BOSTON -- Young African-American women are more likely to get breast cancer than young white women.

Researchers are looking into reasons why, and now the first study ever has examined the possible link between hair relaxers and breast cancer. The results are surprising.

Millions of African-American women spend hours at the salon to have their hair chemically relaxed several times a year. Some worry about exposing their scalps to all those chemicals.

"What I'm finding is the different medications they're on with chemicals they put in their hair is causing a reaction or side effects with their hair," shop owner Shirlene Thomas said.

Chemical relaxers can enter the body through burns and tiny cuts in the scalp. Researchers wondered if that could spike the odds of breast cancer, so they studied 48,000 black women for six years.

"Here's what you have to know about chemical hair relaxers -- they come in lots of different brands, and they come in three separate strengths. No matter what the strength, none will cause breast cancer," one woman said.

In fact, even women who use relaxers a lot -- seven times or more each year for 20 years -- were no more likely to get breast cancer than other women.

So why do African-American women have higher incidences and death rates from breast cancer?

"Black women, as a group, tend to be diagnosed with a more advanced stage of breast cancer. They're less likely to get mammograms. They're less likely to be the woman who shows up with a 6-millimeter tumor that is so curable," oncologist Dr. Jane Raymond said.