A popular hair-care product has the opposite effect — instead causing users’ locks to fall out, according to a new lawsuit brought against DevaCurl by dozens of unhappy customers.
The plaintiffs say New York-based DevaCurl — which is made especially for people with curly hair — doesn’t provide any warning about the “serious and adverse consequences” of using their shampoos and other products, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Tuesday.
Instead, the company touts their products as “being free of harsh ingredients” and that they help maintain “healthy and bouncy curls, giving curls everything they need and nothing they don’t,” the court papers say.
Yet, “Plaintiffs and tens of thousands of consumers across the United States have experienced that normal usage of DevaCurl products according to product instructions causes hair loss, excessive shedding, thinning, breakage, balding, scalp irritation, loss of curl pattern, and other similar negative results,” the court documents charge.
The plaintiffs — who are from all over the country including several from New York — experienced “drastic alternations of [their] personal appearances,” which lowered their self-esteem and stopped them from wanting to be seen by friends, neighbors and coworkers. In some cases the hair loss even impacted, “personal and physical relationships with spouses and significant others,” the court papers say.
And they were forced “to take drastic and expensive measures” including cutting off most of their hair, wearing wigs, undergoing professional treatments to try to return to their former appearance, the court papers say.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.
Plaintiff lawyer Randi Geffner told The Post that the lack of product warning — especially as earlier cases of hair loss came to light — is “extremely concerning and caused many thousands of people to use these products and think they are safe.”
“It’s a very emotional experience to lose your hair or have it changed drastically or have to cut it off,” Geffner said. “To involuntarily drastically change the way they look is not what people sign up for when they buy what appears to be a high end product for their hair.”
In February, three class-action cases were filed against the company in Florida, New York and California federal courts also alleging hair loss and other adverse effects.
A DevaCurl spokesman said its ingredients “meet the requirements of the Independent Cosmetic Ingredient Review and are proven to be safe.”
The rep added that the company investigated the claims, with help from outside experts, finding that “our products do not cause the hair loss, breakage, loss of curl pattern or skin irritation alleged.”
“We look forward to the opportunity to prove with expert scientific evidence that the plaintiffs’ allegations cannot have been caused by DevaCurl products.”