L'Oréal

Reasons to avoid

1. L'Oréal faces more than 10,900 pending federal lawsuits over its chemical hair relaxer products, sold under brands including Dark and Lovely and SoftSheen-Carson and marketed primarily to Black women. Plaintiffs allege L'Oréal knew its relaxers contained endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to uterine and reproductive cancers but failed to warn consumers, a claim supported by a 2022 National Institutes of Health study finding frequent users were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.bloomberglaw.com2023-11-14
2. Independent laboratory Valisure found in 2024 that L'Oréal's CeraVe benzoyl peroxide acne cleansers contained benzene at levels of 5 to 12 parts per million, up to six times the FDA's conditional limit of 2 ppm. At least six class action lawsuits followed, alleging L'Oréal failed to warn consumers that benzoyl peroxide can degrade into benzene under normal storage conditions.bloomberglaw.com2024-03-26
3. L'Oréal continues to sell products in mainland China's physical stores, where imported cosmetics are required by law to undergo government animal testing. Rather than exit the market, the company permits Chinese authorities to test its products on animals in order to retain access to one of its largest revenue markets.ethicalelephant.com2024-03-01
4. The Changing Markets Foundation flagged L'Oréal in 2022 for labeling an Elvive shampoo as made from a "100% recycled plastic bottle" while small print revealed the cap was excluded from that claim. The same product was described as "more sustainable" with no supporting context, which the foundation noted did not constitute a meaningful comparison.cosmeticsbusiness.com2022-06-30