Hair relaxer lawsuit

The docket record

Full docket title: IN RE: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation. Programmatic record page: MDL 3060.

Where it stands

The MDL is in fact and expert discovery, not trial. Judge Mary M. Rowland narrowed an initial 40-case bellwether pool to 32 discovery-pool cases, then to a smaller trial-pool group, with the first three trial-pick cases selected by early 2026. Court-ordered deadlines through late 2026 cover general-causation expert discovery, Daubert challenges to the causation experts, and summary judgment motions (due November 16, 2026). No bellwether trial has been held and no global settlement has been reached. Special Master Ellen K. Reisman has been appointed to lead settlement talks between the parties on threshold issues such as product warnings and labeling, but as of September 2026 those talks have not produced a settlement fund or claims process. No individual case in this MDL has settled or gone to verdict.

Sources: Transfer Order, MDL No. 3060 · Pending MDL Dockets By Actions Pending, Report Date 9/1/2026 · MDL 3060 case page (Short-Form Complaint, Case Management… · Hair straightening chemicals associated with higher uteri…; full list at the end of this page.

What the lawsuits are about

Chemical hair relaxers and hair straighteners are cosmetic products marketed mostly to Black women to straighten curly or coily hair. Plaintiffs allege the products contain phthalates and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and that repeated, long-term use of these products caused or increased their risk of developing uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, and related reproductive-system injuries. Plaintiffs allege the manufacturers knew or should have known of these risks and failed to warn consumers. These are allegations; no U.S. court has ruled that hair relaxers cause cancer.

The litigation followed a National Institutes of Health-funded Sister Study, published October 17, 2022 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which reported that women who used chemical hair straightening products more than four times in the prior year were about 2.5 times more likely to develop uterine cancer than non-users. Individual lawsuits followed within weeks. On February 6, 2023, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized the federal cases into MDL No. 3060, IN RE: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Mary M. Rowland. The court approved a Short-Form Complaint on August 3, 2023, that plaintiffs use to file individual claims into the MDL, and later issued case management orders (including CMO 9, December 19, 2023) governing the Plaintiff Fact Sheet each plaintiff must complete under oath.

As of the JPML's September 1, 2026 report, 12,129 actions are pending in the MDL, up roughly 350 in a month, making it the fastest-growing mass tort MDL by that measure. The case is in the discovery and bellwether-selection phase: general-causation expert discovery, Daubert motions over the causation experts, and depositions of the pool of cancer-diagnosis plaintiffs are largely complete or underway, with summary judgment motions due November 16, 2026. Judge Rowland has been pushing the parties toward settlement discussions on threshold issues (warnings, labeling, marketing) through Special Master Ellen K. Reisman, but no settlement has been announced and the first bellwether trial is expected no earlier than 2027.

Injuries named in the filings

• Uterine cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Endometrial cancer
• Uterine fibroids
• Endometriosis
• Other injuries to the reproductive system (as alleged in the JPML transfer order; the discovery/bellwether pool has focused on uterine, ovarian, and endometrial cancer diagnoses)

Principal defendants: L'Oreal USA, Inc.; L'Oreal USA Products, Inc.; SoftSheen-Carson LLC; SoftSheen-Carson (W.I.), Inc.; Dabur International Ltd.; Namaste Laboratories, LLC; Strength of Nature, LLC; Strength of Nature Global, LLC; Godrej SON Holdings, Inc.; House of Cheatham; PDC Brands / Parfums de Coeur, Ltd..

Sources: Transfer Order, MDL No. 3060 · Pending MDL Dockets By Actions Pending, Report Date 9/1/2026 · MDL 3060 case page (Short-Form Complaint, Case Management… · Hair straightening chemicals associated with higher uteri…; full list at the end of this page.

Who the filings say qualifies

Eligibility criteria below are drawn from the court's Short-Form Complaint, the Plaintiff Fact Sheet requirements set by Case Management Order No. 9, and the criteria the court used to build the bellwether discovery pool. This is not a claims deadline or a settlement; it describes who has been able to bring a case into MDL 3060 to date.

