I had to Have Fibroid Surgery, but our Girls Shouldn’t Have To

I didn’t choose this path. It chose me, in a hospital room, recovering from fibroid surgery, wondering how many other African Caribbean women would silently suffer through the same pain I endured, and for what? For “beauty.” For conformity. For products that claim to celebrate us while poisoning us.

That was my wake-up call.

I know this story all too well.

I am one of the many African-Caribbean women who spent decades using hair relaxers, scented lotions, and synthetic braiding hair, products that promised beauty, but delivered pain. My fibroid surgery was a personal wake-up call, one that forced me to confront a truth we have been taught to ignore; beauty shouldn’t hurt.

Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Lizzie Fletcher, Doris Matsui, and Ayanna Pressley introduced landmark legislation in the United States that could change the game: The Safer Beauty Bill Package. It’s a set of four bills designed to ban some of the most dangerous chemicals from beauty and personal care products, increase supply chain transparency, and protect those most at risk—namely women of colour and professional salon workers.

African-Caribbean women have always been over-exposed and under-protected when it comes to health. A 22-year Boston University study found that African-American women who regularly used relaxers were at a 50% higher risk of uterine cancer. Another study showed a 30% increased risk of breast cancer from long-term use of lye-based products. Even synthetic braiding hair, a staple in our cultural expression, has tested positive for carcinogens and volatile organic compounds.

While Canada limits formaldehyde concentration in beauty products, countless other harmful chemicals still fall through the cracks.

We deserve better, and we are not the problem; regulation is.

The United States FDA has only banned or restricted 15 cosmetic chemicals since 1938. The European Union? Over 2,400. In the past two years alone, states like California and Vermont banned over 40 chemicals combined. MoCRA, passed in 2022, was a start, but it didn’t go far enough. The Safer Beauty Bill Package picks up where MoCRA left off targeting the racial and occupational inequities in who bears the burden.

This hits close to home.

As a Canadian woman of African-Caribbean descent, we are told to be proud of our roots but punished by systemic negligence when we try to care for them. Whether it’s a 12-year-old girl in Brampton trying her first relaxer before picture day, or a hair stylist in Scarborough spending 12 hours a day braiding synthetic hair, our people are exposed daily, and not by choice.

It’s not enough to tell our girls to “love themselves” if we’re handing them toxic tools to do it.

The Safer Beauty Bill Package demands:

• A ban on the worst chemicals, including lead, mercury, formaldehyde, phthalates, and parabens.
• Full transparency, so consumers can finally know what’s in their products, and what those ingredients actually do.
• Targeted protections for salon workers and communities of colour, including federal oversight of synthetic hair safety.
• Supply chain accountability, forcing brands to clean up their act from ingredient sourcing to shelf.

This is a diasporic issue. What happens in the American beauty industry reverberates throughout the global African beauty market, including here in Canada. While we work to hold Canadian policymakers accountable, we must also amplify and support progressive legislation like this.

We need courageous leadership, on both sides of the border.

I am calling on: educators, health advocates, nonprofits, aunties, cousins, stylists, and sisters: talk about this. Share the stats. Challenge the brands. Ask your MP what they’re doing to ensure regulatory modernization in Canada mirrors these bold moves in the U.S.

We cannot afford to be silent when our health is on the line.

My fibroid journey taught me that beauty should never come at the cost of my body, my peace, or my future. I don’t want another woman, especially not our girls, to go through the confusion, pain, and neglect I did.

Let’s demand better. Together. Beauty should empower us, not endanger us.