no definite way to fully know just how harmful standard Black hair care products really are.

Fibroid Facts 

Fibroids are tumors that grow in the uterus. They are benign, which means they are not cancerous, and are made up of muscle fiber. Fibroids can be as small as a pea and can grow as large as a melon. It is estimated that 20-50% of women have, or will have fibroids at some time in their lives.