A woman should not have to worry about possibly contracting cancer while using a hair straightener, but a recent study found that might be the case. Chemical hair straighteners have a chance of causing uterine cancer, which is a form of cancer that affects your uterus. It can cause severe health complications, such as vaginal bleeding, lower abdominal pain, and vaginal discharge.
Hair straightener manufacturers owe a duty of care to their consumers to provide a safe product that cannot cause injuries, illnesses, or medical conditions that can negatively affect their lives. They can be held liable in a product liability claim for the harm caused by their product. The experienced product liability lawyers at The Russo Firm can help you pursue compensation for damages from the at-fault party’s insurance company.
Why Choose The Russo Firm for Help With Your Hair Straightener Uterine Cancer Lawsuit?
At The Russo Firm, our product liability lawyers have decades of experience helping product liability victims across the United States recover compensation for damages. Our experience helping clients gives us an understanding of what victims of defective products go through and the stress of the unexpected severe health conditions caused by defective products.
Our experienced product liability lawyers want to hear from you. Our goal is to listen to your story, so we can shape the claims process around the specifics of your case. Using a personalized legal counsel plan, along with our vast resources, our experienced product liability lawyers can help put you in a position to recover full compensation for your product liability damages. Contact The Russo Firm today for a free consultation if you received uterine cancer from a hair straightener.
Learn more: How much is a hair relaxer case worth?
The Russo Firm Case Results
You can recover compensation for product liability damages through settlement negotiations or a court case. The Russo Firm’s product liability lawyers have experience recovering full compensation both ways and can use that experience to help you with the claims process.
We understand how an insurance company will try to limit your settlement through decades of experience with product liability settlement negotiations. We can combat these bad faith tactics and ensure your claim is not denied or devalued by an insurance company trying to increase its profits. We will not settle for a lowball offer or be scared off by a court case. Our goal is to earn you fair compensation that can pay for the full cost of uterine cancer caused by a defective hair straightener.
The following are some of the case results we have earned for our clients:
- $3.3 Million for Automobile Accident Caused by Drunk Driving
- $2.4 Million for Medical Malpractice Misdiagnosis
- $2 Million for Wrongful Death Trucking Accident
- $1.75 Million Product Liability Jury Award
- $650 Thousand for Auto Accident Jury Award
Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuit Updates – June 2025
After a study was released by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) linking hair relaxing products to an increased risk of cancer, women began connecting their cancer diagnoses to these dangerous products. The first hair straightener cancer lawsuit was filed in November 2022, and the pending multidistrict litigation was formed in Illinois in February 2023.
The dangerous product team at Russo Law is meeting with women who have been harmed by hair products to determine if they are eligible to join the MDL. We will post updates about this litigation in this spot, so be sure to return often to learn more.
June 2, 2025 – Philadelphia Offers Alternative Filing Option
The Hair Relaxer MDL now has 10,317 pending cases, up from 10,168 in May—an increase of 149 new filings. While new cases continue to come in, this month’s growth was modest compared to prior jumps.
Beyond the federal MDL in Illinois, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has launched a mass tort program for chemical hair relaxers, allowing women to bring cancer claims directly in state court. Although the Philadelphia docket currently holds a smaller number of cases, it offers faster and more flexible case management than the MDL. With fewer matters to juggle, judges there can give individual lawsuits closer attention, often leading to earlier trial dates. Moreover, procedural rules in Pennsylvania let attorneys tailor discovery and scheduling to their clients’ needs.
Philadelphia juries are also known for sympathetic verdicts in product‐liability and consumer‐safety cases. For women weighing whether to remain in the MDL or move their claims to state court, Philadelphia presents an attractive alternative. By filing there, plaintiffs may avoid the federal docket’s backlog, get in front of juries sooner, and use state‐court procedures to their advantage. Contact our team to learn about your options.
May 21, 2025 – Court Orders Discovery Summary
Judge Mary Rowland has ordered lead counsel in the Hair Relaxer MDL to submit a joint status report on discovery progress, including deposition schedules and any unresolved disputes. Currently, 32 bellwether cases—each involving a woman diagnosed with uterine, ovarian, or endometrial cancer—are in the discovery pool. Fact discovery must conclude by February 2026, and general causation discovery by March 2026.
