‘I’m Concerned’: Customers Claiming Revlon Hair Straighteners Cause Cancer Have Only Weeks to File Their Health Concerns

The study found that women who used the products more than four times a year potentially had more than double their risk of developing uterine cancer.

DALLAS. As lawsuits against companies that make and sell hair straightening chemicals continue to rise, a major new beauty brand is stepping in: Revlon.

The company filed for bankruptcy last June, citing supply chain issues, and consumers were given an October 24, 2022 deadline to file any claims against the cosmetics brand.

On October 17, a week before this deadline, the National Cancer Institute published a study that showed a potential link between frequent use of chemical hair straighteners and cases of uterine cancer.

The NCI found that women who used the products more than four times a year potentially had more than twice the risk of developing uterine cancer compared to those who never used them.

After the study, dozens of lawsuits were filed across the country against companies that sell and manufacture hair straightening products.

Due to the bankruptcy court deadline for Revlon, any lawsuits specifically against the company that were not filed within this week-long period – before the October 24 deadline – were dismissed.

This week, a bankruptcy judge raised the bar by setting a new deadline of April 11 at 5:00 pm ET for consumers with claims against Revlon over hair straighteners.

After the April deadline, all claims against Revlon in this regard will be terminated as determined by the judge.

The judge also set a March 23 deadline for people to file their claims and become eligible to vote on any bankruptcy plan brought to Revlon by the court.

Larry Taylor Jr., a Dallas-based attorney and managing partner of The Cochran Firm, said he was among the attorneys who filed the initial lawsuits against Revlon before the original October 24 deadline last year.

Taylor said the judge’s decision to raise the bar and allow more time to file lawsuits against Revlon is helpful, but he is concerned that less than one month is not enough.

“We are talking about less than 30 days to file a lawsuit or a permanent ban on filing a lawsuit,” Taylor said. – This is a serious problem. You know, the digital divide is a real thing.”

He said that people who might want to file a lawsuit do not have the resources and technology to do so.

“We have several clients who don’t have internet,” Taylor said. “So they saw our commercial and they called us and we had to mail the contracts to them and they sent it back. These are, sometimes, little old grandmothers. It took them a while to get it back to us.”

Aigner Kolom, head of law firm Beasley Allen, said her firm has many clients who have used Revlon hair straighteners. She said her team is rushing to make sure they have all the information they need, including the claim confirmation form needed to file in bankruptcy court.

“We will just try to file these claims as soon as possible and as best we can,” Kolom said.

She said their goal is to get as many clients as early as possible so that clients have a say in the bankruptcy plan.

However, both Colom and Taylor stated that the process of investigating each client’s claim takes time.

“Time is vast,” Colom said. “We have several employees and lawyers who work on these cases in our offices every day, and they spend their whole day on these cases.”

With the new deadline approaching, Taylor said he had mixed feelings.

“I’m concerned,” Taylor said. “I’m concerned about the process as it is set out right now. I always hope that we can get the job done, but this particular order… the strict time constraints and the short time period are causing me concern.”

Kolom said there is a possibility that the deadline could be extended, but until they hear from the judge, the rush to resolve the claims continues.

Meanwhile, Revlon, like other cosmetic brands that have been the victims of these lawsuits, claims that the accusations against its products are baseless.

In a statement provided to the WFAA, the company said:

“Revlon is committed to the safety of all of its products, which are thoroughly tested before being released to the market. While we do not believe that science supports the link between chemical hair straighteners or hair relaxers and uterine cancer, we remain open to evaluating further research and always adhere to all regulations in every market in which we do business.”

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