Now you know full and well if Benjamin Crump is on the news, it's something serious. In the past year or two, I noticed a commercial circulating with him talking about cancer linked to relaxers.
Recap
In another blog article, I went over a history of relaxers. We left off talking about the 80s and 90s when a TV commercial revolution took over the relaxer industry. Upon researching a light bulb went off. These lawsuits seem to be targeting specific relaxer companies. The ones who produce the at home relaxer in a box. I almost always find that these relaxers have to be activated. You mix two solutions together before applying the relaxer.
Chemical differences
I remember these commercials constantly say “No lye relaxers “ . So here is a quick history lesson. Lye relaxers are made from sodium hydroxide and no lye relaxers use calcium hydroxide. Calcium hydroxide based relaxers especially the ones you can buy over the counter are known to dry the hair out. I just wanted to give a little context before moving forward.
The infiltration of black salons
The at home relaxer revolution is a double edged sword. The corporations made a quite successful attempt at taking over the black salon industry in my opinion. Many of these corporations are owned by white people. Not that I have anything against white owned businesses. My point is that when corporations take over any industry, it seems to ruin it and the customer base as well, like what we're seeing with this sweep of class action lawsuits. I believe small businesses are better than mega corporations because there is a personal relationship between consumers and owners.
To mass produce relaxer kits in my opinion is identical to mass producing
●Electrician did kits
●At home dentistry kits
●DIY bathroom kits
●At home barber kits
Sure, you can do things yourself at home. The thing is that the creator of the kits assume the liability as opposed to the licensed professionals.
The lawsuits
As I said in the beginning, nationally acclaimed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is one of the first attorneys I saw regarding this matter. According to his website he, along with Attorney Diandra “Fu” Debrosse Zimmermann of DiCello Levitt filed a mass tort lawsuit on behalf of Jenny Mitchell, who contracted uterine cancer after her use of chemical hair straightening products sold by L’Oréal USA, suing that company as well as entities that assisted in the development, marketing, and sale of the defective products including Motions, Dark & Lovely, Olive Oil Relaxer, and Organic Root Stimulator.
It's clear that they're rightly framing this as “You got these people to be regular clients to a literal corrosive beauty in a box”
The aftermath
At the time of the production of this video, litigation is ongoing. These products are still available for sale on major retailers' websites. The FDA is proposing a ban on relaxers that contain formaldehyde.
On the website for the law firm Simmons Fletcher P.C. the list of straighteners was not exclusive to black hair care items. It listed many Keratin treatments which are popular in non black circles. This lawsuit is monumental and sets the legal precedence for straightening treatments moving forward.
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Dawn Michelle Williams is a licensed cosmetologist for the state of Maryland since the year 2000. If you need a hairstylist as a consultant because you don't have a regular stylists you may want to try our "Virtual hairstylist " plan. Visit us online at
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