Brazilian Blowout Lawsuit Filed in California

Although the company that makes <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/toxic_substances">Brazilian Blowout hair products continues to maintain its innocence in an ongoing formaldehyde scandal, the California Attorney General just filed a lawsuit against it in Alameda County, alleging it failed to warn its customers that Brazilian Blowout contains formaldehyde, said Fox40. Formaldehyde, the chemical used to embalm corpses, is linked to a wide range of health ailments, including cancer.

Now, after long claiming that Brazilian Blowout is “formaldehyde-free,” the product’s manufacturer claims its formulation contains .0011% formaldehyde per bottle, said Fox40. But, Streaks Salon owner says the company is lying and told Fox40 that she paid nearly $400 to have Brazilian Blowout tested at an independent lab, wrote Fox40.

Owner, Daydre Eastwood said she had the tests conducted after hearing from stylists and clients complain of their eyes and throats burning when near the product. According to the tests Eastwood had conducted, said Fox40, Brazilian Blowout is comprised of about 13 percent formaldehyde.

“It’s bad for the stylist, it’s bad for us. I have a stylist that (sic) does Brazilian Blowouts that (sic) is pregnant and that was one my issues with the formaldehyde with her breathing it and her doing them,” says Eastwood, quoted Fox40. Eastwood also said that whenever she received a complaint, she called Brazilian Blowout who, she said, told her that “The acai berry is in such raw form it’s like an onion burning your eyes, an (sic) I’m telling my clients all this stuff and now basically, I’m a liar—because it’s chemicals that are burning your eyes,” quoted Fox40.

In response, Brazilian Blowout says that the lab Eastwood used is—as well as all of the California and Oregon state labs—utilzing an incorrect test and should have used the so-called 13 C-NMR test to determine formaldehyde’s presence and levels, reported Fox40.

A chemist with the University of the Pacific says Brazilian Blowout continues to lie. In his statement to Fox40, Dr. Andreas H. Franz from UOP’s Department of Chemistry said, “It is grossly incorrect to present 13CNMR (Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy as an analytical technique adequate for formaldehyde trace analysis in cosmetics.” In other words, said Fox40, Dr, Franz said that Brazilian Blowout “picked a test that will never, ever detect formaldehyde.”

Brazilian Blowout and similar products are pricey salon treatments that promise to leave hair “frizz-free, shiny, effortlessly manageable and with plenty of body and bounce.” Results are said to last up to 12 weeks. According to its Website, the Brazilian Blowout “smoothes the hair through the use of a proprietary polymer system that bonds amino acids to the surface of the hair.” The site claims that the treatment is “100% salon safe.”

Last month, health officials in Oregon issued an alert to hair salons there after workers at one Oregon salon complained that they had suffered eye irritation, nose bleeds, and difficulty breathing after they used the Brazilian Blowout. At the time, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) said it had found significant levels of formaldehyde in the hair-smoothing solution sold under the name Brazilian Blowout. That alert was later expanded, advising salons that use hair-smoothing treatments, particularly those referred to as “Keratin-based,” to take necessary precautions outlined in its formaldehyde rule. The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is now investigating the hair products.