Attorney General Ellison sues L’Oréal for deceiving Black women and girls about cancer risks linked to chemical hair relaxers

Consumer-protection lawsuit alleges L’Oréal misled Black women and children about product safety, leading to possible cancer risks

October 23, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against L’Oréal and its subsidiaries, alleging the companies deceptively marketed chemical hair relaxer products to Black women and children while concealing significant cancer risks associated with their use. In so doing, the companies violated three Minnesota consumer-protection laws by misleading consumers about the safety of chemical hair relaxers, including products sold under the Dark and Lovely, Optimum, and Mizani brands.

“It’s outrageous that L’Oréal marketed these products to Black women and girls as safe when they knew they were not and had a duty to disclose they were not,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Humans of all ages, genders, and colors are free to do whatever they like with their hair. Women who wish to straighten their hair have a right to choose the products they want to use — but those products must be safe and must not expose them to higher risks of cancer or other hazards. I’m holding L’Oréal accountable for fraudulently marketing their chemical hair relaxers, deceiving Minnesota consumers — especially Black women and girls — for many years, and profiting off that deception.”

In the complaint, Attorney General Ellison alleges that for decades, L’Oréal and its subsidiaries have marketed and sold toxic chemical hair relaxers to women and girls of African descent as a safe and desirable means of conforming naturally textured hair to prevailing beauty standards — while concealing the devastating carcinogenic risks associated with those products.

The complaint cites four significant epidemiological studies that establish the increase of uterine and ovarian cancer among women who use chemical hair relaxers three or more times per year.  In one such study, researchers found an increased risk of thyroid, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and pancreatic cancer among the women who used chemical hair relaxers. Specifically, there was a 71% increased risk of thyroid cancer, and 166% increased risk of pancreatic cancer for women who had used chemical straighteners in the year before enrolling in the study versus those who had not used them.

L’Oreal knew of all four studies and had specialized access to and knowledge of the composition of their products, the chemical and toxicological profile of those categories of chemicals, and the long-term health risks associated with repeated and prolonged use of products containing those categories of chemicals. This knowledge was not equally available to Minnesota consumers and L’Oréal did not disclose it to them, which it has had a legal duty to do.

Instead, L’Oréal has continued to market its chemical hair relaxers, particularly to women and girls of African descent, as safe and beneficial to the user, representing that their products are healthy, natural, nourishing, moisturizing, strengthening, and gentle. The companies publicly claim that they adhere to the “highest standards of safety” and they “guarantee the product safety of each and every one of their products,” and that they “source the world’s finest ingredients through a trusted network of global suppliers, each tested before use to confirm their safety and quality.”

In the complaint, Attorney General Ellison alleges violations of Minnesota's Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act, Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and False Statement in Advertising Act. He seeks civil penalties, consumer restitution, and other relief, and an injunction prohibiting continued sales without adequate warnings about the products' health risks.