Let’s cut to the chase. The stalled formaldehyde ban on hair relaxers is just not cool. Women, especially Black women, the highest self-confessed group of users, deserve better.
The trailblazing NIH (National Institutes of Health) investigation in 2022 called The Sister Study, among other landmark research, classifies formaldehyde as a known carcinogen.1 When the US Food & Drug Administration/ FDA first proposed a hair relaxer ban on hair relaxer products containing formaldehyde in October 2023, it published this blunt conclusion:2
“Hair smoothing products are used to straighten hair or to smooth out curls. A hair straightening or smoothing solution is usually applied to human hair followed by a heat treatment that seals the solution in. These products often contain formaldehyde, also known as formalin and methylene glycol.
“Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling gas that presents a health hazard when breathed into the lungs, or when it gets into the eyes or onto the skin.”
So Why Are We Still Waiting for An Updated Formaldehyde Ban?
More to the point, how come the FDA has repeatedly missed deadlines to move the proposal closer to enforcement? We really can’t think of one good reason.
After the agency finally proposed a formaldehyde ban, it promptly bypassed the first deadline later that month, then again in April 2024, November 2024, March 2025, July 2025, and in December 2025, according to David Andrews, acting chief science officer at the Environmental Working Group/ EWG, a nonprofit environmental health advocacy group.5 A spokesperson for the agency said,
“The FDA may adjust the anticipated publication date of this and other proposed rules when appropriate.”
Define appropriate.
For a decade (actually longer), researchers have warned of a distressing association between using chemical hair relaxers and an increased risk of uterine cancer (up to 2.5x higher risk), ovarian, and breast cancer.3
Black women, more than 95% of whom have admitted to using hair relaxers,4 are strategically targeted in advertisements that omit formaldehyde as a key ingredient and don’t issue proper alerts of raised risk for cancers on the packaging. In 1979, hair relaxers were even marketed as “natural, healthy, nourishing, and conditioning.”6 Dr. Linda Katz, director of the Office of Colors and Cosmetics, wrote,
“I am quite anxious to get formaldehyde banned…. Let’s just ban the damn ingredient and get on with our lives, right?”7
Why Does a Formaldehyde Ban Matter?
Because – formaldehyde significantly raises the risk of developing hormone-related cancers, such as uterine (repeat: 2.5x higher risk), endometrial, ovarian, breast, and other cancers through skin absorption or breathing the acrid fumes. Period. This must be outlawed to keep women from buying into the notion that it’s somehow not really that dangerous.
“The fact that formaldehyde is still allowed in hair care products is mind-blowing to me,”
said Linda Birnbaum, former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program.
“I don’t know what we’re waiting for.”8
Where Do Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Come In?
When the system fails, civil lawsuits step in. And since there is still no enforced formaldehyde ban, the lawsuit appears to be the best (only) effective stopgap. As of March 2, 2026, 11,440 women were already participating in the MDL (multidistrict litigation) in the Northern District of Illinois against multiple manufacturers.13
Here is a partial list of manufacturers + products named in the case, according to the filing:
- L’OREAL (key defendant): Dark & Lovely + Ultra Sheen.
- REVLON: Crème of Nature.
- NAMASTE, LLC: ORS Olive Oil Hair Relaxer.
- STRENGTH OF NATURE GLOBAL, LLC: Motions.
- TBC NATURALS/ GODREJ CONSUMER PRODUCTS: Just for Me.
Where Does A Case for Women Connect With Hair Relaxer Lawsuits?
Right on the nail. The case is so in our wheelhouse, along with other beauty cheats like UV gel nail dryers and talcum powder. We are fighting against all things toxic to women across multiple case areas.
In one way, we’re the very same as when we started out in 2015: First, we try our best to warn you of danger before you get hurt. But if you got hurt, we’re here to help you pursue justice so you can heal, afford to get help, and move on with empowerment.
We’re here for you. Contact us, 24/7/365 – 3:00 in the morning, whenever.
Sources:
1 Staff, “6 findings from the Sister Study you should know,” NIH Medline Plus Magazine, November 7, 2023.
2 Staff, “Hair Smoothing Products That Release Formaldehyde When Heated,” FDA/ US Food & Drug Administration, October 15, 2024.
3 Staff, “6 findings.”
4 Kimberly A. Bertrand, Lauren Delp, Patricia F. Coogan, Yvette C. Cozier, Yolanda M. Lenzy, Lynn Rosenberg, Julie R. Palmer, “Hair relaxer use and risk of uterine cancer in the Black Women’s Health Study,” ScienceDirect, 2023.
5 Melanie Benesh, “’Let’s Just Ban the Damn Ingredient’ Inside FDA Scientists’ Failed Attempt to Ban Formaldehyde in Hair Treatments,” EWG/ Environmental Working Group, October 21, 2020.
6 Asia Simone Burns, Samantha Hogan, “Her hair was perfectly straight. Her body paid the price,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 17, 2025.
7 Melanie Benesh, “Let’s Just Ban.”
8 Ronnie Cohen, “FDA move to ban formaldehyde in hair straighteners called too little, too late,” NPR, February 6, 2024.
9 Linda Villarosa, “The Disturbing Truth About Hair Relaxers,” New York Times, June 13, 2024.
10 Linda Villarosa, “The Disturbing Truth.”
11 Netflix, “Becoming,” May 6, 2020.
12 Gloria Oladipo, “Michelle Obama says Americans ‘weren’t ready’ for her natural hair,” Guardian, November 17, 2022.
13 Staff, “Chemical Hair Straightener Lawsuits,” Consumer Notice, March 2026.
