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Three women are taking L’Oreal to task in a consumer class action lawsuit over claims that the company’s Amla Relaxer causes hair loss and skin damage.
Plaintiffs Lavette Jacobs, Tiffany Raines and Sandi Turnipseed are suing defendants L’Oreal USA Inc. and Soft Sheen-Carson LLC.
They claim that the two manufacturers of Amla Relaxer make representations that the product leaves hair stronger and healthier, when it actually causes hair to fall out in clumps and leave the user’s skin burned and irritated.
The plaintiffs quote several negative online product reviews allegedly posted by consumers who suffered hair damage after using Amla Relaxer.
The class action states that the defendants responded to these negative reviews by contacting the consumers who posted the reviews and offered to reimburse them for expenses related to their alleged injuries, including costs for medical treatment and wigs.
That practice shows the defendants knew about the problems Amla Relaxer was causing, the plaintiffs argue. They say the defendants have known about these problems for at least three years.
At the same time the defendants were paying off individual consumers, they continued to market Amla Relaxer without issuing any warning about the associated problems, the plaintiffs say.
Each of the plaintiffs claims suffering from unexpected harm after using Amla Relaxer.
Jacobs says that immediately after using Amla Relaxer according to the instructions, her scalp began to burn and her hair started falling out. She says she still suffers from hair loss. Jacobs claims she had to cut her remaining hair and get extensions to cover the hair loss.
Raines says Amla Relaxer made her scalp burn and her hair fall out, even though she had previously used other hair relaxers without any hair loss or significant injuries. She claims that an expensive hair regrowth product failed to restore her lost hair, and she had to resort to getting extensions.
Turnipseed says she bought Amla Relaxer specifically because she wanted to grow her hair longer, and she believed Amla’s no-mix and no-lye formula would not reduce her hair’s strength. She claims that she never would have bought Amla Relaxer if she had known it could cause hair loss. Nevertheless, after using Amla Relaxer, Turnipseed says her hair fell out in clumps and she developed scabs on her scalp and forehead that took weeks to heal.
The three plaintiffs are proposing to represent a nationwide plaintiff Class consisting of “[a]ll purchasers of Soft Sheen-Carson Optimum Salon Haircare brand Amla Legend Rejuvenating Ritual Relaxer in the United States or its territories between January 1, 2013 and the present.”
They are also proposing three subclasses consisting of Class Members from each of the named plaintiffs’ home states of New York, Florida and Kentucky.
The plaintiffs seek a damage award to include statutory damages available under various consumer protection laws, plus reimbursement of their attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Jonathan K. Tycko and Andrea Gold of Tycko & Zavareei LLP; Rachel Soffin and Jonathan B. Cohen of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group; and by Nick Suciu III of Barbat, Mansour & Suciu PLLC.
The L’Oreal Amla Relaxer Defective Product Class Action Lawsuit is Lavette Jacobs, et al. v. L’Oreal USA Inc., et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-06593, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
UPDATE: Feb. 22, 2017, a new L’Oreal Amla Hair Relaxer class action will be added to multiple lawsuits that have been consolidated and transferred to multidistrict litigation.
UPDATE 2: On April 3, 2018, a judge tossed most claims in a multidistrict litigation claiming that L’Oreal’s Amla Legend Rejuvenating Ritual Relaxer kit is unsafe.
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36 thoughts onL’Oreal Class Action Says Amla Relaxer Causes Hair Loss and Skin Burns
Im always trying different relaxers looking for better results. When I saw it this in the store among the other relaxers, this terrible product stood out from the others. Impressively marketed to us, the look of it, th packaging & information given about the product make it very seem very appealing. However the outside of the box is the only good thing about it. Idk how this one even & made it into stores. I’ve always used L’Oreal makeup & their hair products & never had any complaints but this one is ridiculous. I don’t understand, companies have to go through a development & testing phase before putting new products one the market & into our hands. I had thought maybe I just got a random defective box. Obviously now Ik it wasn’t just me. I think it had only been on my hair for about 3 minutes when the burning started up. I tried to ignore it, but that lasted for a min or 2 at most. I jumped in the shower trying to get it off of me as fast as possible. Shampoo over & over as I stood there in the shower trying not to cry watching as my hair kept coming out.
Where are the claim forms
My hair is so damage from using this product I don’t know what to do and I don’t know how to make my hair grow back
Ever since I seen this class action I have relived the trauma I went through. I even went to my Doctor and a dermatologist to see if there was anything they could do to help me. After using this product I also suffer hair loss and had to wear wigs for 2 years. This put me in a deep depression. I felt so embarrassed and ugly. Over the years I have spent a lot of money on wigs and Hair Vitamins’. I’m still trying to recover from damage that this relaxer did to my hair and my life. To this date my hair won’t grow out in some places so I wear it in a French roll or a bun.
Both my sister and I have suffered severe hair loss after using Amla Relaxer. This has been horrifying and I feel so bad because I bought the products for both us and I still have an unopended box because I was so convinced that it was a great product and that I would have an extra one on hand. Clumps of hair came out even leaving my sister with a bald spot the size of a quarter. Totally bald in spots, breakage all over our heads, thick full heads of hair severely thinned out. This is not the result of over processing. This stuff is caustic, misleading, false advertising and is outright lying about what it’s supposed to do. We trusted in names that have been in the “hair” business a long time and we considered them to be reputable. We are wearing weaves and wigs because of the hair loss and haven’t used another relaxer. This product shouldn’t be on the market or should have a warning on the box about causing hair loss. Oh, that would be contradicting the promises/lies of great benefits to our hair on the box that influenced us to buy the product. That was our first and last time using the product. Extreme hair loss happened to both of us, not only one of us. That leads us to believe that it was the product alone. In addition, a lot of hair loss was from the root where it was applied to new growth virgin hair. We are distraught!
Used this product from Salley ,I added some oil to my scalp and around my edges.I believe the product was so caustic, I immediately started burning as well as the nape at back of neck.My hair is very thin and itches most of the yime. I have not placed another perm in my hair since February 2016.please take this off the market. It’s like fire burning deep within.
I also experienced burns and hair loss from this product a couple of years ago and am left to wear wigs probably for the rest of my life due to the damage to my scalp. I’m so grateful someone went forward with this suit. I thought I was the only one to have this issue. I’ve spent hundreds in wigs over the years just to cover the damage. I am also interested in joining this class action lawsuit and wish that I’d pursued the matter sooner, perhaps others would have been spared the agony.
How do you join the class action lawsuit? I have proof.
I used this product and my hair started to break off in many areas. It still hasn’t grown back completely healthy. Please pass along info about the class action suit. I have photos of my damaged hair I can submit.
I use that back in January 2016. My hair fell out in patches in front Totalsas hair line and in top center . My hair haven’t came back yet. My scalp is damaged and discoloration. I am Baldhead over 10 month now. Please advise me on how to inter the class act law suit. It is embarrassing and humiliating to have to wear a wig. It is a shame to not tell people the effect of using their product. It was label for use of women of color. I do have pictures