Sundial Brands Class Action Says Hair Products Don’t Cause Growth

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A California woman has filed a putative class action lawsuit against hair care product manufacturer, Sundial Brands LLC and Nubian Heritage.

Plaintiff Marianne Padilla alleges the companies unlawfully profit on and exploit consumers’ fear and anxiety surrounding their thinning hair and lost hair by falsely advertising their products as having the ability to grow hair.

New-York based Sundial sells hair and scalp products marketed as hair growth products under the Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage brand names.

These hair growth products prominently feature the word “grow” on the front label, and many of the products’ labeling contains large typeface wording “Strengthen, Grow & Restore” or “Heal, Strenghten & Grow” hair.

However, Padilla says Sundial’s representations are not true and that contrary to what is printed on their labels, the products do not stimulate hair growth.

Padilla allegedly purchased several Sundial hair products at a retail store in California and says she and other similarly situated consumers were misled into believing Sundial’s hair products would cause or promote hair growth.

She contends that the hair growth labeling claims are unsupported by scientific data and that according to the FDA, there is only a single ingredient for over-the-counter use, known as minoxidil, which has been shown to produce hair growth.

According to her complaint, Padilla states that “the FDA has further determined that labeling claims for all other hair growth products besides those containing minoxidil for over the counter external use are ‘either false, misleading, or unsupported by scientific data’.”

The plaintiff further alleges that she relied on Sundial’s false and misleading representations that the products would cause or promote hair growth.

Had she known the hair products were “wholly ineffective at causing or promoting hair growth” she would not have purchased Sundial’s products or paid such a high price for the products.

The proposed class action lawsuit notes that “[Sundial’s] ongoing practice of advertising, marketing, labeling, selling and representing that the Products cause or promote hair growth, when in fact they do not, is likely to deceive ordinary consumers of the Products and has in fact deceived the Plaintiff.”

Padilla asserts six causes of action: Three causes of action for violation of California Unfair Competition Law (unlawful, unfair and fraudulent practices), violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, breach of California Commercial Code, and violation of California’s False Advertising Law.

The plaintiff is seeking to represent a Class of California consumers who purchased the products at retailers throughout California and online in the past four years.

She is asking for restitution of the purchase price for all of the Class Members who bought the products.

Originally filed in California Superior Court, the proposed class action lawsuit was recently removed to federal court in the Northern District of California.

Padilla is represented by Mark N. Todzo, Howard Hirsch and Abigail Blodgett of Lexington Law Group.

The Sundial Hair Products False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Marianne Padilla v. Sundial Brands LLC, et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-04193, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.