August 12, 2024

Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., won the 2023 Rosalind Franklin Society Award in Science for the best research paper by a woman or underrepresented minority in science across more than 100 peer-reviewed journals. Funded by the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at Columbia University, the featured paper used a community-based participatory research approach to examine how beauty norms affected beauty product use among women and femme-identifying individuals in New York City.

Beauty products like chemical hair straighteners and skin lighteners are disproportionately used by women of color. These products can contain chemicals that mimic or interfere with hormones in the body. Research has linked use of chemical straighteners and other personal care products to an increased risk for adverse health conditions among Black women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, and poor birth outcomes.

Edwards partnered with the community-based organization, West Harlem Environmental Action for Environmental Justice (WE ACT), to survey nearly 300 respondents about how, where, and why they choose to use and buy chemical straighteners and skin lighteners. They found that Black respondents were more than twice as likely to have used chemical straighteners compared to non-Black respondents. Additionally, Asian respondents were three times more likely to have used skin lighteners compared with non-Asian respondents. Participants’ perceptions that others believe straight hair or lighter skin confer benefits such as beauty, professionalism, or youth were associated with greater use of chemical straighteners and skin lighteners, the authors wrote. According to the research team, study findings highlight the pervasiveness of beauty norms and point to the need to educate community members about the chemicals in beauty products.

“The success of this paper is owed to so many wonderful collaborators, with a special thanks to the community members who disseminated and completed this survey. I’m so pleased that everyone’s hard work is being recognized,” Edwards said.