Hair Relaxer Endometrial Cancer Lawsuits and Ovarian Cancer Lawsuits Proposed for Early Trials

Attorneys have agreed on at least one hair relaxer lawsuit filed by a Florida woman, which defendants say should be selected for the first bellwether trial in federal litigation.

With more than than 12,000 hair relaxer lawsuits now pending in the federal court system, each side involved in the litigation has proposed a group of claims involving the development of endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer, which they believe will serve as appropriate “bellwether” cases to go before juries.

The litigation began in late 2022, after a National Institutes of Health study found that women who regularly used chemical hair straighteners faced a higher risk of developing cancers, particularly uterine, ovarian and endometrial cancer. The lawsuits target major manufacturers, including L’Oreal and Revlon, over products such as Just for Me, Dark & Lovely, and Optimum.

According to the complaints, the products were heavily marketed to women of color, encouraging frequent use of chemical straighteners as a way to conform to societal beauty standards. Plaintiffs allege this led to disproportionate exposure to harmful chemicals.

Each of the lawsuits raise similar claims that manufacturers failed to warn consumers about cancer risks linked to long-term use, pointing to ingredients commonly found in these products, including phthalates, parabens and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals, which have been associated with hormone disruption and the development of tumors in reproductive tissues.

Since 2023, all federal hair relaxer lawsuits have been consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland, who is leading the litigation through coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

In May 2025, Judge Rowland ordered the parties to prepare 32 hair relaxer lawsuits for early discovery, which have been prepared for the first “bellwether” trials expected to go before juries by the second half of 2027. 

Over the past year, the parties have readied these cases for trial through depositions and case-specific discovery, with each side nominating specific claims late last week, indicating which claims they believe would be most representative of the litigation as a whole for the first trial date.

Out of the 32 discovery cases, each sides has identified 12 potential bellwether case selections that they believe would serve as representative trial cases, with results more likely to provide useful information relevant to thousands of other claims.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s (PSC) position paper (PDF) noted that more than 83% of claims involve a uterine or endometrial cancer diagnosis, 14% involve cases of ovarian cancer, with 1.2% involving other injury claims.  More than 70% of the lawsuits involve claims against L’Oreal, the paper notes. Therefore, the PSC list involves 11 claims of endometrial cancer and one lawsuit involving an ovarian cancer claim.

Defendants’ position paper (PDF) and list also focused primarily on endometrial cancer claims, and notes that one of the lawsuits, filed by Carrie Chattman of Florida, was selected by both plaintiffs and defendants. Defendants say this level of agreement leans heavily toward the claim being selected for the first hair relaxer lawsuit bellwether trial.

Judge Rowland is expected to nominate the first three claims eligible to serve as actual bellwether trial cases by April 1, previously indicating that plaintiffs will then be permitted to select one of the cases for trial by April 6, with defendants choosing another claim by April 10. The Court will then repeat the process, selecting a second group of three potential bellwether cases by April 15, with plaintiffs choosing one of those cases by April 24 and defendants selecting another by April 30.

While the results of these bellwether trials will not be binding on other cases, they are expected to give the parties and the court an idea of how juries will weigh evidence, testimony and legal theories that would be a prominent factor throughout the rest of the litigation. It is hoped that the results of these trials could help pave the way for hair relaxer cancer lawsuit settlement negotiations.

However, if the bellwether trials and pretrial proceedings end without a settlement or other resolution, the lawsuits may be remanded back to their originating federal district courts for individual trial dates.