After a night of dancing to the music of her DJ boyfriend, 34-year-old Atasha Graham suddenly collapsed when she entered the doorway of her southeast London home. Although resuscitation was attempted, she never gained consciousness and later died at the hospital. Almost a year after her death, per a court inquest, pathologist Dr. Michael Heath believes the glue in her hair extensions may have had something to do with her death.
After finding that the Jamaican-born Graham did not have a history of allergies and had no drugs in her system, experts looked to the latex glue at the base of her scalp. Graham, who had been getting weaves for 14 years, sweated from dancing and may have caused the chemical to seep into her bloodstream, causing the lethal reaction. Heath's testing showed an anaphylactic shock occured—due to the level of allergic inducing tryptase being 25 times higher than the normal amount—but could not pinpoint the exact trigger. Unfortunately though, because of the length of time from when she passed to now, there’s no way of verifying this theory and her death was ruled from natural causes. Heath noted, "There are about 10 to 20 deaths a year in this country, many more in America [from solvent used for extensions]. I have seen four in the last three months."
We’ve all know the term ‘pain for beauty’ but will unfortunate situations like this cause women to put down the hair glue?
