Uterine and Endometrial Cancer Caused by Hair Relaxer Products: Lawsuit

Woman claims her reproductive cancers developed after more than a quarter century of using L’Oreal, Revlon and Softsheen hair relaxer products.

A Virginia woman has filed a lawsuit claiming that the use of chemical straighteners manufactured by several different popular cosmetics companies caused her to develop uterine cancer and endometrial cancer.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Sharon West in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on March 20, naming L’Oreal, Revlon and Softsheen-Carson as the defendants.

West’s complaint joins more than 6,500 similar hair relaxer lawsuits filed by mostly African American women over the past few years, following the publication of a 2022 study that highlighted a link between hair relaxer use and uterine cancer. Other studies have also linked long-term hair relaxer use to an increased risk of ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer.

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

According to West’s lawsuit, she began using hair relaxer products in 1990, and continued applying them to her scalp until at least 2016. During that time period, West indicates she regularly used Optimum relaxer, Olive Oil Relaxer and Cream of Nature No Lye Relaxer products sold by defendants named in the lawsuit.

West claims that as a direct result of exposure to the chemicals in these products, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and endometrial cancer in May 2023.

Her lawsuit presents claims of negligence, gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, design defect, failure to warn, breach of warranty, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, violations of U.S. state consumer protection laws and unjust enrichment.

Hair Relaxer Cancer Litigation

West’s complaint will be consolidated with similar hair relaxer lawsuits currently pending as part of a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Illinois, where U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings in cases brought by women throughout the U.S.

Early in the litigation, Judge Rowland called for a series of bellwether trials to be held, to help the parties evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their positions, and potentially drive hair relaxer settlement negotiations, which will be necessary to avoid thousands of individual cases being set for trial.

Earlier this month, she issued a court order detailing the bellwether selection process, and outlined the schedule for completing discovery and filing pretrial motions in the cases, which will likely not be ready to go before a jury until at least 2027.

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.