Reuters World News - Inside the legal fight by Black women over hair relaxers

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

Generations of Black women have used cosmetic treatments to straighten their hair. Now, thousands claim those hair relaxers gave them cancer. This special episode takes us inside the legal fight by Black women to demonstrate hair relaxers were harmful and the cosmetic companies who made them knew that and kept marketing to them anyway. Those companies vigorously deny those claims, saying their products are subject to vigorous safety reviews and approved for cosmetic use by U.S. regulators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I may change my hairstyles frequently, but change from Afrochene. Hey, not me. Mocked in the schoolyard for cotton hair or told they didn't belong, generations of black women have used cosmetic hair treatments to straighten their hair. Now, thousands claim those hair relaxes gave them cancer. Did you or a loved one develop cancer after using hair relaxing or hair straightening products? This special episode takes us inside the legal fight by black women to demonstrate hair relaxers were harmful,

and that the cosmetic companies who made them knew or should have known that, and kept marketing to them anyway. Claims those companies vigorously deny, saying their products are subject to vigorous safety reviews and approved for cosmetic use by US regulators. Relaxers are linked to several health conditions, notably uterring cancer. Please consult with us.

I'm Kim Vinal, your Reuters News podcast host. I'm Consumer Goods reporter, Richan I do in London. I'm Mike Specter and I cover corporate crisis in New York. We care, we can help. So Sheila Bush is 69 years old. She was born in 1954, the year of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that found racial segregation in public schools constitutional. So the black kids played on one side of white kids played.

on the other. So then you hear the white children called talking about the way our hair looks and stuff. She told us that she was teased and mocked by white children in the schoolyard of her St. Louis school. But, you know, you think about it and you go home and say, well, why can't my hair be, why can I have long ponytails like they have? Or why can't I have straight hair?

She told us it made you feel like you didn't belong or you weren't as good as the other kids. You know, your hair is nappy or your hair feels like a cotton ball or I can't get my fingers through your hair. She started using hair relaxers as a young teen. She used them every six weeks or so for most of her life. Our parents would press our hair, which meant we would get our hair. They would put the pressing comb on the stove.

They would apply heat, apply grease, press our hair straight, burn our ears, you know, burn our scalp. So this was an easier route, more manageable. So that's what most, most African-American women, most women of color who have this texture of hair, that's what we were doing back then at that time, straightening our hair. And later in her life, in her late 50s, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Nobody in our family had cancer. Nobody.

My mother's sisters, her brothers, none of them had cancers. My grandmother didn't have cancer. So I was the first. At one point, last winter, she was lounging in her recliner, in her St. Louis area home, and an advertisement from a law firm flashed up on her TV screen. And the advertisement urged viewers to call a toll-free number if they or a loved one had used hair relaxers and been diagnosed with uterine cancer. She decided to pick up the phone. And in August, she filed a lawsuit joining thousands of other women who have sued companies, including L'Oreal and

Revlon, who sold hair relaxers. And these women have sued these cosmetic companies, alleging that these hair relaxers contained chemicals that increased the risk of them developing uterine cancer and fail to warn customers. L'Oreal and Revlon told Reuters their products are subject to rigorous safety reviews. They say researchers haven't drawn definitive conclusions about the cause of women's cancers and more research is warranted.

Revlon added, it doesn't believe the science supports a link between chemical hair straighteners or relaxes and cancer. L'Oreal says it is committed to offering the best products for all skin and hair types, all genders, all identities, all cultures, all ages. It also points out the rich heritage and history of hair relaxes, originating with black inventors and entrepreneurs. Namaste, which markets ORS olive oil relaxes, says all ingredients in its products are approved for cosmetic use by US regulators.

A lawyer for Namaste sent an email to Reuters. It says the company does not believe the plaintiffs will be able to show that the use of their products caused the injuries alleged in their complaints. The other companies named in the litigation declined to comment or didn't respond to requests. These lawsuits were prompted by a study by the National Institutes of Health. Reacher, walk me through this NIH study. The study was of more than 33,000 women found that those who reported using hair straightening products more than four times in the previous year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer as those who did not. Black women used the products more frequently than others, the study found. To be clear, the researchers

did not collect information on the ingredients of specific products that the women used, but Dr. Alexandra White, the lead author of the study, told us that hair straighteners have been found to include chemicals that may release formaldehyde when he did. The chastididogen, which means it can cause cancer according to the World Health Organization. But the companies are really pushing back, focusing on the fact that this study only found an association, not a causal link? The companies noted that the authors of the NIH study said they didn't draw definitive conclusions about the cause of the women's cancers and that more research is warranted.

Companies and defense lawyers have pointed to what they say are flaws in the NIH study. The companies named in the litigation have asked the presiding judge to dismiss the lawsuits. They've noted that the study was the first to raise a possible association between hair-straightening products in uterine cancer, which they argue undermines plaintiff's argument that the companies knew or should have known of any of the risks related to these products. The companies have also noted that the NIH study consisted of sisters of women previously diagnosed with breast cancer, who therefore may have a genetic predisposition. The plaintiffs, lawyers for the company said, rely entirely on vague allegations that the products generally contain toxic chemicals.

The success of the legal claims faces hurdles. In addition to the limitations of the NIH study, plaintiffs are suing multiple companies, and if women lack receipts, they may struggle to provide evidence that they used specific products. Talk us through what they have to overcome. Plaintiff's lawyers are in the early stages of attempting to receive discovery from the companies targeted in these lawsuits. They're going to be looking for internal documents from the companies that talk about any science around these products or any testing around these products. They'll be looking for emails that talk about the marketing of these products. And that will all be litigated before the judge.

