Arizona Sues L'Oréal Over Hair Straightener Cancer Risks

The State of Arizona filed a lawsuit against L'Oréal on the night of 10 September in state court. Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes alleges the cosmetics group concealed evidence that its hair-straightening products could cause uterine and ovarian cancer in women. This action makes Arizona the first US state to sue the company over these alleged health hazards.

The legal action accuses L'Oréal of violating state consumer protection laws by marketing products such as Dark and Lovely and Optimum without health warnings. The lawsuit claims the products are used predominantly by African American women and children. Arizona is seeking civil fines, damages, and an injunction barring sales unless warning labels are applied.

The state filing arrives as L'Oréal already faces over 12,000 similar lawsuits brought by consumers and their families. Those cases have been consolidated in a Chicago federal court under multidistrict litigation procedures, with trials potentially starting next year. The wave of litigation followed a 2022 US National Institutes of Health study that found women using chemical hair relaxers multiple times per year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.

L'Oréal stated that its products undergo rigorous safety evaluations and expressed confidence that the legal claims lack both scientific and legal basis. Competitor Revlon has also been named in similar litigation and has denied any link between its products and cancer.