Skip to main content

Chances are you’ve seen at least one post about this lawsuit somewhere online as it is really gaining momentum. While we look to hair care products as a means of helping keep our hair healthy, that’s not always what we end up getting.

In recent times it seems a class action lawsuit has been launched against TRESemme over some kind of ingredient within a product that no one was warned about. This lawsuit began in late 2020 when a consumer from Illinois filed it alleging that the company itself had violated laws in using such an ingredient without making people aware. While that might sound a bit crazy, it really seems to be happening and could explain some of the issues that a lot of people are coming forth as having experienced.

According to ClassAction.Org, this claim covers the TRESemme Keratin Smooth line of shampoos as they seem to include an ingredient that can cause serious scalp irritation as well as a reasonable amount of hair loss. Something that could cause hair loss is the last thing we expect to be finding in our shampoo and yet, it seems to be quite present in these products. Apparently, these products in question contain something known as DMDM hydantoin ‘which is known to leach formaldehyde when it comes in contact with water.’

In case you were not aware, formaldehyde is very dangerous especially when absorbed by our skin. It can cause serious health issues and the use of DMDM hydantoin is under this suit being noted as a very risky and unnecessary ingredient. There are plenty of alternatives present that could have been used instead and those ingredients would not be bringing forth the issues that seem to be coming up.

ClassAction.Org wrote as follows going over what this suit entails:

Nevertheless, the suit alleges, the defendants have failed to properly warn consumers of the risks associated with using such a strong chemical on their hair and have even gone so far as to claim the TRESemmé Keratin Smooth products are safe.

“Defendants continued to conceal the dangers of the Products by failing to appropriately and fully recall the Products, by continuing to claim the Products were safe when properly applied, and by failing to warn consumers of the dangers attendant to the Products’ use,” the complaint scathes.

The lawsuit alleges Unilever marketed its “Keratin Smooth” line of shampoos to women who “wanted smooth, shiny, manageable hair with no frizz.”

Through online marketing and the products’ labeling, the defendants allegedly represented that the TRESemmé products contained keratin, a protein found naturally in hair, and would “deeply nourish,” “gently cleanse,” and “repair hair.”

According to the case, however, Unilever failed to warn consumers that a preservative named among the products’ ingredients has been known by the defendants to cause or contribute to hair loss and scalp irritation.

The suit charges that nowhere on the products’ packaging or in advertising did Unilever warn customers of the risks of using DMDM hydantoin on their hair and scalp and instead claimed the shampoo was safe when properly applied.

This suit also notes that Unilever is well aware of the dangers this ingredient can bring and has been aware for a very long time yet continued to choose to add it to their products. Basically bringing a lot of questions to the table. While a lot of people think these products are safe, they do not seem to be as safe as we would like for them to be and that’s the point here.

What do you think about all of this? Are we as aware of the things we’re putting into our hair as we should be or could there be more products out there that are hurting our hair more than we realize in the long-run? At the moment we do not know how many people have ended up with bad reactions to this shampoo but only time will tell how serious the issue is.

While the lawsuit is still in process and nothing has gone through a proper trial yet, this is quite concerning for a lot of reasons. Have you used the product noted above before? I personally haven’t and am quite glad about that.