November 8, 2022 — A lawsuit has been filed by a woman from Illinois who blames hair relaxers for causing her endometriosis, uterine cancer, and hysterectomy.
The woman, Timika S., said she was exposed to toxic chemicals in hair relaxers like Dark & Lovely, Just for Me, and Cantu Shea Butter Relaxer beginning in 1987, when she was just 10 years old.
She continued to use hair relaxers to straighten her hair for the next 30 years, until she was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2017. Two months later, she had a surgical hysterectomy to remove her womb.
In her lawsuit, she blames L’Oreal and other beauty companies for aggressively marketing hair relaxers toward African American women, while failing to warn about the life-threatening health risks of being exposed to toxic chemicals.
According to the lawsuit, hair relaxers that are sold by L’Oreal, Soft Sheen / Carson, Strength Of Nature, and many other companies contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can mimic hormones.
These toxic chemicals are added to hair relaxers, disguised as “fragrance” or “perfumes,” the lawsuit claims. They are absorbed by the body through skin lesions, burns, and sores that commonly occur on the scalp during the hair relaxing process.
In recent weeks, several lawsuits have been filed by women who were blame endocrine-disrupting chemicals in hair relaxers for causing their uterine cancer, endometriosis, breast cancer, or fibroids.
The litigation was sparked by a major study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that found a doubled risk of uterine cancer for women who used hair relaxers every 4 months. The researchers estimated that 4% of women would develop uterine cancer by age 70.
The lawsuit was filed on November 2, 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) against L’Oreal, Soft Sheen-Carson, Strength of Nature, Godrej, PDC Brands, and Parfums De Coeur — Case Number 1:22-cv-06047.
Do I have a Hair Relaxer Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting hair relaxer induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know used hair relaxers and was diagnosed with endometriosis, uterine cancer, breast cancer, or uterine fibroids, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Product Liability Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
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