Hair Relaxer Lawsuit Updates

By David Meldofsky, California-licensed attorney · Founder, Lawsuit Informer

Last updated: September 15, 2026

Arizona sued L'Oréal on September 10, 2026. The state says the company sold hair relaxers such as Dark & Lovely, Optimum and Mizani for decades without telling buyers about research linking them to uterine and ovarian cancer. Separately, 11,779 cases filed by women and their families are still waiting in federal court, and the judge there has not yet ruled on what scientific evidence both sides can use.

No settlement has been announced and nobody has been paid. This page follows those developments as the court record changes.

Hair Relaxer MDL 3060 Case Count and Current Status

The federal hair relaxer cases are grouped together before one judge in Illinois, Judge Mary M. Rowland, in what the courts call MDL 3060. As of August 3, 2026 there were 11,779 still pending, out of 16,199 filed since they were grouped in 2023. That makes it the fourth-largest group of federal cases of its kind. Counts fluctuate month to month as new cases are filed and others are resolved or consolidated.

As of 2026 the litigation has moved well past its early stages and is deep into discovery and bellwether preparation. The court held a "Science Day" in January 2026, an educational session where the parties present the underlying science to the judge, and general-causation expert discovery has been a central focus heading through the year. The broader issues continue to center on product design, warnings, chemical exposure allegations, and scientific causation questions, namely whether manufacturers adequately informed consumers about alleged risks tied to repeated use. For the science the court is weighing, see The Hair Relaxer Cancer Studies, Explained, and for the underlying causation question see Does Hair Relaxer Cause Cancer?

What has happened recently

• September 2026, Arizona sued L'Oréal. The state's attorney general says L'Oréal and SoftSheen-Carson sold relaxers such as Dark & Lovely, Optimum and Mizani without warning buyers about cancer research. The state wants cancer warnings on the products, fines, and money for Arizona consumers. L'Oréal says the case has no merit. More on the Arizona case.
• August 2026, the case count is 11,779. The federal panel that tracks these cases reported 11,779 still pending on August 3, out of 16,199 filed since the cases were grouped together in February 2023. That is about a hundred fewer than the month before, as some cases resolve or get dismissed while new ones arrive. It is still the fourth-largest group of federal cases of its kind.
• August 2026, a pause for one group of companies ended. On July 28 the judge refused to extend a pause that had protected a group of defendants since December 2025. They had asked for more time while private settlement talks continued. The plaintiffs objected, and the court said it was time to get on with the case. Those companies now have to hand over documents and take part in the ordinary process. No settlement has been announced and nobody has been paid.
• July 2026, the science arguments are with the judge. Both sides finished arguing over which expert evidence should be allowed on whether hair relaxers cause cancer. The ruling is still awaited, and it is the single most important thing pending.

Arizona's lawsuit against L'Oréal

On September 10, 2026, Arizona's attorney general, Kris Mayes, sued L'Oréal and its hair care company SoftSheen-Carson in state court in Phoenix. The state says the companies sold chemical relaxers to Black women and girls in Arizona for decades while calling them safe and gentle. It says they never told buyers about research linking frequent relaxer use to uterine and ovarian cancer.

The products named include Dark & Lovely, Optimum and Mizani. The state's complaint also lists Bantu, Care Free Curl, Look of Radiance, Roots of Nature and Ultra Precise. It points to Dark & Lovely Beautiful Beginnings as a line sold for children. You can read the state's complaint (PDF, 25 pages).

Arizona is asking the court for three things:

• An order stopping sales of these relaxers in Arizona unless they carry cancer warnings.
• Fines under Arizona's consumer fraud law, which allows up to $10,000 for each violation.
• Repayment to Arizona consumers.

L'Oréal told Consumer Reports that its products are safe and that the lawsuit has no legal or scientific merit. The company says the study behind the case called for more research and did not find that relaxers cause cancer. Reuters reported that Arizona is the first state to sue over hair relaxer cancer risk.

What the Arizona case means for women with cancer

Arizona brought this case as the state, on behalf of its residents as a whole. It is about how the products were sold and labeled in Arizona. Women diagnosed with cancer bring their own cases, for their own diagnosis and their own losses. Those cases continue in federal court and in several state courts.

Whether your own history supports a case depends on your diagnosis, the products you used, and when you used them. A free case review can look at those facts.

Has there been a settlement?

No. There is no settlement, no fund, and nobody has been paid through this litigation.

A court-appointed official is still coordinating settlement talks across the federal cases and the state cases in Illinois, Philadelphia, Georgia and New York. Those talks have not produced anything announced.

The clearest public signal came on July 28, 2026, when the judge refused to extend the pause protecting one group of companies. They had asked for more time while private talks continued. The court put them back into the ordinary process instead, which means the case is moving forward rather than waiting on a deal.

Be careful with settlement figures

Because there is no settlement, there are no hair relaxer settlement amounts and no per-person payout figures. Any dollar figure you see quoted for this case is an estimate, or a comparison borrowed from a different lawsuit. No court has approved a number here.

In cases like this, values are usually not set until after the judge rules on the science and the first test trials happen. On the current schedule, trials are not expected before 2027.

What these updates mean for a claim

Updates like these show whether a case is still growing, whether big rulings are going one way or the other, and whether trials are getting closer. What they do not do is predict what happens to any individual claim.

It is also worth separating two things. The case moving through court is one question. Whether the science shows hair relaxers cause cancer is a different one, and it is still contested. See Does Hair Relaxer Cause Cancer? for that.

What to watch next

One date matters more than the rest. November 16, 2026 is the deadline for the motions that could narrow or end parts of the case before any trial. Those rulings, more than anything else on this list, will decide how the litigation goes.

• Whether the number of filed cases keeps growing or starts to fall.
• Progress on the test cases, and whether any trial date gets set.
• How the judge rules on which scientific evidence is allowed.
• Whether the second group of companies being sent back into evidence-gathering means settlement talks have stalled.
• Court orders that speed up or slow down the whole case.
• How L'Oréal answers Arizona's lawsuit, and whether other states bring their own.
• Whether state court cases, including fibroid claims, move on their own schedule.

When will the first trials start?

Courts handling thousands of similar cases pick a few to try first. Lawyers call them bellwether trials, and both sides watch them to work out what the evidence is worth and how juries react.

Nothing is scheduled yet. Everything is waiting on the judge's ruling about which scientific evidence is allowed. That ruling shapes what any trial would look like, so the trials cannot be set until it lands. On the current schedule they are not expected before 2027.

For background on the research the court is weighing, see The Hair Relaxer Cancer Studies, Explained.

How This Page Fits With Our Main Hair Relaxer Coverage

The main Hair Relaxer Cancer Lawsuit page explains the broader allegations, products, health concerns, and claim categories commonly discussed in this litigation. Companion pages cover the science and health questions in plain English: Does Hair Relaxer Cause Cancer?; The Hair Relaxer Cancer Studies, Explained; Hair Relaxers and Fibroids; and Are Hair Relaxers Safe?

This page is narrower. It focuses on procedural developments and public case updates rather than the broader educational overview.

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About the Author

David Meldofsky is a California-licensed attorney and the founder of Lawsuit Informer, an educational platform focused on helping people understand lawsuits, consumer safety issues, and legal rights related to defective products and toxic exposures.

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Last Updated: September 15, 2026

Educational information only. Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed.