Hair Relaxer Lawsuits (Class Action & MDL): 2024 Update

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In October 2022, the first hair relaxer lawsuit was filed by a Missouri resident, Jenny Mitchell, who had uterine cancer. This lawsuit was filed soon after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a NIEHS study linking hair straightening chemicals with higher uterine cancer risk.

Since that initial lawsuit was filed, thousands more have been filed against almost a dozen different companies that produce hair relaxers. This post will review the latest updates on hair relaxer lawsuits and how to find the right hair relaxer litigation attorneys to learn more about your legal options.

What Is the Hair Relaxer Lawsuit?

Hair relaxers are beauty products that chemically alter the texture of hair strands to remove curls. This makes it easier to straighten the hair without frizz. These products are produced and sold by several companies, including L’Oreal, Strength of Nature, Revlon, and Eastman.

The hair relaxer lawsuit is legal action taken by consumers of these products to get compensation for the harm suffered from using hair relaxers. The lawsuit alleges that the products include dangerous chemicals that cause adverse health effects like cancer, and the manufacturer either knew about these chemicals or didn’t take appropriate measures to identify them.

Is There a Hair Relaxer Class Action Lawsuit?

Most lawsuits involving hair relaxers and the link to cancer-causing ingredients are part of multidistrict litigation (MDL). However, a class action lawsuit has also been filed against the companies that created these products.

The hair relaxer class action lawsuit is seeking to recover the money that consumers spent on the products. Litigants in this lawsuit claim that if they had been made aware of the risks associated with using these products, they would have never purchased them.

What Is the Hair Relaxer MDL?

All other lawsuits, including the original lawsuit, have been combined into a multi-district lawsuit in a federal court in Chicago. The lawsuits in this MDL are all seeking compensation for users who have been diagnosed with uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, or other adverse health conditions due to using this product.

The litigants in these lawsuits are each making their own legal claims, with some of the most common being:

• The design of the product is defective or inherently dangerous
• The companies failed to properly disclose the risks
• Some companies engaged in false advertising by claiming the product was “lye-free” even though it included other dangerous chemicals
• The companies were negligent by selling an unsafe product

Are you looking to file a hair relaxer lawsuit? Find the best hair relaxer lawyer for your case.

Why Is There a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit?

According to the filings made in most of the lawsuits in the MDL, these hair relaxer lawsuits are being filed because the companies that manufactured the products knowingly or negligently included unsafe chemicals that lead to various health issues.

Harmful Chemicals

Hair relaxers in the United States include industrial chemicals such as parabens, bisphenol A, and phthalates. One of the common phthalates in hair relaxers is an endocrine-disrupting chemical known as DI-2-Ethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP).

This chemical is not yet classified as carcinogenic. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes it anticipates that DEHP will be classified as a human carcinogen. Additionally, while it is still currently legal to use in the U.S., it will be outlawed in California starting in 2025 due to Proposition 65.

Furthermore, both Canada and the European Union have banned DEHP in cosmetic products. 

DEHP presents a significant danger and cancer risk. When absorbed into the body, DEHP can cause DNA damage and disrupt estrogen.

Many of the chemicals used in the hair relaxers are associated with an increased risk of some types of cancer, endometriosis, and uterine fibroids.

After being diagnosed with these conditions, users of these products, primarily black women, pursued lawsuits to get compensation for their medical expenses and the suffering resulting from these conditions.

Uterine Cancer

Uterine cancer (also called endometrial cancer) begins as a mass of cells in the uterus. While the cause of uterine cancer is unknown, some studies show that the risk of this type of cancer doubles when a person uses hair relaxers as few as five times in the previous year.

Common symptoms of uterine cancer include heavy bleeding between periods, pelvic pain, and vaginal bleeding even after menopause has occurred. If left untreated, this cancer is life-threatening.

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is a growth of cells that form in the ovaries and quickly multiplies to destroy the surrounding healthy tissue. Symptoms often don’t appear at first or are mistakenly attributed to less serious conditions. Other common symptoms include weight loss, pelvic pain, and changes in bowel and urination habits.

Similar to uterine cancer, this cancer is much more likely in people who have used hair relaxers repeatedly during the previous year. It can also potentially be fatal if not treated early.

Have you experienced any of these issues? Find the best hair relaxer lawyer for your case.

Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Update (Class Action & MDL)

While the hair relaxer class action lawsuit has seen little recent movement, the MDL has had some rapid developments.

Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Eligibility

For a new litigant to join either the class action lawsuit or the MDL, they need to meet certain requirements. They must have purchased and used hair relaxer products manufactured by one of the companies being sued and must have been unaware of the risks associated with the product when they made those purchases. 

Furthermore, to join the MDL, the litigant must have been diagnosed with a condition associated with these products.

