Hair Relaxer Lawsuit

Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuits

Chemical hair relaxer products and hair perm kits have been marketed by a number of different companies, primarily for use by African American women.

However, lawsuits allege that manufacturers failed to disclose the potential side effects of several toxic chemicals in hair relaxers, which may increase the risk of uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine fibroids and other injuries.

Who is Eligible for a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Payout?

Financial compensation and settlement benefits may be available through a hair relaxer lawsuit for women who regularly used chemical hair relaxer or hair straightener, and were diagnosed with any of the following injuries:

• Uterine Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Endometrial Cancer
• Uterine Sarcoma
• Uterine Fibroids

Which Chemical Hair Relaxer Products Are Named in Lawsuits?

• Dark and Lovely Lawsuits
• Just for Me Hair Relaxer Lawsuits
• Optimum Care Relaxer Lawsuits
• Soft and Beautiful Hair Perm Lawsuits
• Motions Hair Relaxer Lawsuits
• TCB Naturals Relaxer Creme Lawsuits
• ORS Olive Oil (Organic Root Stimulator) Lawsuits
• Dream Kids Olive Miracle Lawsuits
• Other Relaxer and Hair Perm Products

Hair relaxer lawyers review all cancer lawsuits on a contingency fee basis, which means that there are no fees or expenses paid unless a settlement or lawsuit payout is received.

Latest 2024 Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Updates

December 4, 2024 Update: In a status report filed on December 3, 2024, parties involved in the Multi-District Litigation regarding hair relaxer products submitted a joint list of Plaintiffs’ Fact Sheets (PFSs) that require review before the discovery deadline. It was noted that over a thousand plaintiffs had submitted their PFSs by May 31, 2024. The court has mandated that the defendants notify plaintiffs from the submitted list about any PFS deficiencies by December 20, 2024.

December 2, 2024 Update: More than 1,200 new hair relaxer lawsuits have been added to the federal multidistrict litigation since October, bringing the total number of hair relaxer side effect lawsuits to 9,649.

November 13, 2024 Update: Judge Rowland held a hair relaxer MDL status conference yesterday, in which the parties provided updates on resolving various issues in the ongoing litigation. Topics discussed included the pending motions to dismiss claims involving specific injuries, deposition protocols, and progress in establishing a “bellwether” process. This process involves preparing a small group of representative cases for early trial dates to help assess how juries might interpret evidence and expert testimony repeated throughout the litigation.

November 1, 2024 Update: Following a status conference last month, Judge Rowland has ordered that all written discovery must be completed by February 28, 2025, and oral fact discovery by September 30, 2025. Additionally, the defendants have until November 12, 2024, to respond to a consolidated class action complaint regarding a hair relaxer lawsuit, which combines several similar class actions seeking refunds and medical monitoring costs for plaintiffs without physical injuries.

October 14, 2024 Update: Last week, Judge Rowland held a hair relaxer MDL status conference with attorneys on October 10, to discuss the ongoing discovery phase, pending motions, and the feasibility of setting up a bellwether trial process. Discussions on initiating a bellwether process revealed differing perspectives; the Plaintiffs Leadership Committee pushed for starting the selection of cases for early test trials, while the defendants argued that the litigation is not yet mature enough for such steps, citing delays in the collection of essential documents and medical records. The parties are scheduled to reconvene soon to further discuss the implementation of a bellwether process, aiming to streamline case-specific discovery and address the broader implications of the litigation.

October 4, 2024 Update: Late last week, Judge Rowland issued rulings that mostly favored the plaintiffs in hair relaxer class action lawsuits. In early February, defendants sought to dismiss class action lawsuits concerning toxic chemicals in hair relaxers, claiming preemption by federal law and insufficient injury claims for a nationwide class. By March, plaintiffs had countered, stating that these defenses had been previously considered and dismissed by the court. Ultimately, Judge Rowland ruled predominantly in favor of the plaintiffs on September 27, allowing the lawsuits to proceed, maintaining the class allegations, and upholding the pursuit of punitive damages against the manufacturers for alleged reckless endangerment of consumer health.

October 1, 2024 Update: Since August, there have been an additional 447 hair relaxer lawsuits added to the MDL docket, bringing the total number of claims seeking compensation for uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine fibroids and other side effects caused by chemical hair straightener products to 8,393.

September 3, 2024 Update: As discovery and pretrial proceedings continue in thousands of hair relaxer lawsuits pending in the federal court system, lawyers indicate that an Illinois state court judge is expected to schedule hair relaxer lawsuit trials in 2025. which will likely be the first trials to present evidence to juries in the litigation, claiming that manufacturers knew or should have known about the risk of cancer from hair relaxers.