One sticking point involves L’Oréal’s production of foreign regulatory documents. The parties must meet and confer, and any lingering issues will be detailed in the May 22, 2025 report. The judge also requested a timeline of completed, scheduled, and unscheduled depositions. Three bellwether cases will be chosen by February 2026, but the first trial is not expected until mid‐2027. For women monitoring this litigation progress, these deadlines indicate that core deposition work and expert reports are well underway, but any delay in document talks could push bellwether trials back.
May 10, 2025 – French L’Oréal Parent Company is Dismissed From MDL
On May 8, Judge Rowland dismissed L’Oréal SA (the French parent company) from the MDL for lack of personal jurisdiction. Plaintiffs had attempted to name L’Oréal SA in short‐form complaints, arguing it controlled U.S. subsidiaries or funneled products into states like Illinois and Texas. However, the court found no evidence that L’Oréal SA manufactured, sold, or distributed hair relaxers in the U.S. or exerted operational control over its American affiliates.
Judge Rowland noted that global corporate statements and financial reports did not demonstrate sufficient U.S. involvement to justify jurisdiction. Although plaintiffs argued that patents and revenue tracking implied ties to U.S. sales, the court held that such connections were too attenuated.
Women who have already filed—or are considering filing—need not worry: this ruling only removes the foreign parent; all claims against L’Oréal USA and its U.S. subsidiaries remain fully intact. Those are the entities that marketed, sold, and profited from the products at issue. Because L’Oréal USA is a well‐capitalized company, plaintiffs’ ability to recover damages is unaffected by the parent’s dismissal.
May 1, 2025 – 232 New Case Join the MDL
As of May 1, 2025, there are 10,168 pending cases in the Hair Relaxer MDL, up from 9,936 on April 1—an addition of 232 new lawsuits over thirty days. This pace of filings is noteworthy, given that the litigation has been underway for some time.
On the morning of May 1, two more lawsuits were filed: one came from Michigan, where a woman alleges that years of using chemical hair straighteners led to her ovarian cancer. For anyone watching these numbers, the steady influx of new claims suggests the MDL remains the primary venue for filing—and that attorneys nationwide continue to identify and bring forward new plaintiffs.
April 30, 2025 – Special Master is Appointed
Case Management Order No. 17, issued April 30, 2025, names Ellen K. Reisman as Special Master to oversee settlement discussions. Appointing a mediator at this stage is standard in large MDLs and does not signal an imminent deal. Judge Rowland made clear that the Special Master’s role is to manage the complex settlement process—coordinating multiple parties, claims, and potential resolves—but whether talks ever mature into meaningful negotiations depends on both sides’ willingness to engage.
While this appointment is a positive development—indicating the court is preparing for settlement—the reality is that formal talks typically do not accelerate until key discovery milestones, like bellwether verdicts or Daubert (expert witness) rulings, are near. Women following the MDL should view Reisman’s appointment as a sign that a settlement infrastructure is being built—but not as evidence that a resolution is right around the corner.
April 28, 2025 – Settlement is Not Near
Despite ongoing filings and external speculation, a global settlement in the Hair Relaxer MDL does not appear imminent. The MDL remains in discovery, with bellwether trials set for November 3, 2025, and February 2, 2026. Right now, the parties are focused on corporate document production and expert discovery. Judge Rowland has set clear deadlines for Daubert motions (to vet expert testimony) and dispositive challenges (to potentially narrow or end claims before trial).
Plaintiffs’ bellwether pool centers on cases alleging uterine, ovarian, and endometrial cancers—injuries most strongly supported by NIH’s Sister Study and related research linking chemical hair relaxers to hormone disruption. To date, discovery has not yielded a “smoking gun” document in which a defendant admits product‐cancer risks. Instead, the evidence suggests long‐standing corporate indifference: minimal safety testing, little internal scrutiny of endocrine effects, and no thorough investigation into potential cancer links.
