A line of hair care products that are both endorsed and used by celebrities and their fans has been sued for causing some significant hair damage and loss.
NBC News reported that Wen Hair Care, which is designed and manufactured by celebrity hairstylist Chaz Dean, has received a class-action lawsuit filed by more than 200 women in 40 different states. Receiving the lawsuit along with Wen is infomercial giant Guthy-Renker, the direct marketers of Proactiv acne treatment and other popular beauty products.
The women said that a company-made conditioner caused them to suffer baldness, scalp irritation, rashes, hair discoloration and breakage. This goes contrary to how the companies packaged and promoted it, saying that while shampoos from other companies damage the hair, their shampoos do the oppposite: drastically improving the health and appearance of the hair in as early as the first use.
The Wen Hair Care products, which according to the company works as a "shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, detangler and leave-in conditioner," has been heavily marketed using round-the-clock infomercials that feature celebrities such as Alyssa Milano, Brooke Shields and Angie Harmon. Consumers, however, experienced what they say “irreparable damage” to their hair.
CBS News reported that the Wen hair products are sold in Amazon and Sephora. Although it has received positive reviews in Amazon, some consumers say that not all its products are clean: the lawsuit says that it contains “an ingredient or combination of ingredients that cause significant hair loss, damage and other injuries."
Some users reported to CBS 11 what they exactly went through with the products.
Dallas resident Susan Browning said she bought the product because it was promoted to help add body to thin hair. However, it didn't work that way.
"In the shower when I squeezed the water out of my hair,” Browning explained. “I'd have handfuls of hair coming out."
“It looked like they had a weed-whacker taken to their head," Amy Davis, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the case, said.
The hair care company defended itself against the allegations and said that there is no scientific evidence which caused their products to deal such damage in a user's hair and scalp. However, consumers continue to post negative comments and reviews about the said hair care products, discouraging others from buying.
"Please don't be fooled by commercials and the paid actresses," a customer wrote on Amazon earlier this month. "This product leaves your hair damaged and it takes months to get your hair back to a healthy condition again."
