HAIR STRAIGHTENER Legal News Articles & Interviews

Atlanta, GA Several Georgia women who filed a lawsuit against L'Oreal for negligence and fraud related to the use of hair relaxers have been given the go-ahead by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The French multinational personal care company had previously asked the courts to dismiss the complaints. Plaintiffs, including Kiara Burroughs, accuse the companies of selling hair relaxation, or lanthionization, products that caused or increased the risk of women developing uterine, ovarian or breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids or other injuries to the reproductive system. 

Santa Clara, CA When it comes to regulating products, hair relaxers in the U.S. are like the wild west. Despite the FDA announcing a proposed ban for April 2024 on hair straighteners containing formaldehyde (it has missed that deadline), and despite the EPA announcing that exposure to formaldehyde is an “unreasonable risk to human health”, nothing has been done to remove this known human carcinogen from the market.

Santa Clara, CA The FDA has missed its own April deadline to ban formaldehyde in hair-relaxers, despite mounting pressure to remove the hazardous chemical from all hair-straightener products, and despite no opposition to its removal. Critics say the agency’s failure to deal with the proposed new regulation would do far too little, in addition to being far too late. After all, the FDA's role is to prevent harm from happening in the first place. Many Black women with serious health issues linked to these products have filed over 6,000 hair relaxer lawsuits against manufacturers and the longer the FDA stalls, more complaints are inevitable.

Santa Clara, CA  As of early March, at least 8,334 hair relaxer lawsuits are pending in a federal MDL (multidistrict litigation). Following a study that linked cancer to hair straightener products in late 2022, African American women have filed product liability lawsuits claiming certain cosmetic companies caused their uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and other serious injuries.

Chicago, IL Black women who have used hair relaxers for most of their lives have been “shocked” and “horrified” to discover that studies have linked formaldehyde—the chemical found in most hair relaxers—to cancer and fibroids. A recent Boston University report highlights an increased risk for Black women to develop uterine cancer after receiving a particular hair treatment, but studies suggesting that hair products containing a variety of chemicals are linked to asthma, hormone disruptions and even cancer go back to 2018.

Santa Clara, CA As attorneys ramp up advertising on television and social media, more Black women are becoming aware of the association between hair relaxers and uterine cancer, and that at least a dozen cosmetic companies sold their hair straighteners containing dangerous chemicals and failed to warn customers. Many women are just now learning that they have rubbed carcinogenic formaldehyde into their scalps for decades and thousands of hair relaxer lawsuits have been filed – and continue to be filed – by women of color against these companies, including L’Oreal and Revlon.

Santa Clara, CA The FDA has known since at least 2011 that hair straighteners containing formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals have made hair salon workers and their clients sick, yet it is just now considering banning hair relaxers that contain or emit the chemical by April 2024, due to a link with long-term health effects. The agency said it has been communicating with the public since 2010 about formaldehyde’s potential health concerns, and for more than a decade it has received numerous warnings, including the cosmetic industry’s own experts stating the products unsafe.

Chicago, IL As hair straightener litigation is making headlines, black girls and women who frequently use chemical hair straighteners are increasingly becoming aware of hair relaxer risks, including uterine cancer and breast cancer.

Chicago, IL As hair relaxer lawsuits mount, L’Oréal and Revlon, Strength of Nature, Namaste and numerous other hair straightener manufacturers have filed a motion to dismiss allegations that they manufactured and marketed toxic hair-relaxing products that cause cancer and other serious health issues. The motion was filed on July 5 in the Northern District of Illinois by 14 defendant groups to dismiss the complaint filed by plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation (MDL) No. 3060.

Santa Clara, CA Women diagnosed with uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and other injuries who have filed hair relaxer lawsuits in federal court--now part of the multi-district litigation--have filed a “Master Complaint”. This document includes all of the allegations linking adverse health events with regular exposure to chemicals in the hair straightener and hair relaxer products. And defendants have proposed to bifurcate discovery, which plaintiffs oppose.