• Diagnosed with uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, or endometrial cancer (the diagnosis categories the court's discovery and bellwether pools have been built around)
• Used a chemical hair relaxer or hair straightening product, identified by brand/product name, for a period of time before diagnosis
• Can identify frequency and duration of use (the Plaintiff Fact Sheet requires product use history, including specific brands used)
• Files a Short-Form Complaint adopting the master complaint's allegations against the identified manufacturer defendant(s)
• Completes and submits a sworn Plaintiff Fact Sheet with supporting medical-records authorizations, per CMO 9 and later amending orders; the court has dismissed cases for uncured Plaintiff Fact Sheet deficiencies
• Case filed within the applicable state statute of limitations, which varies by state and by when the plaintiff discovered or reasonably should have discovered the alleged link between product use and diagnosis

Source: N.D. Illinois, MDL 3060 case page (Short-Form Complaint and Case Management Orders).

These are the criteria in the public record, not a promise about any individual case. A law firm evaluates each case on its own facts, and limitations periods vary by state.

Key dates

1. October 17, 2022NIH-funded Sister Study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports frequent hair straightener/relaxer users were about 2.5 times more likely to develop uterine cancer than non-users. source
2. February 6, 2023JPML issues transfer order centralizing federal hair relaxer cases into MDL No. 3060 in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Mary M. Rowland. source
3. August 3, 2023Court approves the Short-Form Complaint that plaintiffs use to file individual cases into the MDL. source
4. December 19, 2023Case Management Order No. 9 sets Plaintiff Fact Sheet and records-authorization requirements for all plaintiffs. source
5. May 9, 2025Parties file a joint status report identifying the final 32-case bellwether discovery pool, drawn from cancer-diagnosis plaintiffs with completed fact sheets. source
6. February 16, 2026Court-ordered deadline for fact discovery to close in the bellwether pool. source
7. March 2, 2026General-causation expert discovery closes. source
8. September 1, 2026JPML reports 12,129 actions pending in MDL 3060, the fastest-growing MDL by monthly increase (+350 cases). source
9. November 16, 2026Deadline for summary judgment and non-general-causation Daubert motions. source

Questions people ask

Sources: Transfer Order, MDL No. 3060 · Pending MDL Dockets By Actions Pending, Report Date 9/1/2026 · MDL 3060 case page (Short-Form Complaint, Case Management… · Hair straightening chemicals associated with higher uteri…; full list at the end of this page.

Track this docket

We re-read the JPML report on the first business day of each month. Get an email when this record changes: case count, status, or a settlement development.

Sources

1. U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, “Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending,” monthly reports January 2, 2024 to September 1, 2026. Transferee court: Northern District of Illinois, Mary M. Rowland.
2. Transfer Order, MDL No. 3060, U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Accessed September 3, 2026.
3. Pending MDL Dockets By Actions Pending, Report Date 9/1/2026, U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Accessed September 3, 2026.
4. MDL 3060 case page (Short-Form Complaint, Case Management Orders), U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. Accessed September 3, 2026.
5. Hair straightening chemicals associated with higher uterine cancer risk, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH). Accessed September 3, 2026.
6. Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer, Journal of the National Cancer Institute (PubMed). Accessed September 3, 2026.
7. Schedule for Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Bellwether Trials Outlined by MDL Judge (as summarized by plaintiff-side sources), AboutLawsuits.com. Accessed September 3, 2026.
8. MDL Judge Issues New Deadlines for Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Bellwether Trial Preparations (as summarized by plaintiff-side sources), AboutLawsuits.com. Accessed September 3, 2026.
9. Hair Relaxer Lawsuit | August 2026 Update (as summarized by plaintiff-side sources), Miller & Zois (plaintiff law firm). Accessed September 3, 2026.
10. Hair Relaxer Lawsuit: Uterine Cancer Claims (as summarized by plaintiff-side sources), Drugwatch. Accessed September 3, 2026.

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