Evidence You Need for a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit

To join the class action lawsuit, a potential litigant must prove that they are part of the same class. The class in that lawsuit is individuals who purchased hair relaxers before the connection to cancer became public knowledge. Litigants will primarily need receipts or similar evidence that they made these purchases during the relevant period.

The evidence needed to join the MDL is more substantial. Litigants must be eligible to file a separate personal injury lawsuit against one of the defendants. They will typically need medical records that show they suffered a condition associated with these products and documentation of expenses due to that ailment.

Statute of Limitations for Hair Relaxer Lawsuits

The statute of limitations for filing a hair relaxer lawsuit is different in every state. In most states, the statute of limitations is two years from the date the litigant was harmed or discovered they were harmed. Some states only give one year, while other states, like New York, give three years to act.

Potential Settlement Amounts for Hair Relaxer Lawsuits

Settlements could potentially range anywhere from thousands of dollars to millions, depending on the merits of individual cases. The values of settlements are primarily based on how expensive medical treatment is and how much the litigant suffers from a condition caused by using hair relaxers.

Cancer, for example, may require tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of treatment per year and usually significantly decreases the quality of life of the patient. Endometriosis, however, is less painful and easier to treat, likely only resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

Litigants of the class action lawsuit should expect much less from a settlement. Most hair relaxers cost somewhere between $5 and $15. Even a litigant like Mitchell, who used the product every six to eight weeks for 18 years, probably only spent at most $2,000 to purchase hair relaxers.

Has Anyone Won a Hair Relaxer Settlement or Verdict?

So far, no hair relaxer lawsuit has ended in a settlement or a verdict. The original lawsuit was bundled into the MDL and it hasn’t even had its first bellwether trial yet. The class action lawsuit is still ongoing, with no meaningful progress in the past few months. 

The first verdict will likely come out of the initial bellwether trial, which is scheduled to begin on November 3, 2025.

Latest News on the Hair Relaxer Lawsuit

The biggest news on the hair relaxer lawsuit involves the number of new cases added to the lawsuit over the past few months. When the MDL was originally formed, it was adding thousands of cases every month, eventually reaching 8,387 pending cases. However, only a few dozen cases have been added in each of the past few months.

The other big news occurred in January 2024, when the judge scheduled the first two bellwether cases—November 3, 2025, and February 2, 2026. The size of the verdicts in those cases and the type of evidence that is presented to juries will likely determine the results of future cases and settlements.

More About Hair Relaxer Lawsuits

Let’s take a look at some FAQs on hair relaxer lawsuits. 

Is There a Lawsuit Against Hair Relaxers?

There are two types of pending lawsuits against companies that create hair relaxers. The class action lawsuit is a group lawsuit that seeks to recover money spent on hair relaxers. This lawsuit will litigate a representative case, and if it wins, everyone who signs on will receive a portion of the award.

The other lawsuit is an MDL. In an MDL, the courts combine all relevant cases for pre-trial motions, discovery, and other parts of the legal process. However, once that is complete, the individual lawsuits are all tried or settled separately. The results of these cases are often influenced by the success or failure of one or two initial cases.

How Do You Qualify for a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit?

There are very few restrictions on who qualifies for a hair relaxer lawsuit. The majority of litigants will be black women, but only because they are the primary demographic that uses this type of product. However, anyone who has used a hair relaxer and been diagnosed with a relevant condition within the duration of the statute of limitations may qualify. 

While most of the conditions associated with hair relaxers primarily affect women, a male litigant could potentially qualify in some circumstances.

Do Hair Relaxers Cause Health Problems?

In addition to uterine cancer and ovarian cancer, the endocrine-disrupting chemicals in hair relaxers are associated with an increased risk of endometriosis and uterine fibroids. These conditions are usually not as serious as cancer but still have significant symptoms and consequences.

Because the chemicals present in hair relaxers chemically resemble female sex hormones, a hormone imbalance can occur, causing inflammation and malignant growths. These uterine fibroids may disrupt fertility, potentially causing a miscarriage or preterm labor in pregnant women. This condition can also cause infertility in women who aren’t currently pregnant.

Endometriosis is unlikely to be fatal and isn’t linked with cancer, but it is still quite painful. In the worst-case scenario, a patient with this condition may require a hysterectomy.

Is There a Recall on Hair Relaxers?

The FDA has not issued a recall on any type of hair relaxers in the U.S.

File a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit With the Best Hair Relaxer Lawyers

If you have been diagnosed with any type of uterine growth or cancer after using hair relaxers repeatedly, you may be eligible to file a hair relaxer lawsuit. An attorney experienced with filing product liability cases can determine whether you have a valid case during a case evaluation.

Every case is different, and you need the right lawyer for your circumstances. Injury Lawyers Connect helps victims of defective product cases find the best hair relaxer attorneys who have years of experience handling similar cases.

Ready to learn more about how a hair relaxer lawyer can help you get fair compensation?

Find the best hair relaxer and uterine cancer lawyer today.

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