The class-action lawsuit against cult-favourite Wen Hair Care, along with creator Chaz Dean and marketer Guthy-Renker, is officially moving forward after a ruling from a Los Angeles federal judge.
Over the past year, more than 200 women from 40 different states came forward claiming the popular infomercial Cleansing Conditioner caused them extreme hair loss, visible bald spots, hair breakage, scalp irritation and rashes.
The Cleansing Conditioner created by Dean, a Los Angeles stylist with a celebrity client list, is allegedly a "revolutionary 5-in-1 formula" that will replace your shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, detangler and leave-in conditioner. The product promises to strengthen hair with a "perfect blend of special ingredients, including natural botanicals and herbs" and is said to "not contain sodium laurel sulfate or harsh chemicals."
Yet, women are seeing this as a result:
According to People, a Southern California federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $26.25 million settlement. The next step of the lawsuit will be an approval by a U.S. District Court judge. If this moves forward and passes, six million people could get individuals settlements ranging from $25 to $20,000.
"From what we understand about the product and how it causes hair loss is it contains virtually no cleanser," attorney Amy Davis told CBS Los Angeles. "It’s like using lotion to wash your hair. So instead of removing the product when you rinse it off, it just becomes impacted in your hair follicle."
As noted in the video above, the Food and Drug Administration is now investigating Wen Hair Care products and the company as a whole.
Wen released a statement defending their products saying, "Wen by Chaz Dean is safe and we continue to provide our hundreds of thousands of customers with the Wen by Chaz Dean products that they know and love. Since the process of litigation is time consuming and costly, we made a business decision to pursue a settlement and put this behind us so that we can focus on delivering quality products."
For more information about the lawsuit, check out the video above.
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