She will decide what the rules are in terms of what evidence has to be disclosed by the companies. The companies have filed a motion to dismiss the cases, which is now before the judge. If she grants a motion to dismiss in its entirety, the case will go away. If she allows to proceed, the companies may also still ask the judge to grant them something called summary judgment, ruling in their favor without a trial. And there are thousands of these lawsuits? So just over a year ago, a recruitment campaign began among lawyers that eventually resulted in more than 7,000 lawsuits being filed. Jenny Mitchell was the first woman to file a lawsuit. I am the first voice of many voices to come that will stand, stand up to these companies and say no more.

One of her lawyers was Ben Crump, a famous, well-known civil rights lawyer who represented the family of George Floyd, the black man who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Many of them use these chemical relaxers because of society pressures, but also because of the marketing from these corporations that should have known the harmful effect that these chemicals were having on their customers. And then, plaintiff's law firms from across the United States start running advertisements, start trying to read, other women who were diagnosed with uterine cancer and frequently used chemical hair relaxers, kind of building off the findings in this NIH study. Recent scientific research has found that the regular exposure to the chemicals... Our attorneys will have worked tirelessly to get you the resolution you deserve. We care, we can help. Since November last year, plaintiff's lawyers have spent about $8 million, airing more.

than 40,000 television ads across the U.S., with much of that concentrated in Baltimore, Houston, Washington, D.C. This is according to data compiled for Reuters by ex-ante, a firm that tracks mass tort advertising for large companies, law firms, and investment analysts. Why is there so much pressure for women of color to straighten their hair in the first place? Lawyers representing these women say they have been pressured to control. to a white or European standard of beauty, and that companies have taken advantage of long-standing discrimination against women of color to market their hair relaxers so that women have a product to straighten their hair. So, for example, they can appear more professional in an office setting.

We spoke to several women of color who all said similar things. They told us that they faced discrimination as young children and that the culture in their families was to straighten their hair, to avoid being teased, to conform to a certain standard of beauty. We've seen the cultural pressures play out in advertising spanning decades. all the way back to the 70s, 80s, when actors and musicians were featured in advertising. I may change my hairstyles frequently, but change from Afroching. Hey, not me.

A dark and lovely, the number one, no-lie relaxer. Destiny's Child members have been in these ads, right? Not Beyonce, but Kelly Rowland was an a hair relaxer ad in the 2000s. What's the best relaxer when you really care? And how did you get that shiny hair? Why switch to dark and lovely relaxers? I've got five good reasons. Healthy gloss five, our best relaxer yet.

In recent years, women of color have begun embracing their natural hairstyles. At least 22 states have passed legislation inspired by a California law aimed at banning race-based hair discrimination in the workplace and public schools. In the United States Congress, the House of Representatives last year, passed a similar bill, but it's stalled in the Senate. Mike, how hard is it for plaintiffs to get compensation in these big cases? All of these lawsuits have now been filed in different courts across the United States, and they've all been consolidated in one federal court in Chicago as part of something called

an MDL, which stands for multi-district litigation. The recourse plaintiffs will get in this hair relaxer case will hinge on whether they can demonstrate the products they used were harmful and that the companies knew or should have known of the danger and failed to warn customers. There will be hurdles along the way. The NIH study did not find that hair relaxers caused uterine cancer. It found an association between frequent use of hair relaxers and uterine cancer. In addition, we're talking about a situation here where many women use these products over a period of decades, they may not have receipts for the products that they used.

They may struggle to provide evidence that they use specific products sold by particular companies. And depending on how those cases at trial turn out, it could set a pattern for possible settlement checks from these companies. These trials are often called bellwether trials for that very reason. There are a series of trials in a multi-district litigation proceeding. If the companies end up being found not liable, their settlement check could be low or non-existent. If the companies are found liable and juries award substantial damages, the results could set a pattern for a large overall settlement. So time will tell.

Some people are still weighing whether or not to do. join these lawsuits. We spoke with Keana, Ariana, and Nikisha Hester, three sisters whose mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer and passed away. Their mother, Patrice Hester, was a former real estate agent, and she regularly counseled her daughters, they told us, that wearing natural hair would attract unwanted attention and harm their careers. Whenever I would go for a job interview, or if I was working, you know, an event, she would always encourage me to go with my hair straight. She just felt like having natural hair

was trying to make a statement or be a rebel, and she always kind of encouraged conformity. Their mom didn't want them to stand out or be some kind of target, Ariana told us. They've seen ads on social media from plaintiff's law firms. Kiana Hester told us that they have been interviewing lawyers and are considering whether to join the hair relaxer litigation. The reason the sisters told us is they wanted their mother's death last year to mean something.

When she died, her hair was freshly relaxed, the sisters told us. That's it for this special episode. Thanks so much to Rich in Naidu, Mike Spector and Christina Cook for their reporting. The hair relaxer ads used in the show were compiled. from YouTube. Roiters World News is produced by Jonah Green, Tara Oaks, David Spencer and Christopher Waljasper. Our senior producer is Carmel Crimmons and the show is edited by Leila de Kretzer. Engineering and sound design is by Josh Sommer. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. We'll be back on Monday with our regular daily news show.

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