L’Oreal and five other beauty companies have been sued by a woman who blames their hair relaxing products for causing her uterine cancer, endometriosis, and hysterectomy.
The lawsuit was filed by Timika S., a woman from Illinois who claims that she started using hair relaxers in 1987, when she was just 10 years old, and continued to use them until 2017, at the age of 39.
She was diagnosed with uterine cancer in July 2017 and underwent a full hysterectomy two months later.
She blames her cancer and endometriosis on exposure to chemicals in hair relaxers, including Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, and Cantu Shea Butter Relaxer.
According to the lawsuit, hair relaxers contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals and phthalates that can disrupt hormone levels. These chemicals are present in hair relaxers under the guise of “fragrance” and “perfumes,” and get into the body through damaged skin on the scalp.
Her lawsuit joins a growing number of cases that have been filed nationwide by women who developed uterine cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or breast cancer after years of using hair relaxers.
The lawsuits were filed after a study found a doubled risk of uterine cancer for women who used hair relaxers at least 4 times a year.
L’Oreal and other beauty companies are accused of aggressively marketing hair relaxers to African American women, while failing to warn them about the life-threatening health risk of toxic chemicals.
The defendants include L’Oreal USA Inc., Soft Sheen-Carson LLC, Strength of Nature LLC, Godrej SON Holdings Inc., PDC Brands, and Parfums De Coeur Ltd.
Her Hair Relaxer Lawsuit was filed on November 2, 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) — Case Number 1:22-cv-06047.