For a few years there have been reports and research of hair straightening chemicals causing health harms, specifically kidney damage. Even kidney failure. Yet the use of these dangerous products continues in a number of countries, including the US, France, and Israel.
The problem appears to be the glyoxylic acid in some hair-straightening products. Bottom line: Read the ingredient lists on hair straightening products and avoid those with glyoxylic acid.
Excerpts from The Times of Israel: 17-year-old girl hospitalized for kidney failure after hair-straightening treatment
A 17-year-old girl who underwent a hair-straightening treatment was hospitalized with severe kidney failure at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the hospital reports.
Another woman, 25, also suffered from kidney failure caused by hair straightening a little over a month ago.
The girl, suffering from vomiting, dizziness, and severe headaches, was hospitalized with acute kidney failure for several days in the pediatric department. She was released on Monday and will continue outpatient follow-up at the hospital’s pediatric nephrology institute.
A study published by Prof. Linda Shavit, head of the hospital’s nephrology institute, and Dr. Alon Benaya, a physician at the institute, in 2023 documented 26 cases of women aged 14 to 58 with no underlying medical conditions who arrived at emergency departments across the country with severe kidney failure.
The researchers found that all of them had undergone hair-straightening treatments containing glyoxylic acid. The Health Ministry has since revoked licenses for dozens of cosmetic products containing glyoxylic acid.