Every time the topic of hair relaxers and lawsuits comes up, there’s always that person in the comments.
One says, “Well, didn’t Madam C.J. Walker introduce these products to Black women?”
The other says, “Nobody forced y’all to buy them.”
And here’s the thing...
on paper, those statements sound factual.
But real history is complicated and drenched in systems we didn’t design.
The CJ Walker Myth — A Half-Truth with Edges
Let’s start with Madam C.J. Walker. Yes, she was a visionary Black businesswoman who built an empire in the early 1900s. But she didn’t “invent the perm” as we think of it now. Her products were more like scalp treatments, pressing oils, and hair health remedies designed to work with a hot comb.
Chemical relaxers, the kind in today’s lawsuits came decades later. And they weren’t created in the spirit of self-care; they were engineered, marketed, and mass-produced by corporate labs that already knew the risks of long-term chemical exposure.
So yes, Walker opened the door to hair “smoothing” products, but what walked through that door under industrial capitalism was not the same formula she cooked in her kitchen.
“Nobody Forced You” — The Deeper Lie
Nobody physically dragged us into a salon chair, but the force was cultural, economic, and institutional.
From childhood, Black girls have been told, sometimes with words, sometimes through written policy — that our natural hair is not “professional,” not “presentable.”
School handbooks ban “ethnic” hairstyles. Job listings hide behind “neat appearance required.”
TV, magazines, and advertising flood us with images where “beautiful” hair is always flowing, straight, and blowing in the wind, never coiled, never tightly curled, never locked in its natural pattern.
This isn’t choice. This is survival in a world where proximity to whiteness often decides whether you’re hired, promoted, or even deemed “acceptable.”
The Science They Didn’t Want in the Mirror
We now know that many relaxers contain chemicals like lye (sodium hydroxide), guanidine hydroxide, and formaldehyde-releasing agenta... all of which can cause burns, scalp damage, hormonal disruption, and, as lawsuits are now alleging, increased risk of certain cancers.
And the sad part is, those companies knew this. Internal studies have been around for decades. Yet the products kept selling, marketed directly to Black women and girls, with soft-focus ads about “confidence” and “manageability.”
My Perm Story
I was one of those girls.
My natural hair is thick.... blessed thick ....but my curl pattern was never made for perms. The first time I got one, my hair broke almost instantly. Within weeks, I went from full volume to brittle strands that barely held together.
I was lucky. My edges stayed. My hair grew back. But I know so many women who weren’t as fortunate. They lost hair permanently. Now they wear wigs full-time. And people have the nerve to clown them for “wearing fake hair” , never connecting the dots that the damage came from years of chemical dependency created by a system that told us our natural hair was unacceptable.
But that’s a story for another day.
Beyond Relaxers — The Same Game, Different Jar
This isn’t just about perms. Hair removal creams, bleaching products, skin lighteners etc .. so many “beauty” products marketed to us come laced with chemicals that carry risks far beyond what’s on the label. And the pattern is the same: create the insecurity, sell the solution, hide the harm.
The Real History
- Pre-1900s: African hair traditions embraced braiding, threading, locking, and natural oils — all without toxic chemicals.
- Early 1900s: Madam C.J. Walker creates hair care for Black women, largely for health and styling versatility.
- 1950s–1980s: Chemical relaxers explode in popularity alongside assimilationist beauty standards. Corporate labs take over production.
- 2000s–present: Lawsuits, documentaries, and scientific studies expose long-term harm — yet marketing to Black women remains aggressive.
The Truth in the Roots
So no, the “just don’t buy it” argument doesn’t hold up in a world where hair has always been political for Black women.
And no, Madam C.J. Walker didn’t “invent cancer-causing relaxers” — she invented a lane for Black-owned beauty, which was hijacked and industrialized.
The perm was never just about style. It was about survival. And now, we’re finally seeing the receipts for the cost it’s had on our bodies, our culture, and our choices.
If I keep going, I’ll have to start naming brands. And maybe I will — but that’s for another day.
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