Wellness That Matters: Black Health News & Community Care
- Rebundle offers a safer hair extension alternative addressing harms from synthetic fibers like kanekalon.
- Product transparency empowers communities to avoid endocrine disruptors and potential carcinogens in beauty items.
- Access to healthier options reframes freedom as ability to live fully without hidden product risks.
- Community advocacy and screenings like Reclaimed: Beyond the Braid raise awareness and promote safer beauty practices.
I started learning more about what kanekalon actually is and how it’s possibly affecting us. Kanekalon is a synthetic fiber, typically made from acrylic or modacrylic plastics derived from petroleum based chemicals. These fibers are chemically processed to achieve softness and color. Research and advocacy have raised concerns about the compounds used in these processes, including links to known, probable and possible carcinogens (cancer causing agents), lead exposure endocrine disruptors (chemicals that can interfere with the body’s hormonal systems). With prolonged scalp contact, heat from hot water setting, and friction during wear the cumulative exposure becomes harder to ignore (Consumer Reports, 2025). The risks of using Kanekalon shocked me, but more mind-boggling than the risk, is the normalization of using them!
This normalization made me think about freedom, in terms of access. About the ability to live full, safe lives. This considered, it begs the question “What does freedom look like when the products we rely on are quietly harming us?” Why should we have to look over our shoulders or scour academic journals, just to feel confident that our beauty practices aren’t costing us our health?
Alternatives have been emerging to mitigate this. One of them being Rebundle, which I was introduced to at the Black Women for Wellness’ LA screening of Reclaimed: Beyond the Braid.
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