For lawyers and clients, this absence of a direct corporate admission can be a double‐edged sword. On one hand, it underscores how defendants may not have fully appreciated—or chosen to ignore—the science. On the other, it means that plaintiffs will rely heavily on epidemiological studies and expert testimony to establish causation. True settlement discussions are unlikely before Daubert rulings clarify which experts can testify. Realistically, meaningful negotiations may not begin until late 2025 or early 2026, after courts set the scientific parameters. Women considering suit or already in the MDL should plan for a lengthy discovery phase, knowing that solid expert proof and strong bellwether outcomes will drive any future settlement talks.
What is Uterine Cancer?
Uterine cancer is a form of cancer possibly caused by chemical hair straighteners that affect the uterus. There are two common types of cancer in the uterus:
- Endometrial cancer: This type of cancer develops in the endometrium, which is the inner lining of the uterus. This gynecological cancer affects a woman’s reproductive system.
- Uterine sarcoma: This type of cancer develops in the muscle wall of a woman’s uterus, which is called the myometrium. It can result in bleeding, pain, and the sensation of your uterus feeling full.
Cancer affecting the uterus can develop from a change of the cells of the uterus, with the mutated cells causing a tumor that affects a woman’s reproductive system. Uterine cancer can intensify in severity up to stage IV uterine cancer. It can spread from your uterus to your cervix, vagina, ovaries, lymph nodes, bladder, and vital organs to cause catastrophic damage.
Symptoms of Uterine Cancer
This form of cancer affecting women can cause intense pain and can affect their ability to reproduce. With a tumor developing in the uterus, a woman can suffer from a higher risk of infertility. Medical treatments are available, so it’s important for women to understand the signs of uterine cancer.
The following are some of the symptoms of uterine cancer:
- Vaginal bleeding
- Prolonged and frequent vaginal bleeding when over the age of 40
- Lower abdominal pain
- Cramping pelvis
- Thin white or clear vaginal discharge
If you suffer from any of the above and use a chemical hair straightener, you may have contracted uterine cancer from a defective hair straightener. The manufacturer, designer, seller, or distributor could be liable for their negligent behavior that led to the product causing uterine cancer. A product liability lawyer can help you file a product liability claim to pursue compensation for damages.
Studies Show the Connection Between Hair Straightener Use and Uterine Cancer
According to a recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, women have an increased risk of uterine cancer from hair straightening chemicals and relaxers. Of the 33,497 participants in the study, 378 developed uterine cancer from using hair straightening chemicals and relaxers. While 1.64% of non-users of hair straightening products would go on to develop uterine cancer, 4.05% of chemical hair straightening users developed uterine cancer by age 70.
This study proves that women who use their hair straightening products at least four times a year risk developing uterine cancer. Although these numbers are still in the single digits, there is a proven connection between these products and the development of uterine cancer. When these numbers are applied to a whole world of women, these numbers can indicate thousands of women have received uterine cancer from hair straightening products.
Why Does Hair Straightener Use Increase the Risk of Uterine Cancer?
While the study has established a connection between hair straightening products and uterine cancer, it has not yet been able to derive the cause of uterine cancer. More studies need to be conducted to find the specific connection. Although one could extrapolate the harsher chemical compositions in these hair products could be a root cause. Uterine cancer has also been generally caused by hormonal disruption, which has led scientists to draw a connection between hormonal disruption and hair products.
Learn more: All Types of Cancers that Hair Relaxers Can Cause
Black Women at an Increased Risk of Uterine Cancer from Hair Straightener Use
A recent study found that black women have a higher risk of uterine cancer than women of any other race. The study mentioned earlier from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute supported this conclusion with their own statistics. Only 7.4% of that study’s participants were black women, but 59.9% of chemical hair straightener users were black women.
The demographics of chemical hair straighteners and relaxers show that black women are the most common buyers of these products. They may feel pressure to conform to eurocentric beauty standards from a young age and turn to these products as a result. Their early use, as well as the use of multiple products simultaneously, has contributed to black women’s increased risk of uterine cancer from chemical hair straighteners.
