For decades, hair relaxers promoted the creation of sleek styles, but the chemicals may have resulted in long-term health consequences. Now, the Georgia Supreme Court has given at least one woman a shot at holding manufacturers of chemical straighteners accountable. But the legal window for justice is narrow and closing fast.
On Oct. 15, the state’s highest court ruled that Kiara Burroughs, the Atlanta woman who says chemical hair straighteners caused her to develop uterine fibroids, can move forward with her lawsuit against L’Oréal and Strength of Nature.
Burroughs began using relaxers in 1995 and continued through 2014. She was diagnosed with fibroids in 2018 and filed her lawsuit in 2022, after major studies linked frequent relaxer use to reproductive harm.
The manufacturers argued she was too late in pursuing legal action, saying a Georgia law, the statute of repose, barred any claim made more than 10 years after the product was first purchased. The Georgia Court of Appeals sided with the companies.
But the Georgia Supreme Court disagreed, ruling on Oct. 15 that the clock resets with each new sale of a product. That means Burroughs can still sue over products she used from 2012 to 2014, which were the final years of her relaxer use. Earlier exposure, however, could not be included.
Burroughs’ case is one of over 600 filed in Georgia courts, and nationally more than 9,000 cases have been consolidated into federal litigation, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One of Burroughs’ attorneys, Elisabeth Stone, told Capital B Atlanta in an email that she’s happy with the Georgia Supreme Court’s opinion and that she believes it could possibly help others who have experienced harm from hair relaxers.
“The opinion means that all of our client’s claims against the manufacturers in this case will be permitted to proceed into the discovery phase of the litigation, which will allow us to determine what the manufacturers knew about the potential health effects of their hair relaxer products on the consumers to whom the products were being marketed,” Stone said.
The court’s decision clarified how Georgia’s 10-year product liability time limit should be interpreted. In a unanimous opinion, the Georgia Supreme Court said the law does not bar claims based on the very first time a product is used if that product was later repurchased and reused.
That interpretation saved Burroughs’ case. But the court was careful to note she still faces an uphill battle. She must now prove that products she used between 2012 and 2014 directly caused her injuries.
“This does not mean that a plaintiff who brings such an action has an easy road to proving her claim,” Justice Andrew Pinson wrote in the court’s opinion.
That limitation could potentially exclude some of the consumers who are also suing, including many who may have been exposed to relaxers for decades before quitting them in the early 2010s or earlier.
While Georgia’s courts decide what counts as timely, federal health agencies are still working on a broader response to the dangers of hair straightening products.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing ingredients in hair-straightening treatments — chemicals linked to cancer and other severe health issues — in 2023. That proposal came after rising concerns from scientists, lawmakers, and advocates about the racial disparities in who uses these products and who is harmed. However, after multiple delays and a White House executive order earlier this year pausing new regulations, the proposed ban’s future is unclear.
