Class-Action Lawsuit Over Wen Hair Products Gets Preliminary Settlement Approval

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A federal judge in Los Angeles gave preliminary approval to a $26.3 million settlement for a class-action lawsuit against celebrity stylist Chaz Dean and marketer Guthy-Renker over Wen hair care products.

That means some six million people may be eligible for an award of up to $20,000.

A U.S. District Court judge must still give final approval of the settlement.

The lawsuit alleged Dean's line of Wen shampoos and conditioners caused hair loss and scalp irritation.

"From what we understand about the product and how it causes hair loss is it contains virtually no cleanser. It's like using lotion to wash your hair. So instead of removing the product when you rinse it off, it just becomes impacted in your hair follicle," attorney Amy Davis said.

Wen released this statement: "Wen by Chaz Dean is safe and we continue to provide our hundreds of thousands of customers with the Wen by Chaz Dean products that they know and love. Since the process of litigation is time consuming and costly, we made a business decision to pursue a settlement and put this behind us so that we can focus on delivering quality products."

But the problems may not be over for the company. The Food and Drug Administration is now investigating.

As of July, the FDA said it received 127 consumer complaints - the largest number of reports ever associated with any cosmetic hair cleansing product.

That is on top of the 21,000 complaints reported directly to Chaz Dean and the marketing company, according to the FDA.