What Hair Products Increase the Risk of Uterine Cancer?
No study on the causal relationship between chemical hair straighteners and uterine cancer noted what products had a greater chance of causing uterine cancer. All that is known is that chemical hair straighteners and relaxers can cause uterine cancer, while hair dyes, highlights, and perms do not have the same uterine cancer risk,
Despite no connection to a specific brand, you can still file a product liability claim to pursue compensation for damages from uterine cancer. The product does have a quality that leads to uterine cancer, which means the manufacturer can be held liable in a product liability claim. You can pursue damages from the at-fault party’s insurance company by filing a product liability claim with the help of a personal injury lawyer.
Filing a Product Liability Claim for Uterine Cancer Caused by Hair Straightener Use
Product liability is a type of personal injury claim meant to hold a designer, manufacturer, seller, distributor, or other company in the distribution chain liable for negligence leading to the sale of a defective product. You could file a product liability claim to pursue compensation for damages if a defective product caused harm.
The following are the three types of product liability claims:
- A product has a design defect
- A product has a manufacturing defect
- A product failed to warn of the dangers of a product
You could file a product liability claim with a hair straightener manufacturer for failing to warn of the potentially cancerous qualities of their product. You can hire a product liability lawyer to help prove the manufacturer owed you a duty of care, breached it, and caused damages as a result.
Seeking Damages for Uterine Cancer Caused by Hair Straightener Use
Uterine cancer can cause significant economic and non-economic damages both immediately after diagnosis and in the weeks, months, and years afterward. It can be cured in its early stages through medical treatments such as a hysterectomy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, these treatments can come with a steep medical cost. Depending on how uterine cancer affects your body, you also may not have the strength to work, which can lead to lost wages and lost earning potential.
Hair straightener uterine cancer can also cause catastrophic emotional trauma. Severe health complications can always cause stress and mental pressure, especially if the complication comes from an everyday activity. Women using hair straighteners shouldn’t assume they can suffer from uterine cancer. A uterine cancer diagnosis from a chemical hair straightener can lead to mental anguish, loss of society, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life.
A product liability lawyer can help you pursue compensation for damages caused by hair straightener uterine cancer. They can assess your current and future damages and negotiate a fair settlement with the at-fault party’s insurance company.
How Can a Product Liability Lawyer Help You With a Hair Straightener Uterine Cancer Lawsuit?
If you suffered uterine cancer from a chemical hair straightener, the last thing you should have to worry about is handling the product liability claims process on your own. While you can do so, your lack of product liability claims experience could lead to a mistake that could affect your ability to receive full compensation for your damages.
A product liability lawyer has the experience with the claims process to help you pursue compensation from the chemical hair straightener manufacturer. They can assist with identifying the party responsible for causing uterine cancer and negotiating with their insurance company. Settlement negotiations for product liability claims can be difficult, with insurance companies employing tricks to limit your settlement to keep their profits up. A product liability lawyer will know how to mitigate those tactics and put you in the best position to recover fair compensation.
A product liability attorney can also assess your damages, send the demand letter, collect evidence, and represent you in court. With the help of an experienced product liability attorney, you can maximize your potential for receiving fair compensation for hair straightener uterine cancer damages.
Contact The Russo Firm for Help With Your Hair Straightener Uterine Cancer Lawsuit
A chemical hair straightener manufacturer owes a duty of care to their prospective consumers to manufacture a safe product that will not cause negative health complications. If you suffered from uterine cancer from a chemical hair straightener, you could hold the manufacturer liable with a product liability claim.
The experienced product liability attorneys at The Russo Firm have decades of experience helping victims of defective products pursue compensation for damages. Uterine cancer can cause severe damages, including steep medical bills, lost wages, and mental anguish. Our product liability attorneys can help you pursue compensation for the severe consequences resulting from hair straightener uterine cancer.
At The Russo Firm, we offer free consultations to allow potential clients to see how our product liability lawyers can help with their cases. If you suffered uterine cancer from a chemical hair straightener, contact us today by calling us at (561) 270-0913 or leaving us a message on our online contact page.