Hair Relaxer Lawsuits by Company: Which Maker Is Named First Most Often
Original analysis of 16,688 records from the Federal Judicial Center, October 2022 – June 2026 (filing dates). Published October 21, 2026.
We counted the federal hair relaxer cases on the Northern District of Illinois docket, identified by MDL number or by maker name, filed from October 2022 through June 30, 2026, and grouped the cases by the company listed first as defendant.
Key findings on hair relaxer lawsuits by company
L'Oréal USA is the first-named defendant in 6,462 of the 16,688 federal hair relaxer cases we counted, or 38.7%, more than any other maker; Revlon follows with 3,803 cases (22.8%). The two companies together are named first in 61.5% of the cases. Almost every case caption lists more than one defendant ("et al."), so the count shows which company leads the case caption, not every company sued.
- 39%Cases naming L'Oréal USA first, Oct. 2022 to June 2026
- 23%Cases naming Revlon first, Oct. 2022 to June 2026
- 16.7KFederal hair relaxer cases counted (MDL docket)
L'Oréal USA leads the case captions
L'Oréal USA is listed first in 6,462 cases (38.7%), ahead of Revlon with 3,803 (22.8%) and AFAM Concept with 2,281 (13.7%).
Revlon cases came in one wave
Of the 3,803 cases naming Revlon first, 3,742 (98.4%) were filed in the third quarter of 2023. Among the 8,141 cases filed since January 2024, Revlon is named first in 43.
Since 2024, nearly half name L'Oréal USA first
Of the cases filed from January 2024 through June 2026, 46.6% name L'Oréal USA first, followed by AFAM Concept (16.1%) and Godrej SON Holdings (14.9%).
Five companies account for most cases
The five companies named first most often account for 90.8% of all cases. In all, 24 company names appear as first-named defendant, several of them in a single case; the remaining 6 cases list a person, a service list or no name first.
Checked against the JPML
Our count of cases filed through June 30, 2026 (16,688) is 3.9% above the 16,059 total actions the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation reported for MDL 3060 on July 1, 2026.
Which Company Is Named in the Most Hair Relaxer Lawsuits
Each case is counted once, under the company the court records list as first defendant.
L'Oréal USA ranks first with 6,462 cases (38.7%), followed by Revlon with 3,803 (22.8%), AFAM Concept with 2,281, Godrej SON Holdings with 1,497 and Beauty Bell Enterprises (formerly House of Cheatham) with 1,104.
The federal court records name only the first defendant in a case, shortened to a few dozen characters and followed by "et al." when there are more. We merged spelling variants of the same company name, such as "LOREAL USA, INC." and "L'OREAL USA PRODUCTS" under L'Oréal USA, or "REVLON, INC." and "REVLON CONSUMER PRODUCT" under Revlon. "Avalon Industries" is counted as a misspelling of Avlon Industries, and House of Cheatham under its current name, Beauty Bell Enterprises. Companies with different names are kept apart even where they are related: Godrej SON Holdings (1,497 cases) and Strength of Nature (369) appear separately, as do Dabur International (121) and Namaste Laboratories (162), and SoftSheen-Carson is not added to L'Oréal USA.
The ranking counts lawsuits, not products sold. It does not account for each company's market share, the number of products involved or how many plaintiffs used them, and a lawsuit is an allegation, not a finding of liability. Smaller companies, such as Advanced Beauty (71 cases), Dudley Beauty or Sally Beauty Supply, are listed separately. The 6 cases that list a person, a service list or no name first are shown as "Other or unidentified".
Federal hair relaxer cases by first-named defendant, Oct. 2022 to June 2026
- L'Oreal USA6,46238.72% of cases
- Revlon3,80322.79% of cases
- AFAM Concept2,28113.67% of cases
- Godrej SON Holdings1,4978.97% of cases
- Beauty Bell Enterprises (House of Cheatham)1,1046.62% of cases
- Avlon Industries6764.05% of cases
- Strength of Nature3692.21% of cases
- Namaste Laboratories1620.97% of cases
- Dabur International1210.73% of cases
- Advanced Beauty710.43% of cases
- Luster Products700.42% of cases
All companies
- Dudley Beauty140.08% of cases
- McBride Research Laboratories120.07% of cases
- RNA Corporation120.07% of cases
- SoftSheen-Carson80.05% of cases
- Bronner Brothers70.04% of cases
- Other or unidentified60.04% of cases
- Dermoviva Skin Essentials50.03% of cases
- GIB LLC (Brazilian Blowout)20.01% of cases
- Horizon Therapeutics10.01% of cases
- Keratin Complex10.01% of cases
- Keratin Holdings10.01% of cases
- Roux Laboratories10.01% of cases
- Sally Beauty Supply10.01% of cases
- Silk Elements10.01% of cases
How Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Against L'Oréal and Revlon Changed by Year
Revlon led the 2023 filings; from 2024 on, L'Oréal USA is named first far more often.
In 2023, Revlon was named first in 44.1% of the 8,535 new cases and L'Oréal USA in 31.1%. In 2024 the order flipped: L'Oréal USA 54.5%, Revlon 0.66%. In 2025, L'Oréal USA led again with 41.8% of 3,559 cases.
Filings peaked in September 2023, when 6,748 cases (40.4% of all cases counted) were filed. That month accounts for most of the Revlon cases. Since 2024, other makers have taken a larger share of new cases: AFAM Concept is named first in 16.1% and Godrej SON Holdings in 14.9% of cases filed from January 2024 through June 2026.
The court records do not explain why plaintiffs list one maker before another, so the data cannot say why Revlon almost disappeared from the first position after 2023. The cases still may name Revlon further down the list of defendants.
Federal hair relaxer cases by filing year and first-named defendant
| Year | Cases | L'Oréal first | Revlon first | Others first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8,535 | 2,656 | 3,760 | 2,119 |
| 2024 | 3,324 | 1,813 | 22 | 1,489 |
| 2025 | 3,559 | 1,487 | 17 | 2,055 |
| 2022 (Q4 only) | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 (Jan-Jun) | 1,258 | 494 | 4 | 760 |
Calendar years by filing date. 2022 covers October to December only, 2026 covers January to June only.
How Many Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Are Filed Each Quarter
After the 2023 wave, new filings have continued at several hundred cases per quarter.
The third quarter of 2023 brought the largest wave of filings. Since then, between a few hundred and more than a thousand cases have been filed each quarter; 3,559 cases were filed in 2025.
Quarterly counts show the filing date of each case on the court docket. Of all cases counted, 98.9% were filed directly into the MDL in Chicago rather than transferred from other courts. The most recent quarters can still grow as court records are updated; see the limits below.
Federal hair relaxer cases by filing quarter, Q4 2022 to Q2 2026
- 2022-Q412L'Oréal USA first 12 · Revlon first 0
- 2023-Q182L'Oréal USA first 66 · Revlon first 1
- 2023-Q2152L'Oréal USA first 137 · Revlon first 3
- 2023-Q37,727L'Oréal USA first 2,094 · Revlon first 3,742
- 2023-Q4574L'Oréal USA first 359 · Revlon first 14
- 2024-Q1280L'Oréal USA first 174 · Revlon first 7
- 2024-Q2496L'Oréal USA first 316 · Revlon first 7
- 2024-Q3960L'Oréal USA first 539 · Revlon first 2
- 2024-Q41,588L'Oréal USA first 784 · Revlon first 6
- 2025-Q1672L'Oréal USA first 286 · Revlon first 2
- 2025-Q2949L'Oréal USA first 404 · Revlon first 2
- 2025-Q31,206L'Oréal USA first 464 · Revlon first 9
- 2025-Q4732L'Oréal USA first 333 · Revlon first 4
- 2026-Q1566L'Oréal USA first 211 · Revlon first 2
- 2026-Q2692L'Oréal USA first 283 · Revlon first 2
How Many Hair Relaxer Lawsuits Are in the MDL
We compared our running count with the total the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation reports each month for MDL 3060.
