New lawsuits claim L’Oreal hair relaxers caused 3 women’s cancer

L’Oreal hair relaxers lawsuits overview: 

• Who: Carrie Young, Kimbral Weddington and Windy Leon each filed a lawsuit against L’Oréal USA Inc. and related entities.
• Why: Young, Weddington and Leon claim L’Oréal hair relaxer products they used for years caused and/or contributed to them developing cancer. 
• Where: The lawsuits were filed in Illinois federal court. 

A trio of women are claiming in new lawsuits that L’Oréal USA hair relaxer products caused or contributed to their cancer.

Plaintiffs Windy Leon and Kimbrel Weddington claim in their lawsuits that L’Oréal hair relaxers led to, or contributed to them developing, endometrial cancer. Plaintiff Carrie Young’s lawsuit claims L’Oréal hair relaxers caused or contributed to her uterine cancer. 

Leon and Weddington argue they developed endometrial cancer after using various Dark and Lovely and Mizani hair relaxer products, respectively. It is unclear what hair relaxer products Young used that allegedly led to her developing uterine cancer. 

The lawsuits come in the wake of the release of a 2023 National Institutes of Health study that found women who used hair-straightening products at least four times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer. 

Negligence, unjust enrichment alleged in L’Oréal hair relaxers cancer case

Leon claims she purchased and used the Dark and Lovely hair relaxer products from around the start of 1980 through about the start of 2015, while Weddigton claims she purchased the Mizani hair relaxer products in Mississippi and used them from around 1973 to 2019. 

Young, meanwhile, claims she purchased the L’Oréal hair relaxer products in Mississippi and used them from about 1970 until around 2016. 

The women are bringing a number of claims against L’Oréal and related entities, including claims of negligence and/or gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, unjust enrichment and fraudulent concealment.

Leon, Weddington and Young also claim L’Oréal and its co-defendants are guilty of violating the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the FTC Act. The plaintiffs are each demanding a jury trial and requesting an award of punitive damages. 

The class action lawsuits are the latest to be filed against L’Oréal. The personal care company previously was hit with a similar class action in 2022, which claimed that its hair straightening products caused a different consumer to develop uterine cancer. 

The consumer in that class action, a Missouri woman, argued her uterine cancer was “directly and proximately” caused by “regular and prolonged exposure” to phthalates and other endocrine disrupting chemicals she argued were found in the L’Oréal products. 

Have you used a hair straightening product and later developed uterine, endometrial or ovarian cancer? You may qualify to join a free lawsuit investigation.

The plaintiffs are each represented by Syreeta Poindexter of Babin Law LLC. 

The L’Oréal hair relaxers lawsuits are Leon v. L’Oréal USA Inc., et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00530, Weddington v. L’Oréal USA Inc., et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00525 and Young v. L’Oréal USA Inc., et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00529, all in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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