Hundreds Suing Chaz Dean and Guthy Renker’s WEN Hair Care, Claiming Severe Hair Loss!

The headline making waves across the beauty industry and celebrity gossip sites is making people pull their hair in disbelief. Alyssa Milano, Roselyn Sanchez, and Brooke Shields are just a few of the celebs that fawn over the Wen hair care product line. WEN, sold at Sephora, Sephora.com and at QVC.com has thousands of positive reviews averaging 4 stars and Guthy Renker spokesman, Joe Hixson, has stated that WEN has sold over 10 million products to date. I personally have a bottle of WEN and love it, which is why I’m among the concerned.

Over 200 women have joined the class action lawsuit against Wen (PDF) and infomercial giant Guthy Renker, in which claims are of severe injuries to their hair and scalp have been made. Like most people reading these articles and claims, I had expected serious irritation, burns, dramatic hair loss and bald spots, before and after photos, dermatologist’s diagnosis, and medical bills. But surprisingly, the complaints are rather trivial. The lawsuit notes complaints online dating back to 2012. One claimed her hair “was healthy, now it’s like straw and brittle.” Another said, “Almost immediately after using the product I noticed huge amounts of hair caught in the drain.” “I can’t leave my house, I’m depressed, Wen hair products is responsible for my hair loss.”

The photos shown in these claims have been assessed by Dr. Nicole Rogers, Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine. She gave an interview to People Style Watch regarding the issue and flat out discredits the claims. Dr. Rogers said “In the grand scheme of things, 200 people is not that many. If you look at how many product sales that they probably have, I suspect it’s just a drop in the bucket,” she said. “I really think what they’re going to find is just a vast majority of these are coincidence and mainly caused by hair loss that’s unrelated to the product.” “There were pictures of women who have typical female pattern hair loss. There were also pictures of people with alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune form of hair loss.”

Dr. Alex Khadavi, board certified dermatologist and hair loss specialist has often stated that female pattern hair loss is very commonly under-diagnosed. Women blame their hair loss on diet, stress and sometimes even shampoo and conditioner. Dr. Khadavi says “Shampoo and conditioner cannot cause hair loss. They are on the scalp for a relatively short amount of time, typically just massaged for a minute or two, then rinsed down the drain. Shampoo and Conditioner are also not formulated to penetrate the scalp so any physiological change is nearly impossible.”

What could be happening is something completely different. Dr. Khadavi explains, “Although I see a great number of patients with Male or Female Pattern Hair Loss, otherwise known as hereditary Hair Loss, the majority of patients complain about an “irritated” scalp. The irritation is commonly from inflammation associated with seborrheic dermatitis or dandruff. Generally patients with seborrheic dermatitis have itching, redness and flaking of the scalp. In the extreme form, it can simultaneously occur with psoriasis, where the patient gets thick red and white plaques on the scalp called SeboPsoriasis. The irritation on the scalp is so severe that it can cause shedding of hairs and may be a contributor to Male or Female Pattern Hair Loss.”

Dr. Khadavi addresses the underlying condition, female pattern baldness, and recommends treating the condition with a DHT blocker and growth cycle stimulator like his product Revivogen MD, which is clinically proven to reduce thinning and reverse the hair to its appearance 3 years before. “Seborrheic Dermatitis (itching, redness and flaking of the scalp) is commonly treated with a combination of shampoos. I recommend Neutrogena T-Gel (drugstores, $7) or Ketoconazole shampoo (Nizoral Shampoo, Walmart, $9) alternating with Revivogen MD Bio-Cleansing Shampoo (Revivogen.com, $24). The tar in T-Gel and the ketoconazole help reduce the inflammation and when combined with Revivogen MD Shampoo which contains both pharmaceutical strength Zinc and Selenium along with soothing botanicals, make the regimen work synergistically.”