The JPML reported 16,059 total actions on July 1, 2026; we count 16,688 cases filed through June 30, 2026, a difference of 3.9%. Across 31 monthly reports, our count ranged from 0.6% to 5.1% above the JPML total.
The JPML's figure is the total number of actions ever part of the MDL, including those already closed. Our count is slightly higher in every month. Likely reasons are cases filed on the Chicago docket that were never formally made part of the MDL and our matching of cases without an MDL number in the court records (see method). The JPML's most recent report, of October 1, 2026, lists 12,381 actions pending and 16,828 in total.
Our case count vs. JPML total actions for MDL 3060, monthly
| Report | JPML total | Our count | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-01-02 | 8,131 | 8,547 | 5.1% |
| 2024-02-01 | 8,351 | 8,643 | 3.5% |
| 2024-03-01 | 8,537 | 8,723 | 2.2% |
| 2024-04-01 | 8,670 | 8,827 | 1.8% |
| 2024-05-01 | 8,788 | 8,967 | 2.0% |
| 2024-06-03 | 8,920 | 9,141 | 2.5% |
| 2024-07-01 | 9,011 | 9,323 | 3.5% |
| 2024-08-01 | 9,151 | 9,518 | 4.0% |
| 2024-09-03 | 9,799 | 9,854 | 0.6% |
| 2024-10-01 | 10,083 | 10,283 | 2.0% |
| 2024-11-01 | 11,211 | 11,414 | 1.8% |
| 2024-12-02 | 11,439 | 11,636 | 1.7% |
All monthly reports
| Report | JPML total | Our count | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-02 | 11,613 | 11,871 | 2.2% |
| 2025-02-03 | 11,783 | 12,086 | 2.6% |
| 2025-03-03 | 12,026 | 12,283 | 2.1% |
| 2025-04-01 | 12,288 | 12,543 | 2.1% |
| 2025-05-01 | 12,586 | 12,797 | 1.7% |
| 2025-06-02 | 12,773 | 13,101 | 2.6% |
| 2025-07-01 | 12,891 | 13,492 | 4.7% |
| 2025-08-01 | 13,441 | 13,908 | 3.5% |
| 2025-09-02 | 13,814 | 14,274 | 3.3% |
| 2025-10-01 | 14,170 | 14,698 | 3.7% |
| 2025-11-03 | 14,438 | 14,974 | 3.7% |
| 2025-12-02 | 14,567 | 15,205 | 4.4% |
| 2026-01-05 | 14,757 | 15,437 | 4.6% |
| 2026-02-02 | 15,029 | 15,618 | 3.9% |
| 2026-03-02 | 15,319 | 15,800 | 3.1% |
| 2026-04-01 | 15,504 | 15,996 | 3.2% |
| 2026-05-01 | 15,691 | 16,222 | 3.4% |
| 2026-06-01 | 15,898 | 16,460 | 3.5% |
| 2026-07-01 | 16,059 | 16,688 | 3.9% |
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- Hair relaxer lawsuits (MDL 3060) by first-named defendantFederal hair relaxer cases on the Northern District of Illinois docket filed October 2022 to June 30, 2026, grouped by the company listed first as defendant, with filings per year. · 25 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Hair relaxer lawsuits (MDL 3060) by filing quarterCases filed per calendar quarter from the fourth quarter of 2022 through the second quarter of 2026, split by first-named defendant. · 15 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Hair relaxer lawsuits (MDL 3060) by filing yearCases filed per calendar year and how many name Revlon or L'Oreal USA first; 2022 covers October to December only and 2026 covers January to June only. · 5 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Study case count vs. JPML total actions for MDL 3060, monthlyFor each monthly JPML report through July 1, 2026, the JPML's total actions (historical) for MDL 3060 next to the number of study cases filed before the report date. · 31 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 15 KB
- Summary to print or forward (3 pages)Short answer, key figures, main chart, findings, method and citation · PDF, 227 KB
Charts for your story
Federal hair relaxer cases by first-named defendant, Oct. 2022 to June 2026
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Federal hair relaxer cases by filing year and first-named defendant
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Federal hair relaxer cases by filing quarter, Q4 2022 to Q2 2026
