Black women awarded $4.5 million in hair care suit

A $4.5 million settlement award will be divided among nearly 53,000 Black women who sued a former maker of a widely advertised hair straightening product because the product caused baldness, green scalps and other health problems.

The decision against the now defunct Los Angeles-based World Rio Corporation was issued in Detroit by U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Rosen.

The court's recent ruling was the end result of a major class-action lawsuit against World Rio originally filed as more than 650 lawsuits nationwide.

Many women had purchased the product which was billed as a "100 percent natural" hair straightener. World Rio had heavily advertised the product on television infomercials.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seized tens of thousands of bottles of "Rio" hair relaxer in 1995 after determining that the product turned users' hair green and caused them to lose hair (Jet, Feb. 13, 1995).

A panel which will be overseen by a court administrator reportedly will decide how much money each claimant will receive based on the seriousness of each health or hair problem.