Hair Relaxer Wrongful Death Lawsuit Links Fatal Endometrial Cancer to Chemical Straightener Use

Woman died after 16 years of using several popular hair relaxer products when her cancer metastasized and spread.

A recently filed hair relaxer lawsuit blames several major brands for the death of a Mississippi woman, due to exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in their hair straightening products.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Deborah Neal, on behalf of herself and the estate of Da-Chiana Swearengen, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on February 27, naming L’Oreal, Softsheen-Carson LLC, Dabur International Ltd., Namaste Laboratories LLC, Godrej Son Holdings, Inc., and Strength of Nature, LLC as defendants.

The lawsuit indicates all of the defendants sold hair relaxer products used by Swearengen, including Just for Me, Dark & Lovely, ORS Olive Oil and African Pride, who was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in March 2022, which eventually became fatal.

The complaint joins more than 6,500 hair relaxer lawsuits being pursued against various manufacturers, each raising similar allegations that chemicals contained in the straighteners caused users to develop endometrial cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer or other injuries.

The hair relaxer litigation emerged after a study was published in October 2022, which highlighted a link between hair relaxers and cancer, finding that women who regularly used the products face a 156% increased risk of uterine cancer compared to women who did not use them. Other studies have also linked exposure to the chemical hair straighteners to ovarian cancer, as well as other injuries.

Plaintiffs maintain that L’Oreal and other manufacturers have provided false and misleading information for African American women for decades, failing to disclose the side effects they may experience from the endocrine disrupting chemicals contained in widely used products like Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, Optimum and other hair relaxers.

The lawsuit indicates Swearengen began using various hair relaxers in 2001 and continued to use them until 2017.

Her cancer eventually metastasized and she had to undergo harsh chemotherapy treatments, which failed to stop the cancer and save her life.

Neal’s lawsuit presents claims of negligence and gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, design defect, failure to warn, breach of warranty, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, violations of U.S. consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment and wrongful death. Neal seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuits

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, all lawsuits like Swearengen’s are currently centralized as a part of a hair relaxer lawsuit MDL (multidistrict litigation) before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in the Northern District of Illinois, where the court is overseeing coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Early in the litigation, Judge Rowland determined that a series of bellwether test trials would help the parties gauge how juries may respond to the claims, and promote potential hair relaxer settlement talks.

The bellwether claims will focus on lawsuits involving uterine cancer, ovarian cancer or endometrial cancer following hair relaxer use. However, plaintiffs who also experienced other injuries can be included in the bellwether pool, as long as they also have one of those three cancer diagnoses, according to an order issued by Judge Rowland last month.

While the outcome of these early trials will not be binding on other women presenting a claim, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the litigation, and may have a substantial impact on the timing and average amounts of any hair relaxer settlements offered to women diagnosed with uterine cancer, endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer in future years.