Product Liability
Hair Relaxer Lawsuits (MDL 3060): What the Record Shows
A review of the hair relaxer litigation: the federal MDL over chemical straighteners, the research on uterine cancer, and what has not been decided.
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Hair relaxer lawsuits are consolidated in a single federal multidistrict proceeding, MDL No. 3060, in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Mary M. Rowland. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created the proceeding by a transfer order filed February 6, 2023, and its docket summary for October 1, 2026 lists 12,381 actions pending out of 16,828 filed. The actions allege that chemical hair straightening and hair relaxer products contain phthalates or other endocrine-disrupting chemicals and that their use caused or increased the risk of uterine, ovarian, or breast cancer and other injuries to the reproductive system. No court has found that any product caused any person’s cancer, and the documents reviewed here record no settlement.
What is established vs. what is alleged
Established by the documents reviewed here: the existence and identity of MDL No. 3060 in the Northern District of Illinois; the Panel’s transfer order of February 6, 2023 and its description of the actions; the Panel’s pending-case counts of October 1, 2026; the FDA’s treatment of hair relaxers and hair smoothing products as cosmetics; two FDA warning letters about hair smoothing products that release formaldehyde; and the published results of the NIH-led study on straightener use and uterine cancer.
Alleged, and not decided: that the products contained the chemicals at issue; that they caused or increased the risk of cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or other reproductive-system injury; that the defendants knew or should have known of those risks; and that the defendants’ testing and post-market surveillance were inadequate. The Panel’s order records these as the plaintiffs’ allegations and the defendants’ denials. Nothing in the documents reviewed here resolves them.
Where the claims stand procedurally
The federal claims are consolidated as MDL No. 3060, In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Panel’s transfer order, filed February 6, 2023, assigns the litigation to Judge Mary M. Rowland under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings.
The Panel’s docket summary listing records master docket number 1:23-cv-818 and no closure date. When the Panel created the MDL, it described nine actions in four districts and had been notified of 44 related actions in fifteen more; by the date of its order it counted 53 involved actions in nineteen districts. The pending-dockets report for October 1, 2026 lists 12,381 actions pending in the MDL out of 16,828 filed.
An MDL is a pretrial consolidation: it centralizes discovery and pretrial motions but does not merge the individual claims into a class or decide whether any claim is valid. The product liability section covers how defect and failure-to-warn claims are pleaded, and MDLs compared with class actions explains the difference. Related coverage includes talcum powder litigation, Roundup and glyphosate litigation and NEC infant formula litigation.
What the research on straighteners and uterine cancer found
The Panel’s order records that on October 17, 2022, a study led by the National Institutes of Health reported findings that women who frequently used chemical hair straightening or hair relaxer products were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer as women who did not use such products.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2022;114(12):1636-1645), examined 33,947 Sister Study participants aged 35 to 74 who had a uterus at enrollment in 2003 to 2009. Over an average of 10.9 years of follow-up, the authors identified 378 uterine cancer cases. Ever use of straightening products in the previous 12 months, compared with never use, was associated with higher uterine cancer rates (hazard ratio 1.80, 95 percent confidence interval 1.12 to 2.88), and frequent use, more than four times in the prior 12 months, with a hazard ratio of 2.55 (95 percent confidence interval 1.46 to 4.45). Use of hair dyes, permanents or body waves was not associated with uterine cancer in that analysis.
An observational cohort study reports an association between a behavior and an outcome; it does not establish that a product caused any individual’s cancer. The Panel’s order records the defendants’ contention that the plaintiffs had not identified a single endocrine-disrupting chemical common to all hair relaxer products.
What the FDA has said about hair relaxers and straighteners
The FDA regulates cosmetics, including hair relaxers and hair smoothing products, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and, for retail products, under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Cosmetics are not approved by the FDA before sale, and the agency’s consumer fact sheet states that the law does not require hair dyes or hair relaxers to be approved by the FDA before they are sold in stores.
