Published November 4, 2026
The federal hair relaxer litigation now has its final group of test cases. A docket entry from October 22 states that the parties emailed U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland the identities of five final bellwether cases, AboutLawsuits reports. The first trial is scheduled to begin September 7, 2027, in the Northern District of Illinois, and the judge has not yet said which case will go first.
The five plaintiffs come from New York (three), New Jersey and Maryland. Four allege endometrial or uterine cancer and one alleges ovarian cancer, with diagnoses ranging from 2011 to 2023. Each claims years of use of several straightening products, with brands such as Dark & Lovely, Optimum, ORS Olive Oil, Just for Me and Crème of Nature named across the cases. These are allegations that have not yet been tested at trial.
The process began with a pool of 32 potential bellwethers. Attorneys proposed a final pool of 12, but Judge Rowland declined those recommendations and chose 10 lawsuits herself. According to AboutLawsuits, she required each case to name at least three defendants and excluded plaintiffs reporting memory loss, certain mental health conditions or learning disabilities, as well as those pursuing separate talcum powder cancer lawsuits over similar cancers. Those 10 were then narrowed to the five.
More than 12,000 lawsuits have been filed against cosmetics companies including L'Oreal and Soft-Sheen. Bellwether verdicts do not bind any other case, but they can give both sides a sense of how juries respond to the evidence and may influence settlement talks. A first trial is still about 10 months away, with case management conferences scheduled in the meantime to handle discovery disputes, expert issues and motions.
If you used chemical hair relaxers regularly and were later diagnosed with uterine, endometrial or ovarian cancer, see Atumio's hair relaxer case page for a free eligibility review, or start your case review directly.