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Our case count vs. JPML total actions for MDL 3060, monthly
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How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). Hair Relaxer Lawsuits by Company — Federal MDL 3060 Cases by First-Named Defendant (Oct. 2022–June 2026) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/hair-relaxer-lawsuits-by-company
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_hair_relaxer_lawsuits_by_company,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {Hair Relaxer Lawsuits by Company --- Federal MDL 3060 Cases by First-Named Defendant (Oct. 2022--June 2026)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/hair-relaxer-lawsuits-by-company}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- Hair relaxer cases (MDL 3060) filed through June 30, 2026, vs. JPML total actions (historical) as of July 1, 2026: published 16,059, our count 16,688 (3.92% apart).JPML MDL Statistics Report - Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending
- Hair relaxer cases (MDL 3060) filed through December 31, 2024, vs. JPML total actions (historical) as of January 2, 2025: published 11,613, our count 11,871 (2.22% apart).JPML MDL Statistics Report - Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending
Full method and limits of the data
We counted every record on the Northern District of Illinois docket (IDB district 52) that the IDB tags with MDL 3060, regardless of filing date, origin or nature of suit (10,926 cases); the few records tagged with the MDL number in other districts were left out because those cases reappear in Chicago after transfer. Because the IDB stopped adding the MDL number to most cases filed from 2025 on, we added 5,762 cases from district 52 filed from Oct. 1, 2022, through June 30, 2026 (IDB field filedate), without MDL number 3060, with a nature-of-suit code from 310 to 368 (the IDB's whole personal injury group, which includes a few hair relaxer cases coded as marine or motor vehicle product liability), with IDB origin code 1, 5, 6 and 13 (original filings, transfers and direct MDL filings), and whose first listed defendant matches one of the company name stems listed below. Company names that appear first in the tagged cases supplied those stems; person names, service lists and blank entries were not used to add cases. The one exception is Horizon Therapeutics, the maker of the thyroid eye disease drug Tepezza, which appears first in a single tagged case; cases naming it first without the hair relaxer MDL number belong to the separate Tepezza litigation in the same court and were not added. Records naming a listed maker first but carrying another nature-of-suit code (mostly the insurance code) were not added (19 cases), nor were cases whose first defendant does not begin with a listed stem, such as a caption reading "Bell Enterprises LLC" or other cosmetics companies that never appear first in a tagged case. The added cases include 132 cases the IDB records with a different MDL number (3121, which belongs to an unrelated health insurance litigation) although they name hair relaxer makers first; 131 of them were filed in the second quarter of 2026. A case is one docket number within one court office (IDB fields office and docket in district 52), with tagged and added records pooled; cases reopened after closing and cases listed in several IDB data years were counted once, with the filing date and first defendant of the record with the earliest filing date, and as tagged if any of its records carries the MDL number (160 duplicate records removed).
