No hair-relaxer settlement fund pays claims as of October 2026. New claims are still open and under investigation. The cases sit in federal multidistrict litigation, a process that sends similar federal lawsuits to one judge for shared pretrial work.
That process is MDL No. 3060 before Judge Mary M. Rowland in the Northern District of Illinois.
Official resources:
- Read the original report from Uscourts — Use this primary source to review the complete report.
- Read the official notice from Lawsuit Information Center — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
Table of Contents
- Is there a settlement to claim now?
- Are new claims still open?
- What injuries are alleged, and what started the cases?
- What happens next, and what should you save?
Is there a settlement to claim now?
Miller & Zois reports no global settlement, payout matrix, verdict, or active administrator paying compensation as of October 2026 in its hair-relaxer lawsuit update. That means no MDL claim form leads to a payout now. Anyone promising a set payout from a fund misstates the status.
There is presently no settlement fund to file a claim against. A future deal would need court approval and a set payment process. Watch the court docket, not ad forms, for that change.
Are new claims still open?
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation reported 12,381 pending actions and 16,828 total historical actions in its October docket report. The higher number is the historical total for the MDL. Pending actions are the live cases before the court.
LegalClarity reports new hair-relaxer claims are still being accepted and investigated in its MDL status and settlement update. Federal counts show the MDL grew from about 11,723 cases on June 1 to 12,381 on Oct. 1, 2026.
What injuries are alleged, and what started the cases?
LegalClarity summarizes the core claim as long-term, frequent relaxer or straightener use causing serious uterine and ovarian harm. Listed injuries include uterine and endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, fibroids requiring hysterectomy, and endometriosis. The filings focus especially on Black women with repeated use over years. These are claims in lawsuits, not court findings. National Institutes of Health researchers followed about 33,497 Sister Study participants ages 35 to 74.
Frequent straightener users faced more than double the uterine-cancer risk versus nonusers. That risk finding helped trigger the litigation. MDL Update notes no court has found any relaxer caused injury. General-causation expert admissibility under Daubert, the judge's test for allowing expert testimony, still awaited ruling as of Sept. 30, 2026.
What happens next, and what should you save?
MDL Update lists the first federal bellwether trial for Sept. 7, 2027 in its MDL No. 3060 tracker. A bellwether is an early test trial that shows how later cases may fare. The court narrowed a 32-case discovery pool toward five trial cases.
Case-specific expert and summary-judgment motion deadlines fall in late 2026 through early 2027. Miller & Zois advises potential claimants not to wait for payouts. Preserve records now and get a timely review of filing limits. Bring that file to a lawyer for a limitations review based on your state and diagnosis date. Early review keeps options open while the bellwether process runs.
- Product names, dates, and frequency of relaxer use
- Salon receipts, photos, and leftover packaging
- Diagnosis, surgery, and treatment records with dates