Jonquilyn Hill

Eight hours, two sets of hands, and a lot of almonds later, I was ready for summer.

Braids feel like a smart choice for me.

The ends of my hair are tucked away safe and sound, no damage from heating tools, and none of the toxic chemicals from relaxing it, right?

A new study raises concerns about some hair extensions and wigs.

I asked Zoe, one of my raiders, about the headlines.

After all, she's hands-on with these products for hours on end.

They always find something about our hair or our products to warn us and say it's bad.

I mean, it hasn't killed anybody yet, so it's not that I know of.

I'm Jonquan Hill, and this week on Explain It to Me from Vox, we find out about the chemicals inside the cosmetics we put on our bodies.

Things like lotion, makeup, mousse, and yes, even braiding hair.

To start, I wanted to talk with a scientist behind that research.

The Silent Spring Institute researches environmental causes for breast cancer.

Their report with data on synthetic braiding hair came out earlier this year.

And Alicia was the lead author.

She says she got the idea for the study when she saw her colleagues looking into something that seemed totally unrelated.

They were helping...

And you said these chemicals are hormone disruptors.

I've heard them called endocrine disruptors too.

Explain what that is.

Why are they showing up in hair?