Sep 14, 2026 · LawyerUnc editorial · Mass torts · Hair relaxer · YMYL

Arizona's L'Oreal case is not a hair-relaxer cancer file

The State sued over advertising. MDL 3060 screens for years of chemical relaxer use plus a diagnosed uterine, ovarian, or endometrial cancer. Those are different lawsuits, with different plaintiffs.

Last checked Sep 14, 2026 · LawyerUnc editorial. Educational only, not legal advice.

On 11 September 2026, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a consumer-fraud lawsuit against L'Oreal USA and related companies over chemical hair relaxers. The press release is on azag.gov. The claim is that the products were sold without disclosing an alleged link to uterine and ovarian cancer. The plaintiff is the State of Arizona. The statute is the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act. The remedies the State is asking for are the kind a government asks for: penalties, restitution, and warnings.

That is not MDL 3060. The federal hair-relaxer docket sits in the Northern District of Illinois. The people in that inventory are not a state attorney general. The screen that is actually moving is years of regular chemical relaxer or straightener use, plus a medically diagnosed uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, or endometrial cancer, plus a brand history a lawyer can prove. A single salon visit is not that inventory. Uterine fibroids show up in some marketing. Many inventories do not take them.

The 2022 Journal of the National Cancer Institute paper (Chang and others, from the NIH Sister Study) reported an association between frequent straightener use and uterine cancer. Association in a study is not proof that this product gave this person this cancer. Defendants dispute general causation and product identification. No-brand files are how inventories shrink. There is no global settlement in the MDL as of this check.

If you used chemical relaxers for years and you have one of those cancer diagnoses, that is a conversation about MDL 3060, not about Arizona's consumer-fraud complaint. If you saw a headline about L'Oreal and you do not have that diagnosis, the headline is still a headline.

This is a map of two different dockets, not a ruling on your facts, and not legal advice. Do not start or stop any product or medicine because of a press release. Last checked 14 September 2026 against the Arizona Attorney General press release of 11 September 2026, the public MDL 3060 caption in the Northern District of Illinois, and Chang et al., JNCI 2022.