The FDA’s page on hair smoothing products states that they often contain formaldehyde, also called formalin and methylene glycol, and that heating the solution releases formaldehyde into the air as a gas that can be inhaled by salon professionals and clients. The same page states that formaldehyde has been classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer because, at high levels or with prolonged exposure, it has been linked to certain types of cancer.
The FDA page also records two warning letters to hair smoothing product firms, to GIB, LLC (doing business as Brazilian Blowout) and to Van Tibolli Beauty Corp., citing safety and labeling violations, and notes that both firms took steps to correct the violations it listed. The FDA states that those warning letters should not be interpreted as a broad evaluation of the safety of hair smoothing products in general.
The agency’s fact sheet for consumers advises users of hair relaxers to keep the product away from the eyes and other skin, to wear gloves, to follow the package directions, not to leave the product on longer than directed, and not to relax hair if the scalp is irritated, sunburned or damaged. It also states that the FDA monitors consumer reports of adverse events.
Key dates
- June 2015: the FDA publishes its “Hair Dyes and Relaxers” consumer fact sheet.
- October 17, 2022: an NIH-led study reports the association between frequent use of hair straighteners and uterine cancer, as recorded in the Panel’s transfer order.
- February 6, 2023: the Panel’s transfer order creates MDL No. 3060 in the Northern District of Illinois and assigns it to Judge Mary M. Rowland.
- October 1, 2026: the Panel reports 12,381 actions pending in MDL No. 3060 out of 16,828 filed.
What this does not establish
A court has not found, in the documents reviewed here, that any hair relaxer or straightening product caused any person’s cancer or other injury. The claims remain allegations in a pretrial consolidation, and the Panel’s order records the defendants’ denial that the products caused the injuries alleged.
The published study reports an association between use and uterine cancer among the women it followed, which is not proof that the products caused any individual’s cancer. The FDA’s warning letters are regulatory actions about specific labeling and safety violations, not a broad evaluation of these products, and the agency has not banned hair relaxers; FDA approval is not required before they are sold.
Nothing in the record reviewed here announces or approves a settlement in MDL No. 3060, and nothing here states the value of any claim or predicts any outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a hair relaxer settlement?
No settlement is recorded in the documents reviewed here. The Panel’s October 1, 2026 reports list MDL No. 3060 as open, with no closure date, and they record no announced or approved settlement.
Does the FDA say that hair relaxers cause cancer?
Not in the documents reviewed here. The FDA states that formaldehyde, which it says hair smoothing products often contain and release when heated, has been classified as a human carcinogen at high levels or with prolonged exposure. That is a statement about a chemical, not a finding that any hair relaxer caused any person’s cancer.
What is MDL No. 3060?
It is the federal multidistrict proceeding that centralizes the pretrial stages of the hair relaxer claims. The Panel created it on February 6, 2023 in the Northern District of Illinois, before Judge Mary M. Rowland. As of October 1, 2026, the Panel counted 12,381 actions pending out of 16,828 filed.
What injuries do the hair relaxer claims involve?
The Panel’s transfer order records allegations that use of the products caused or increased the risk of uterine, ovarian or breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or other injuries to the reproductive system. The same order records that the defendants deny those claims. Those are allegations, not court findings.
Who is named in the litigation?
The Panel’s order identifies several sets of defendants, including the L’Oréal defendants, Dabur International Ltd. and Namasté Laboratories, LLC, the Strength of Nature and Godrej SON Holdings entities, and House of Cheatham. It also notes that PDC Brands and Parfums de Coeur, Ltd. were named in some actions but did not enter an appearance. Being named in a case is not a finding of liability.
Sources
- U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation: “In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3060, Transfer Order (February 6, 2023)” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
- U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation: “MDL Statistics Report: Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by District, Report Date 10/1/2026” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
- U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation: “MDL Statistics Report: Docket Summary Listing, Report Date 10/1/2026” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “Hair Smoothing Products That Release Formaldehyde When Heated” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “Cosmetics Facts: Hair Dyes and Relaxers” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
- U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed): “Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2022)” (link, accessed 2026-10-14)
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