August 21, 2024 Update: In a status report issued on August 12, the Plaintiffs Leadership Committee (PLC) notified Judge Rowland that they will not add Walmart or CVS to the Master Complaint in the hair relaxer litigation, as each chain is named in only one lawsuit. The PLC advised that individuals wanting to pursue hair relaxer lawsuits against Walmart or CVS should manually write the retailer in as defendants on their Short Form Complaints.

August 12, 2024 Update: According to the JPML’s latest docket report, there are currently 7,946 Hair Relaxer lawsuits pending in the litigation as lawyers continue to review new claims.

July 23, 2024 Update: The FDA has yet again missed its deadline to record and finalize a formaldehyde hair relaxer ban, pushing the new deadline off until September 2024.

June 4, 2024 Update: The Hair Relaxer MDL, managed by Judge Mary M. Rowland, has seen a decrease of nearly 300 cases due to the exclusion of non-cancer related injuries, leaving a total of 8,170 pending cases. With the first bellwether trials slated for November 2025 and February 2026, efforts to streamline and manage the thousands of pending claims more efficiently have led to new filing and document management procedures.

May 21, 2024 Update: Lawyers for women involved in hair relaxer lawsuits filed a motion for leave to dismiss cases without prejudice on May 14, requesting Judge Rowland to allow claims that do not involve uterine, endometrial, or ovarian cancer to be dismissed without prejudice. If granted, this would enable these women to reopen their cases in the future if they are diagnosed with these cancers or other related health issues. Initially, there was uncertainty about which injuries would be covered under the multidistrict litigation, with some claims related to uterine fibroids (non-cancerous growths in the uterus) and various non-gynecological cancers. The attorneys argue that it is probable that some plaintiffs may later develop one of the specified cancers.

May 6, 2024 Update: The FDA has missed its April 2024 deadline to finalize a ban on formaldehyde in hair relaxers, which have been linked to an increased risk of ovarian and uterine cancer in recent years.

May 1, 2024 Update: In the latest docket report issued on May 1, 2024, the U.S. JPML stated an additional 81 hair relaxer lawsuits over ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and uterine fibroids side effects were added last month, bringing the total number of hair relaxer claims filed to 8,468.

April 2, 2024 Update: As the parties continue to work through selecting the initial pool of hair relaxer bellwether claims to go before juries, the JPML reported an additional 53 hair relaxer lawsuits have been added to the docket, bringing the total number of hair relaxer claims to 8,387.

March 5, 2024 Update: Prior to a case management conference scheduled for March 7, 2024, the parties filed a joint status report on March 1, providing several updates to the Court on the current state of the litigation and highlights various disagreements concerning the timeline and methodology for selecting representative claims for a series of future hair relaxer bellwether trials.

March 1, 2024 Update: The U.S. JPML issued an updated docket report (PDF) on March 1, 2024, stating there are currently at least 8,334 product liability lawsuits filed in the Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, with most claims involving women who claim that they developed uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, fibroids or other injuries that were caused by exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum, ORS Olive Oil and other chemical hair straighteners.

February 5, 2024 Update: The manufacturers of Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum and other popular chemical straighteners filed a motion to dismiss hair relaxer class action lawsuits (PDF) on February 5, claiming that damages of economic harm are preempted by federal law. They also argue that plaintiffs have not filed sufficient claim of injury, and that they lack standing to file a nationwide class action. Even if the motion is successful, it will still leave the manufacturers facing thousands of individual hair relaxer injury lawsuits filed nationwide.

January 16, 2024 Update: On January 16, parties filed competing plans for early hair relaxer lawsuit bellwether trials, with plaintiffs arguing that the cases should be limited to endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer cases, as those represent the majority of injury claims filed.

December 8, 2023 Update: After plaintiffs and manufacturers failed to submit a unified Hair Relaxer MDL Bellwether Protocol by the initial deadline of December 11, 2023, the parties filed a joint motion (PDF) on December 8, requesting an extension to submit separate proposals. In response, Judge Rowland granted the extension in a recent Notification of Docket Entry, establishing December 18, 2023, as the new deadline for each party to submit their individual Bellwether Protocols.

November 13, 2023 Update: Thousands of hair relaxer lawsuits have been cleared to move forward after Judge Rowland issued a memorandum opinion and order on November 13, which rejected efforts by the manufacturers to dismiss thousands of claims that toxic chemicals in the chemical straighteners caused women to develop uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and other injuries.

October 18, 2023 Update: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed hair relaxer chemical ban, which would prohibit the use of formaldehyde and chemicals that release formaldehyde (FA), such as methylene glycol, from being used in hair relaxer products nationwide.

