Minnesota AG sues L’Oréal over hair relaxer cancer risks

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota’s attorney general Kieth Ellison says L’Oréal sold chemical hair relaxers as safe while hiding cancer risks from Black women and girls.

Minnesota lawsuit targets hair relaxer brands

On Oct. 23, the state’s attorney general filed a consumer-protection lawsuit against L’Oréal and its subsidiaries, alleging the companies misled consumers about the safety of chemical hair relaxers sold under the Dark and Lovely, Optimum and Mizani brands.

The complaint says the marketing targeted Black women and children and broke three Minnesota laws covering consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising.

Local perspective:

"It’s outrageous that L’Oréal marketed these products to Black women and girls as safe when they knew they were not and had a duty to disclose they were not," said Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Ellison said women who want to straighten their hair have a right to choose products that are safe and do not expose them to higher risks of cancer or other hazards. He said the lawsuit is meant to hold L’Oréal accountable for deceiving Minnesota consumers for years and profiting from that deception.

By the numbers:

The complaint cites four studies that say women who use chemical hair relaxers three or more times a year face increased risks of uterine and ovarian cancer. In one of those studies, researchers also found increased risks of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and pancreatic cancer among women who used chemical hair relaxers.

According to the complaint, that study found a 71% increased risk of thyroid cancer and a 166% increased risk of pancreatic cancer for women who had used chemical straighteners in the year before enrolling in the study, compared with women who had not used them.

Claims focus on hidden health risks

The complaint says L’Oréal knew about all four studies and had specialized knowledge about the makeup of its products, the chemical and toxicological profile of those kinds of ingredients and the long-term health risks tied to repeated and prolonged use.

According to the attorney general’s office, that information was not equally available to Minnesota consumers and L’Oréal did not disclose it.

The backstory:

The lawsuit says L’Oréal and its subsidiaries spent decades marketing toxic chemical hair relaxers to women and girls of African descent as a safe and desirable way to make naturally textured hair conform to prevailing beauty standards. The complaint says the companies kept selling the products while concealing what it describes as significant cancer risks.

The complaint also says L’Oréal continued to market the products as safe and beneficial, calling them healthy, natural, nourishing, moisturizing, strengthening and gentle. It says the companies publicly claim they follow the "highest standards of safety," "guarantee the product safety of each and every one of their products" and "source the world’s finest ingredients through a trusted network of global suppliers, each tested before use to confirm their safety and quality."

What's next:

Ellison seeks civil penalties, consumer restitution and other relief, according to the complaint. He also wants an injunction that would stop continued sales without adequate warnings about the products’ health risks.

Keith EllisonMinnesota