Risk of health problems for women who use Dark & Lovely hair relaxers
Although the cosmetics giant's Dark & Lovely hair relaxers are marketed as safe hair care products, they can cause severe burns, which allow the chemicals to absorb more into the scalp. According to a National Institutes of Health study, the endocrine-disrupting chemicals from chemical hair relaxers could potentially increase the risk of uterine and ovarian cancers. L'Oreal's Dark & Lovely hair relaxers were the first no-lye hair straightening products in the 1970s, and today there are various types of Dark & Lovely hair relaxers available on the market.
The following hair-straightening products are named in recent toxic hair relaxer lawsuits:
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer Triple Nourished Silkening Relaxer No-Lye
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer Healthy-Gloss 5 Shade Shea Moisture No-Lye Relaxer
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer No-Lye Conditioning Relaxer System
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer Healthy-Gloss 5 Moisturizing No-Lye Relaxer with Shea Butter
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer Superior Moisture Plus No-Lye Relaxer Kit
- Dark & Lovely Hair Relaxer Moisture Plus No-Lye Relaxer
Dark & Lovely hair relaxer lawsuits
The first hair relaxer lawsuit against Dark & Lovely was filed in Chicago after a study that linked chemical hair relaxers to uterine cancer was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in October 2022. Other toxic hair relaxer lawsuits followed it in November and December, and the number of toxic hair relaxer lawsuits keeps growing.
Women who sued L'Oreal, claim that the cosmetics company heavily promoted the Dark & Lovely hair relaxer line toward African American women while failing to warn about the health risks of exposure to toxic chemicals in the products. Plaintiffs claim they would not have purchased the Dark & Lovely hair relaxers if they had known that the products contain chemicals that might increase the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers such as uterine or ovarian cancer.
