Morning, y’all! I feel bad for people who share names with really destructive hurricanes, especially if they’re not super common ones. (Shout out to the Helenes and Katrinas out there.) Erins, you’re up. Hurricane Erin restrengthened to a Category 4 early Monday and is still churning menacingly in the Atlantic.
Let’s get to it.
AJC INVESTIGATION: EMERGING DANGERS OF HAIR RELAXERS
Credit: Photos by Arvin Temkar, Jason Getz, Abbey Cutter, Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Photos by Arvin Temkar, Jason Getz, Abbey Cutter, Natrice Miller/AJC
More than 600 women have filed lawsuits in Georgia against cosmetic companies that sold chemical hair relaxers, including several based in the state.
The plaintiffs say they developed reproductive cancers or tumors after using the products.
Underlying the anger and pain in these cases are larger cultural patterns of Black beauty standards and questionable marketing in the beauty industry.
- A 2022 study from the National Institutes of Health showed women who frequently used chemical straightening products like relaxers were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
- Hair relaxers used by Black women have been found to contain hormone-disrupting chemicals. These products have often been marketed as “safer” than earlier relaxers on the market, which contained lye.
- Uterine cancer death rates among Black women are nearly twice those of other race demographics, according to recent research.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigative reporters Asia Simone Burns and Samantha Hogan talked to women who say they’ve been impacted by hair relaxers, as well as an attorney for some Georgia plaintiffs and a cosmetic scientist from Spelman to get a larger scope of the problem. Read their investigation here.
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CONFRONTING TOXIC BEAUTY
As if the emerging hair relaxer controversy weren’t enough, a recent study from Consumer Reports showed popular brands of braiding hair contained lead, carcinogens and other possibly toxic substances.
🎥 WATCH: How synthetic hair poses a danger to Black women
It’s hard to fully appreciate the importance of these controversies if you’re not personally bound to Black beauty standards, past or present.
Burns and Hogan, the AJC reporters, talked to Black women around Atlanta about their relationship to hair care.
Even among younger women, their responses echoed a long history of race-based discrimination and socially engineered shame. Anyone who’s been told to dislike a part of themselves, to change something perfectly natural in order to be accepted, can relate.
My hair is amazing. I've had to embrace it and love it.
ELECTION BOARD SHUFFLE
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners must appoint two Republican election critics to its election board, a judge ruled late last week.
- Both parties nominate members to the board. Then, the members must be approved by the commission, which currently has a Democratic majority.
- Jason Frazier, one of the GOP nominees, has lodged thousands of voter registration challenges in Fulton. The other, Julie Adams, voted against certifying last year’s election.
- The Fulton GOP has sued the commission over election board appointees before.
- Amanda Clark-Palmer, who represents the commission, says just because a party nominates members doesn’t mean the board has to approve them.
🔎 READ MORE: A contentious history of election board nominees
QUICK TRAVEL NOTES
For flyers: Air Canada has suspended operations because of a staff strike, which could cause ugliness at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Might want to double-check any flights this week.
For rail riders: MARTA trains will skip Garnett Station for six weeks for renovation work starting in September. Bus service won’t be affected, and there will be shuttle service to and from Five Points. The renovations are supposed to cost $9.9 million, so there’s something to grumble about as you figure out alternatives.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
⚕️ Twenty-two Georgia health insurance companies have to pay a total of $20 million for not covering mental health issues at the same rate as physical health issues. That’s according to Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King.
🪖 West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio are sending National Guard Troops to Washington as the Trump Administration continues its elevation of force in the nation’s capital.
NEWS BITES
Atlanta United’s winless streak reaches 10
[resigned, irritated grumbling]
Atlanta Dream eyes postseason bid after juicy win streak
[cheerful, excited chirping]
How do mascots like Blooper stay fresh in the summer heat?
Not gonna lie, Blooper looks like he’s already 80% sweat.
Professional arm wrestling is bigger than ever in Georgia
Wait, you can’t just arm wrestle. You have to have some sort of beef. Something to prove. Are contestants required to argue beforehand?
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 18, 1920
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
From the front page of The Atlanta Journal: Women of U.S. are granted equal suffrage; status of Georgia women’s vote in Nov. is doubtful. Whether the women of Georgia will be able to vote in the next presidential election, now that the Tennessee legislature has ratified the Susan B. Anthony amendment to the federal constitution, appears to be an open question until the constituted authorities have gone fully into the law. ... “I want to thank God that the disgraceful load of disfranchisement has been removed from my shoulders,” said Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, president of the Georgia Woman Suffrage association.
According to the Atlanta History Center, women in Georgia were not able to cast their ballots in the 1920 presidential race because of a rule that required voters to register six months before an election. Only Mary Jarett White, of Stephens County, registered in time for the 1920 national election.
ONE MORE THING
I need good seafood nearby. Not fancy seafood, good seafood, like “closest to the coast you can get from the Atlanta metro area” good. Thoughts?
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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