Hair-straightening cream tied to woman's repeated kidney damage

Close-up image of a hairdresser combing a white cream through a woman's long black hair in a salon. The woman's head in the foreground is in focus but the rest of the image is slightly blurred.

A woman developed kidney damage on three separate occasions after receiving hair-straightening treatments at a salon. Her doctors say one of the products used likely caused the organ injuries.

The 26-year-old woman visited a salon to receive the popular hair treatment in June 2020, April 2021 and July 2022. She'd had no previous health problems, but on the day of each visit, she experienced vomiting, diarrhea, fever and back pain. She reported feeling burning on her scalp during the hair treatment and developed ulcers on her head shortly afterwards.