Through the years, DevaCurl has made a name for itself as one of the few brands that have successfully gained the trust and support of curly-haired women everywhere. The fact that the company embraced and catered to various curl patterns and hair types made it particularly popular within the natural hair community—most women swearing by their vast array of moisturizers, cleansers, and conditioners even after using it only once or twice.
DevaCurl has seen a great deal of love, but recently, some of that support has turned into concern after a prominent beauty influencer and former ambassador for the company, Ayesha Malik, has come forward to denounce DevaCurl and advise women against further using their products.
In her YouTube video posted last week, which now has over half a million views, Malik details how she went from having a head full of healthy hair to a severely damaged hair pattern during her time using the products:
“I thought it was just one bad hair day. Then it was two bad hair days, and then three bad hair days until it came to the point that I never saw a good hair day ever again. Except for today. This is the first good hair day I’ve had in a solid year—and it took me a long time to get to this point.”
She went on to say that she was slow to blame DevaCurl for her hair issues and took time to consider possible causes such as poor diet, hard water, and alopecia before crossing them off her list as culprits. It wasn’t until a well-known stylist suggested that she took a closer look at the ingredients in DevaCurl that she confidently identified their products as the source of her irreversible hair damage.
While Ayesha’s story is unfortunate, it’s not an isolated incident. Thousands of women have come forward to express their frustration with DevaCurl products after experiencing thinning, balding, and curl pattern damage. A Facebook support group by the name of Hair Damage & Hair Loss from DevaCurl – You’re Not Crazy or Alone has played a huge role in connecting women suffering from the same issues. In fact, the group has grown from 4k members to 13,000 in a single week. The effects have been far-reaching because now there is a class-action lawsuit against the company alleging that their products cause hair loss, damage, and injury to the scalp.
To be perfectly clear, all claims against DevaCurl are only allegations and should be treated as such. However, there is still a conversation about ingredients could be resulting in hair loss and damage if DevaCurl does happen to be the source. Some speculate that Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate may be the cause given that the use in cosmetics is restricted due to the toxic and allergenic effects it has on the skin. Another possible culprit is Diazolidinyl Urea—a preservative known to cause severe allergic reactions.
As customers, stylists, and concerned beauty enthusiasts work to solve this issue, DevaCurl has remained alarmingly silent throughout the entire ordeal—despite the first wave of complaints arriving the summer of last year.
Update:
DevaCurl has issued an official statement on 02/04/2020:
DevaCurl statement about conversations online
To our Devoted Deva Community,
Over two decades ago, DevaCurl was born from conversations with people like you and from our salons and stylists about what you wanted and needed to embrace your curls. As a result, our community has grown to include millions of Devas around the world who use our products every day. When that conversation includes product and safety discussions, we are as engaged as you are. We are committed to providing the information you need to continue to use DevaCurl with confidence.
From the beginning, all of our formulas are subject to rigorous and thorough testing such as stability, microbiological testing and repeat patch testing before DevaCurl allows any product to be manufactured. During manufacturing, a variety of testing is conducted on each batch of a DevaCurl product before it is sent out to salons and customers. This includes testing for pH, viscosity, fragrance, appearance and microbiological testing to ensure our products meet strict internal quality assurance standards and regulatory requirements before they reach the market.
Because some of our community have recently asked more questions about some of our products we have conducted additional testing at the manufacturer and warehouse level. In addition, we worked with an independent third-party toxicologist to verify the safety of these formulas. All these tests verified there are no safety issues with our products.
We don’t speculate on why some people are attributing the challenges with their curls to our products. As part of our ongoing commitment to product safety and the satisfaction of our Deva Community, we are conducting additional testing with an independent party. Please share your experiences with us at customercare@devacurl.com.
We will go above and beyond to help anyone on their curl journey.
Your DevaCurl Family
