Lawsuit Information Center
Consumer product safety testing has confirmed that several dry shampoo products contain dangerously high levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen. This discovery has led to sweeping product recalls and the filing of multiple consumer class action lawsuits across the United States over the past 18 months.
Emerging evidence suggests that long-term use of benzene-contaminated dry shampoo products may increase the risk of leukemia, lymphoma, and other forms of blood cancer. Our national mass tort law firm is now reviewing claims for individuals who used aerosol dry shampoo products regularly and were later diagnosed with any blood-related cancer.
đ July 2025 Dry Shampoo Legal Update
đïž Major Unilever Dry Shampoo Settlement â $3.6 Million
A proposed settlement has been filed in a federal class action against Unilever over its dry shampoos, including Dove, Nexxus, Suave, Bed Head, and TRESemmé. The company has agreed to pay $3.625 million to resolve allegations that its products contained dangerous levels of benzene. Plaintiffs say Unilever knew all about the risk as early as 2021 but failed to tell anyone.
đ Unilever TRESemmĂ© Class Action Denied
A New York federal judge has denied class certification in another TRESemmé lawsuit for a group of 717 consumers suing Unilever over alleged injuries caused by TRESemmé shampoo products. The plaintiffs claimed that ingredients in the shampoo, including DMDM hydantoin, MCI, and MI, caused allergic reactions and hair loss.
But U.S. District Judge Natasha C. Merle ruled that the case involved too many individualized issuesâparticularly regarding causation and differing state lawsâto justify class treatment.
The judge emphasized that proving whether the shampoo caused each plaintiffâs injury would require individualized trials. She also noted significant variation in design defect standards and burden of proof across different states. Because each consumer retained contingency-fee counsel, the court rejected the idea that class treatment was needed to make litigation financially viable.
Although the case survived a motion to dismiss in 2023, the court found that certifying a class would not materially advance litigation or promote judicial efficiency. The case continues individually for named plaintiff Elizabeth Candelaria, whose symptoms reportedly resolved after she stopped using the product. Unilever reformulated the shampoo in 2022 to remove the contested ingredients.
đ” IGK Dry Shampoo Settlement â $850,000
Luxury Brand Partners has agreed to an $850,000 settlement in a class action over IGK aerosol dry shampoos (Direct Flight, Jet Lag, First Class). Consumers may claim $4 per product without proof of purchase, or the full price with a receipt.
đ FDA Confirms Benzene in Acne Products
FDA testing this spring found benzene in six acne products, triggering targeted recalls. Affected brands include La Roche-Posay, Walgreens, Proactiv, and SLMD. Over 90% of products tested had no recall because they were within safe limits. Still, the findings confirm that the risk of benzene contamination in consumer cosmetics is real and ongoing.
đŹ New Study Links Benzoyl Peroxide to Benzene Formation
Peer-reviewed research published in 2025 confirmed that benzene can form from benzoyl peroxide under conditions mimicking typical storage and use. This bolsters causation claims by showing how benzene can develop during normal product use, not just during manufacturing.
âïž Ongoing and Emerging Litigation
Redken faces an ongoing class action after independent lab testing found benzene in its dry shampoo. Several other brands, such as Batiste, Paul Mitchell, Sebastian, Kenra, Kristin Ess, and Sun Bum, are also subject to consumer lawsuits still pending in courts nationwide.
đ Regulatory Momentum Building
The FDA is under pressure to expand its testing protocols across more personal care products. The new Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) is expected to further encourage cosmetic companies to prioritize ingredient transparency and safety testing by late 2025.
đ Summary Table
| Area | Update |
|---|---|
| Class Action Settlements | Unilever: $3.625M; IGK: $850K |
| Regulatory Testing | Six acne products recalled for benzene; most passed |
| Scientific Studies | Confirmed benzene forms under heat from benzoyl peroxide |
| New Lawsuits | Redken case ongoing; other brands named |
| Regulatory Changes | MoCRA to expand FDA oversight by end of 2025 |
These updates support stronger legal claims by showing manufacturer knowledge, regulatory concern, and scientific mechanisms for benzene exposure.
Benzene Found in Dry Shampoos
Dry shampoo is a personal care product that is designed to clean and refresh the hair and scalp without washing with water. Dry shampoo products are generally sprayed from an aerosol can and made with a base of alcohol or starch. When applied, these products absorb grease and dirt in the hair, making it cleaner.
Valisure is an online pharmacy company that operates an independent laboratory to perform safety analysis and testing on thousands of consumer products. In November 2021, Valisure announced that laboratory testing detected very high levels of benzene in numerous brands and batches of dry shampoo products.
The FDA has set the maximum safe level for benzene in cosmetic products such as shampoo at 2 parts per billion (ppb). The Valisure lab testing found benzene concentration levels well in excess of 2 ppb in numerous dry shampoo products that were tested. Benzene levels in some products were as high as 85 ppb. According to the Valisure report, however, the concentrations of benzene increased when the products were sprayed from the aerosol cans, reaching as high as 1,600 ppb.
Dry Shampoo Product Recalls
Valisureâs discovery of benzene in dry shampoo products last year led to a series of dry shampoo recalls. In December 2021, Procter & Gamble launched one of the first major recalls. P&R recalled 32 brands of dry shampoo products, including Pantene, Old Spice, and Herbal Essences.
