For 35 years, Jeorgi Golden stood behind the chair, doing hair and nails for as many as 40 to 50 clients a week. The only protection she says she was ever offered was a pair of gloves. In April 2024, she was diagnosed with lung cancer despite never smoking or drinking, and she traces it to decades of chemical exposure, including formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is classified as a carcinogen by the EPA, and a 2022 NIH study linked it to uterine cancer, with Black women disproportionately affected. OSHA complaints from salons across the country describe poor ventilation and exposure during treatments like Brazilian blowouts. Federal lawmakers, including Reps. Shontel Brown and Alma Adams, are pressing the FDA to ban formaldehyde in hair products. The agency has now missed its fifth deadline.
For Suncoast residents, this is a story about the people we trust with our hair every month. It raises real questions about worker protections, product labeling, and why a known carcinogen is still allowed on salon shelves. Lawmakers are pushing, workers are speaking up, and the FDA keeps missing its window. What do you think should happen next? Tell us in the comments and join the conversation on the air.