Company names were standardized by uppercasing the first listed defendant and keeping only the letters A to Z (dropping spaces, digits and punctuation, so "L'OREAL USA, INC." becomes LOREALUSAINC); a name belongs to a company if it begins with one of these stems, checked in this order: REVLON = Revlon; LOREAL or LORAL = L'Oreal USA (also L'Oreal Products and L'Oreal S.A.); AFAM = AFAM Concept; BEAUTYBELL, BELLBEAUTY or HOUSEOFCHEATHAM = Beauty Bell Enterprises; GODREJ = Godrej SON Holdings; STRENGTHOFNATURE = Strength of Nature; AVLON or AVALONINDUSTRIES = Avlon Industries; DABUR = Dabur International; NAMASTE = Namaste Laboratories; LUSTER = Luster Products (also the misspelling Lusters Products); MCBRIDE = McBride Research Laboratories; RNACORP = RNA Corporation; SOFTSHEEN = SoftSheen-Carson (kept separate from L'Oreal); BRONNER = Bronner Brothers; ADVANCEDBEAUTY = Advanced Beauty; DUDLEY = Dudley Beauty; SALLYBEAUTY = Sally Beauty Supply; ROUXLAB = Roux Laboratories; KERATINHOLDINGS = Keratin Holdings; KERATINCOMPLEX = Keratin Complex; DERMOVIVA = Dermoviva Skin Essentials; SILKELEMENTS = Silk Elements; GIBLLC = GIB LLC (Brazilian Blowout). Names the court truncated to about 23 characters still begin with the stem. House of Cheatham, which now does business as Beauty Bell Enterprises (one case caption reads "BEAUTY BELL ENTERPRISES LLC F/", for formerly known as), is counted under Beauty Bell Enterprises. Cases whose first defendant matches no stem (tagged cases only) are grouped as other or unidentified. Shares are each company's cases divided by all 16,688 cases counted. To check the method, we compared the number of cases filed before each monthly JPML report date with the JPML's total actions for MDL 3060: 11,871 against 11,613 on Jan. 2, 2025 (2.2% higher) and 16,688 against 16,059 on July 1, 2026 (3.9% higher).
Using only the cases the IDB tags with the MDL number, the order at the top is the same: L'Oréal USA with 3,995 cases (36.6%) ahead of Revlon with 3,694 (33.8%).
What this data cannot tell you
- The IDB names only the first listed defendant. Almost every case lists more than one defendant, and other makers may be among them, so a company that is rarely listed first may still be a defendant in many cases. The count is not a tally of all lawsuits against each company.
- Cases added without an MDL number were matched by court, case type and defendant name. A few cases may be counted that were never part of the MDL, and cases filed outside Chicago that were not yet transferred are not included.
- Federal courts report cases to the IDB with a delay, and the most recent months are often filled in later. The counts for the second quarter of 2026 may rise once later IDB updates arrive, so the latest quarter should not be read as a slowdown.
- The ranking does not account for company size, market share or sales of hair relaxer products. Filing a lawsuit is an allegation; the counts say nothing about whether any product caused an illness.
- State court cases, which are not part of the federal MDL, are not included.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many hair relaxer lawsuits are there?
The JPML's report of October 1, 2026 lists 12,381 pending actions and 16,828 actions in total in the federal hair relaxer MDL. Our own count from federal court records finds 16,688 cases filed through June 30, 2026.
Which company has the most hair relaxer lawsuits?
L'Oréal USA is named as first defendant in 6,462 of 16,688 federal hair relaxer cases (38.7%), more than any other company. Revlon follows with 3,803 cases (22.8%).
Is Revlon part of the hair relaxer lawsuit?
Yes. Revlon is the first-named defendant in 3,803 federal cases, almost all filed in the third quarter of 2023. Since January 2024 it has been named first in only 43 of 8,141 new cases, though it may still appear further down the list of defendants.
What do the hair relaxer lawsuits claim?
According to the JPML's transfer order, the cases allege that hair relaxer products contain phthalates or other endocrine-disrupting chemicals and that their use caused or increased the risk of uterine, ovarian or breast cancer and other reproductive injuries. These are allegations that the court has not decided.
Where are the hair relaxer lawsuits filed?
The federal cases are centralized in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago as MDL 3060, before Judge Mary M. Rowland. Of the cases we counted, 98.9% were filed directly into the MDL there.
Which other companies are sued over hair relaxers?
After L'Oréal USA and Revlon, the companies named first most often are AFAM Concept (2,281 cases), Godrej SON Holdings (1,497), Beauty Bell Enterprises, formerly House of Cheatham (1,104), and Avlon Industries (676).
Sources
- Integrated Database (IDB), Civil — Federal Judicial Center
- IDB Civil Codebook, 1988 Forward — Federal Judicial Center
- MDL Statistics Report: Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending, July 1, 2026 — Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- MDL Statistics Report: Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending, January 2, 2025 — Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- MDL Statistics Report: Distribution of Pending MDL Dockets by Actions Pending, October 1, 2026 — Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
- Transfer Order, In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3060) — Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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