FWIW people should be able to do whatever they want to with their body. Straighteners need the carcinogenic elements removed, that’s it.

This campaign and the related initiatives are great, but it doesn’t absolve its parent company (Proctor & Gamble) from its ongoing harm to Black and brown people. P&G sells skin bleaching/lightening products. After years of criticism, many companies limited distribution of the bleaching products in the U.S. However, they still invest in it and sell it abroad in places like South East Asia. In 2020, P&G only committed to renaming these products, as if the name was the issue, and it’s profiting from colorism.

Also, the company still sells chemical hair relaxers like Ultra Sheen. In 2022, an 11-year study following 33,000 women found relaxers linked to higher rates of uterine, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. And yet P&G, and their competitors like Unilever, continue to sell these products.

Study excerpt for the curious: https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2023/01/06/study-finds-hair-straightening-chemicals-raised-uterine-cancer-risk

However, in the paper they note that several chemicals found in straighteners (such as parabens, bisphenol A, metals and formaldehyde) could be contributing to the increased uterine cancer risk observed.