Risking health for good hair?

It’s been linked to coughing, red eyes and perhaps even cancer but the product known as Brazilian blow-out straightens hair so effectively that customers here just don’t care. The Associated Press’s Juliana Barbassa wrote a great piece on the risks and benefits of the ubiquitous beauty product born here in Brazil. 

“A combination of high humidity and a largely mixed-race, curly haired population made for a nation of eager customers,” she writes. “Available in several brands, the process often contains varying levels of formaldehyde, which has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a probable carcinogen.”