October 16, 2023 Update: According to an updated docket report issued by the U.S. JPML on October 16, there are now at least 5,996 hair relaxer cancer and injury claims filed in the federal hair relaxer MDL. The number of claims filed has substantially increased in recent months, with the JPML previously reporting 250 active cases in July 2023.

August 8, 2023 Update: A short form complaint has been approved in the MDL, which will allow new hair relaxer lawsuits to be filed using a streamlined form that identifies specific products and injuries involved in the case, and adopts specific provisions from a master complaint filed in the litigation. All plaintiffs will be required to submit a short form complaint, which will help the parties identify representative claims for early bellwether trials and guide the Court during pretrial proceedings.

July 7, 2023 Update: The manufacturers of Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum, ORS Olive Oil and other products joined together to file a motion to dismiss hair relaxer injury lawsuits early in the litigation, arguing that the Master Complaint fails to sufficiently identify specific products and formulations that caused each injury. The Court is not expected to decide whether it will even consider oral arguments until a status conference in August 2023. In the meantime, Judge Rowland rejected the bifurcated discovery proposal raised by the manufacturers last month, ordering the parties to move forward with “traditional” discovery.

June 8, 2023 Update: Following Judge Rowland’s acceptance of a Master complaint for hair relaxer lawsuits, allowing direct filing with the MDL court, the manufacturers began petitioning for bifurcated hair relaxer lawsuit discovery proceedings, which would focus on causation without allowing individual case circumstances to be considered.

March 6, 2023 Update: As a growing number of women file new hair relaxer lawsuits, Judge Rowland has appointed a group of 35 hair relaxer injury lawyers to serve in leadership positions in the MDL. These attorneys will take certain actions that benefit all women pursuing a claim, but each individual plaintiff will still maintain their own lawyer to establish the link between their injury and hair relaxer products, and negotiate any settlements.

February 7, 2023 Update: A federal hair relaxer and perm cancer lawsuit MDL has been established in the Northern District of Illinois, where coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings for all claims brought throughout the federal court system will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland.

January 3, 2023 Update: The U.S. JPML is scheduled to hear oral arguments over the pending motion to consolidate all hair relaxer lawsuits during a hearing set for January 26, 2023, in Miami, Florida.

Is There A Hair Relaxer Class Action Lawsuit?

Yes. While most women are pursuing their case as an individual Dark & Lovely lawsuit, Just for Me Lawsuit or other claim over cancer caused by the products, a number of different hair relaxer class action lawsuits have also been filed on behalf of all users, seeking medical monitoring and other damages associated with the manufacturers’ failure to disclose known information about the cancer risk from chemical straighteners.

Hair Relaxer MDL 3060

Given similar allegations raised in both individual and class action lawsuits over hair relaxers brought throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided to centralize all the claims before one judge in January 2023, establishing a federal hair relaxer MDL (multidistrict litigation #3060) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland has been appointed to preside over the coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings in the cases, where the entire litigation will be handled in a manner very similar to a hair relaxer class action lawsuit. However, after examining evidence linking hair relaxers and cancer generally, which will apply to each of the claims, it is expected that the court will establish separate tracks for hair relaxer injury lawsuits and class action claims.

As part of the coordinated management of the litigation, Judge Rowland will likely establish a bellwether process, where small groups of representative lawsuits involving different types of injuries or damages will go through case-specific discovery and be prepared for early trial dates, to help gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the lawsuits.

However, if settlements for chemical hair straightener lawsuits are not reached during the MDL proceedings, each individual product liability case may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was originally filed for separate trials in the future.

Is There a Hair Relaxer Recall Over Cancer Side Effects?

In response to growing concerns about the risk of hair relaxers and cancer side effects, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a hair relaxer formaldehyde ban in October 2023, which would prohibit the sale of hair relaxer products containing formaldehyde and other chemicals that have been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers.

According to the proposed rule, the FDA warned that certain hair relaxer products have been found to contain formaldehyde (FA) and other FA-releasing chemicals such as methylene glycol, which are often added to hair relaxers to enhance their hair smoothing and straightening capabilities.

Officials are now moving to ban hair relaxers containing formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasing chemicals, citing the use of such products can lead to variety of both short and long term side effects, including sensitization reactions, breathing problems, and an increased risk of certain cancers.

While the proposed rule must go through a public comment period for interested parties to submit comments supporting, opposing, or suggesting modifications, officials indicated the hair relaxer formaldehyde ban could go into effect by April 2024, which could lead to a series of hair relaxer recalls.

Real Hair Relaxer User Experiences

In recent years, a troubling correlation has emerged between the use of hair relaxers and serious health issues, including uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine fibroids, which have led many women to undergo hysterectomies and other significant surgical interventions.

