Unilever Can't Escape Suave Hair Loss Class Action

A Kentucky federal judge on Monday rejected Unilever U.S. Inc.’s bid to quash a proposed class action accusing it of falsely advertising a hair smoothing product as safe when it actually caused people’s hair to fall out, among other things.

Unilever, the parent company to Suave, is the target of a lawsuit. The lawsuit is over the 'Suave Professional Keratin Infusion 30 Day Smoothing Kit.'

After receiving hundreds of complaints Unilever had pulled the Suave Professional Keratin 30 Day Smoothing Kit in May.

The lawsuit has at least 14 plaintiffs but will not be considered a class action lawsuit because not all of the plaintiffs have the same complaint.

The one common theme in this complaint against Unilever is hair loss. Some of the plaintiffs also claim that in addition to hair loss the product burnt their scalp.

The Suave Professional Keratin Infusion 30 Day Smoothing Kit was marketed to consumers as formaldehyde free.

Formaldehyde has been linked to cancer. Several agencies including OSHA and the Agency for Research on Cancer have warned against hair straightening treatments containing formaldehyde.

Whether or not this product was truly formaldehyde free is currently under investigation. The Suave Keratin Straightening Kit included an ingredient called Tetrasodium EDTA which is made from formaldehyde as well as another chemical called DMDM Hydantoin which is also linked to formaldehyde.

Unilever is an umbrella company to a variety of different brands. They are the parent company for food brands including Ben and Jerry's, Hellman's and Lipton.

They are also the manufacturer for other hair care and beauty lines including Suave, V05 and Dove.

Their products are not known for being environmentally friendly as they do test on animals. Unilever has been criticized in the past by Greenpeace for using palm oil suppliers that damage Indonesia's rain forest.

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