More recently, in October 2022, Unilever initiated a sweeping recall of numerous dry shampoos due to the potential presence of high levels of benzene. The brands covered by the Unilever recall included Dove, Nexxus, Suave, Bed Head, and TRESemme.
Dry Shampoo Lawsuit List of Products
The following dry shampoo products may contain unsafe levels of benzene. Long-term regular use of any of these products may increase the risk of blood cancers.
| Brand | Product Name |
|---|---|
| Dove | Dry Shampoo Volume and Fullness |
| Dry Shampoo Fresh Coconut | |
| Dry Shampoo Fresh and Floral | |
| Nexxus | Dry Shampoo Refreshing Mist |
| Suave | Professionals Dry Shampoo (All Varieties) |
| Tresemmé | Fresh & Clean Dry Shampoo |
| Volumizing Dry Shampoo | |
| Bed Head / Rockaholic | Oh Bee Hive! Dry Shampoo |
| Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo | |
| Not Your Mother’s | Clean Freak Original |
| Clean Freak Unscented | |
| Plump for Joy | |
| Beach Babe | |
| Pantene | Dry Shampoo No Water Refresh |
| Cheat Day Dry Shampoo Foam | |
| Never Tell Dry Shampoo | |
| Herbal Essences | Blue Ginger Refresh |
| White Grapefruit & Mint | |
| Aussie | Clean Volume Dry Shampoo |
| After Hours Dry Shampoo | |
| Bounce Back Dry Shampoo | |
| Old Spice | Fiji Dry Shampoo |
| Pure Sport Dry Shampoo | |
| Other Brands (Valisure) | Sebastian Dry Clean Only |
| Paul Mitchell Invisiblewear | |
| Kenra Volume Dry Shampoo | |
| Kristin Ess Style Reviving | |
| Redken Deep Clean | |
| Sun Bum Beach Formula |
In addition to these, along with chemical dye and hair relaxer lawsuits, the list of hair care product lawsuits continues to grow.
The Problem with Benzene
Benzene is a chemical used as a solvent and for the synthesis of many other types of chemicals. Benzene is a natural component of crude oil. Benzene is known to be toxic to the human body, particularly the blood cells and blood-producing organs.
Benzene is well known to be a human carcinogen. Both the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classify benzene as a Group 1 compound that is carcinogenic to humans. Chronic exposure to benzene has been definitively linked to increased risks of blood cancers such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and aplastic anemia. Exposure to benzene has also been associated with lymphoma.
A recent peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology found that 34% of benzoyl peroxide acne treatments contained benzene levels above the FDA limit of 2 ppm. Benzene is a known carcinogen linked to blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Longâterm use could pose serious risks. Could regular use of these products silently increase cancer risk later in life? You can read the full study directly here (Valisure, Yale University, LIU).
This finding isnât isolated to acne treatments. It echoes earlier lab results showing benzene contamination in dry shampoos and sunscreens. Regulators are now testing a broad range of cosmetics and OTC products. The FDAâs latest sampling of acne creamsâpublished in March 2025âalso identified benzene in a few lots, triggering limited recalls at the retail level.
Given this emerging evidence, you may want to update your section on benzene contamination. Include the new acne study link. Highlight that the concern stretches beyond dry shampoo. And suggest readers monitor labels and FDA notices for recall updates.
Dry Shampoo Recalls Lead to Consumer Class Action Lawsuits
The recalls of dry shampoo products due to the potential presence of benzene have prompted a number of consumer class action lawsuits across the country. Consumer class action cases allege that consumers who bought certain products were essentially defrauded into buying based on the assumption that they were safe. These cases seek economic damages in the form of purchase price refunds on behalf of all consumers.
When Procter & Gamble recalled dry shampoo products last year, it sparked a handful of consumer class action lawsuits. More recently, the dry shampoo product recall launched by Unilever has prompted similar class action lawsuits. The first dry shampoo class action case against Unilever (Rullo v. Unilever United States, Inc.) was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on November 2, 2022. The Complaint alleges that Unilever knew or should have known that its products were contaminated with benzene and failed to disclose that.
Dry Shampoo Cancer Lawsuits
Given the strength of evidence establishing that benzene can cause blood cancers and the fact that the dry shampoo products exposed users to high levels of benzene, product liability lawsuits alleging that users of dry shampoo developed leukemia and other blood cancers are expected. Our firm is currently seeking cases from individuals who used dry shampoo products regularly and were subsequently diagnosed with any of the following diseases:
- Leukemia
- Multiple myeloma
- Aplastic anemia
- Non-Hodgkinâs lymphoma
- Other types of blood cancer
If you meet these criteria, you may be able to bring a dry shampoo cancer lawsuit and get compensation for your injuries.
Potential Settlement Value of Dry Shampoo Cancer Lawsuits
It is obviously way too early for anyone to know how much dry shampoo cancer lawsuits could be worth in terms of settlement value. The first dry shampoo cases are still being filed. Whether these cases have any value at all will depend on whether the scientific evidence on causation will survive legal challenges and be admissible in court.
Assuming the causation evidence is admissible and otherwise holds up in court, our lawyers believe that dry shampoo cancer lawsuits could have a potential settlement payout value of around $250,000 to $500,000.
Our lawyers are not handling these lawsuits.  We provide this to educate potential victims.