Lawsuit Information Center
Our lawyers are helping victims seek hair relaxer settlements throughout the country. This page is about how chemical hair straighteners can cause endometrial cancer.
African American women are nearly twice as likely to die from endometrial cancer. Why? Everyone knew this. No one bothered to dig into all of the possible reasons why. Hair relaxer lawsuits allege that L’oreal (Dark & Lovely) and other makers of hair relaxers put their heads in the sand and put women at risk.
A major new study from NIH has found that long-term use of chemical hair straighteners and/or relaxers can significantly increase the risk of endometrial cancer (and other female hormone cancers). This new evidence connecting hair relaxers and endometrial cancer has prompted product liability lawsuits against cosmetic companies.
Our hair relaxer attorneys are jumping into these suits and are investigating new chemical hair relaxer lawsuits for women who used these products even once in the year before they were diagnosed with endometrial cancer.
Our attorneys are seeking women who qualify to file a hair relaxer lawsuit for endometrial cancer based on the following eligibility criteria:
- Regularly used chemical hair relaxer or hair straightener products for more than 7 years.
- Diagnosed with endometrial cancer before age 70.
If you want to bring a suit in the new national class action, you should act now. There are statutes of limitations for these suits and pushing your claim early might lead to a quicker settlement payout Call our law firm today at 800-553-8082 or get a free online case evaluation.
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Chemical Hair Relaxers and Straighteners
A hair relaxer or hair straightener (also known as “hair perm”) is a product used primarily by African American women to flatten their curly hair and make it more manageable. The relaxer product is applied at home or a salon and it uses chemicals to destroy the protein structure of the hair and make it flat.
Hair relaxers and straighteners are very unhealthy because they are composed of high levels of synthetic chemicals that are hormonally active, such as phthalates. Phthalates are unique chemicals known to cause hormone system disruption.
Phthalates and EDCs in Hair Relaxer
Phthalates are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The endocrine system is the body’s system for creating and distributing estrogen and other hormones throughout the body. In women, it is comprised of the ovaries, thyroid, and the pituitary, and adrenal glands. EDCs interfere with the normal activity of the organs in the endocrine system.
DEHP
All hair relaxer products contain a chemical called Di-2- ethyl hexyl phthalate (“DEHP”). DEHP is an EDC phthalate. It helps the product stick to the scalp and absorbs into the hair. When absorbed into the body, DEHP breaks down into various metabolites that cause major disruption of the hormone system.
DEHP is and endocrine disruptor. What is an endocrine disruptor? It is a chemical that interferes with the normal functioning of the body’s hormones. In particular, it can mimic the female hormone estrogen and cause hormonal imbalances. This can lead to reproductive and developmental problems. DEHP has been linked to a range of health issues, including cancer, infertility, and developmental and reproductive problems. when it comes to hair relaxers, it is hard to argue women should not be advised that (1) it is in the product, and (2) that it can cause these harms.
Endometrial Cancer
Endometrial cancer is cancer that originates in the inner wall of the uterus (endometrium). Endometrial cancer is the most common form of cancer of the uterus. The other, less common form of uterine cancer is uterine sarcoma.
There are five different histologic types of endometrial cancer. But the vast majority of endometiral cancer cases are Type 1 or Type 2. Type I is the most common and has the lower risk of spread of cancer outside the uterus. Type II has a higher risk of extrauterine disease.
Type I endometrioid adenocarcinoma is associated with a preinvasive condition called endometrial hyperplasia. The risk of the endometrium becoming invasive adenocarcinoma is influenced by the severity of hyperplasia. The highest risk factor for excess estrogen and therefore endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer is obesity.
The majority of women diagnosed with endometrial cancer are in the menopausal age range. Only about 10% are under 44 years old. But hair relaxer lawsuit victims trend much younger, probably because the hair relaxer contribued to decveloping endomerial cancer.
Around 60,000 cases of endometrial cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S. The 5-year survival rate for endometrial cancer is very good at over 80%. Treatment for endometrial cancer usually involves surgical removal of the uterus (a hysterectomy).
Again, it bears repeating that endometrial cancer occurs in Black women in the U.S. at a much higher rate than any other racial group. Black women are three times more likely to develop endometrial cancer than whites or Hispanics. Hair relaxers could be driving some of these statistics.
Treatment of Endometrial Cancer
The most common treatment for endometrial cancer is surgical. In more advanced cases with high grade tumors, you may also see radiation.
Some commonly encountered treatment complications are leg swelling and strictures (due to radiation).
Chemical Hair Relaxer Causes Endometrial Cancer
For the last decade, a research project at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) called the “Sister Study” has been looking into a potential link between chronic exposure to chemicals in hair relaxer products and endometrial cancer.
The Sister Study is not some random study you see in your news feed. It is a comprehensive study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the environmental and genetic risk factors for cancer in women.
he participants are followed over time to gather data on their lifestyles, environmental exposures, and health outcomes, with an emphasis on breast cancer. The Sister Study hopes to improve our understanding of the causes of cancers that impact women and inform prevention strategies.
In October 2022, the findings of the Sister Study were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The Sister Study concluded the long-term use of chemical hair straightening products increased the risk of endometrial cancer by 100%. For women who used hair relaxer more frequently (more than 4 times per year), the risk of endometrial cancer increased 150%. That is a very statistically significant number and it a big reason why you are seeing so many hair relaxer lawsuits ads on television. We expect a jury will few this the same way that we do.
The results of the Sister Study were very significant and may help to explain the disparity in endometrial cancer rates between African American women and other racial groups. A majority of Black women use hair relaxer and the Sister Study suggests that this may explain why they get endometrial cancer at a much higher rate than others.
Example Hair Relaxer Lawsuit
The conclusions reached by the Sister Study have sparked hair relaxer lawsuits against the cosmetic companies that manufacture these products. A woman named Jenny Mitchell became the first to file a hair relaxer lawsuit in federal court in Chicago in October 2022. A dozen more hair relaxer cancer lawsuits followed. Thousands more are expected to be filed and we will almost certainly have a hair relaxer class action lawsuit in early 2023.
L’Oreal, Revlon, and other cosmetic companies have been named as defendants in these cases. Dark & Lovely, the most popular hair relaxer product on the market, is made by L’Oreal. Revlon makes several other brands. The lawsuits allege that these companies knew, or should have known, about the risks of the chemicals in their products.
Potential Settlement Payouts for a Hair Relaxer Endometrial Cancer Lawsuit
Estimating the potential settlement payout value of hair relaxer lawsuits involving endometrial cancer is very premature at this stage. We don’t even know yet if the causation evidence will be admissible in court. The estimated settlement values below are, therefore, based on many very significant assumptions. Said another way, when a lawyer makes a settlement amount prediction at litigation that is this young, take it with more than just a few grains of salt.
But if you have a case, you want to know what the lawyers are thinking about potential settlement amounts. If the causation evidence is admissible and these cases shake out like we predict, our attorneys think that hair relaxer endometrial cancer cases will have a settlement payout range of $250,000 to $1,750,000. There could be certain individual cases with very compelling facts where the settlement amounts are very high. Endometrial cancer is awful.
Contact Us About Filing a Hair Relaxer Endometrial Cancer Lawsuit
Our firm is currently accepting cases alleging that chemicals in hair perm and hair relaxer products caused endometrial cancer. If you used chemical hair straightener and were later diagnosed with endometrial cancer, contact our office today for a free consultation at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.