As AboutLawsuits has covered these groundbreaking medical studies drawing a link between hair relaxer exposure and cancer, and the evolving litigation, consumers have turned to our platform to share their personal experiences, shedding light on the long term consequences of using chemical hair treatments that were never disclosed.

Studies Linking Hair Relaxer and Cancer

In recent years, several studies have been published that make a connection between the use of hair relaxer and cancer, raising concerns about the wide spread use of the products by African Americans and other minority women throughout the U.S.

Some of the studies and evidence suggesting that side effects of chemical hair relaxers cause cancer include:

Examples of Hair Relaxer Lawsuits

Lawsuit Against Hair Relaxer Manufacturers Alleges Black Women Targeted: Erika Williams filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on February 23, 2023, claiming hair relaxer manufacturers such as L’Oreal, Softsheen-Carson, Inc. and others targeted black women with false advertisements that hair relaxers were safe for use. Williams hair relaxer lawsuit filed in Michigan claims she developed uterine cancer as a direct result of her regular and prolonged use of hair relaxers containing undisclosed endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Hair Relaxer Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit: Tamara Sigars filed a lawsuit against several hair relaxer manufacturers on January 11, 2023, claiming the toxic chemicals used in Dark & Lovely, Optimum, Motions and other hair straightening products caused her to develop ovarian cancer. Sigars claims that as a result of the manufacturers failure to warn about cancer risks from hair relaxer use, she developed ovarian cancer that required her to undergo a hysterectomy and numerous rounds of chemotherapy.

Dark & Lovely Endometrial Cancer Lawsuit: Ladonna Mahaffey filed a hair relaxer cancer lawsuit against L’Oreal and Softsheen-Carson, Inc. on December 12, 2022, claiming she developed endometriosis and endometrial cancer from routine exposure to phthalates and other endocrine disrupting chemicals in Dark & Lovely products. As a result of the conditions, Mahaffey states she required a full and complete hysterectomy at the age of 36.

Dark & Lovely Class Action Lawsuit:  A group of women have filed a Dark & Lovely class action lawsuit against L’Oreal USA and Softsheen-Carson, Inc., indicating they purchased Dark & Lovely hair relaxer, unaware that it contained toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals. While none of the plaintiffs indicate they have been diagnosed with a specific injury, they claim that the manufacturer should be forced to remove the adulterated products from the market and required to pay for medical monitoring of class members.

Hair Relaxer Medical Monitoring Lawsuit: A hair relaxer medical monitoring lawsuit was filed by several plaintiff’s in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on November 17, 2022. The lawsuit calls for L’Oreal and Softsheen-Carson, Inc. to pay for medical monitoring of women who used Dark & Lovely hair relaxers who may now face an increased risk of uterine cancer, fibroids and other injuries from exposure to the toxic chemicals.

Hair Relaxer Uterine Cancer Lawsuit: Following use of Dark & Lovely, Just for Me and Cantu Shea Butter Relaxer over a period of nearly three decades, Timika Smith indicated that she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and endomedtriosis, according to a lawsuit filed on November 2, 2022. Smith outlined a number of studies linking chemicals in hair relaxer and uterine cancer, indicating that the manufacturers targeted Black women.

Hair Relaxer Uterine Fibroid Lawsuit: Mahogany Lee filed a lawsuit over uterine fibroids from hair relaxer products on October 27, 2022, indicating that she had to undergo a hysterectomy following development of uterine fibroids when she was 29 years old, leaving her unable to have children.

Hair Relaxer Uterine Fibroid Myomectomy Lawsuit: The lawsuit was filed by KeAira Gamble in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia on October 26, indicating she developed uterine fibroids from hair relaxer use, resulting in the need for a myomectomy. Gamble states she regularly used hair relaxer products for 18 years without knowledge of the hormone disrupting chemicals within them, which she claims has also contributed to her development of endometriosis.

Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuit: Jennifer Mitchell filed one of the first complaints over the link between hair relaxer and cancer on October 21, 2022, alleging that regular use of Dark & Lovely, Motions and Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) Olive Oil hair relaxer caused uterine cancer to develop when she was 28 years old. As a result, Mitchell had to undergo a full hysterectomy in September 2019 and has been left unable to have children and suffering from pain and emotional distress.

Have a Hair Relaxer Lawyer Review Your Case

Lawyers provide free consultations and claim evaluations to help women throughout the United States determine whether financial compensation or settlement benefits may be available by pursuing a:

• Hair Relaxer Uterine Cancer Lawsuit
• Hair Relaxer Ovarian Cancer Lawsuit, or
• Hair Relaxer Uterine Fibroid Lawsuit

There are no fees or expenses unless a recovery or hair relaxer lawsuit payout is obtained in your case.