Attorneys Considering Class Action Lawsuit Against Native Over "Forever Chemicals" Concerns

Native, a personal care brand many people turn to when they're looking for naturally-minded grooming products — which includes deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, and more — is under scrutiny, after news broke that the company was facing potential legal action over claims that their ingredient list misleads consumers. The fallout doesn't stop there, but instead raises serious questions about forever chemicals potentially lurking in Native's products.

Forever chemicals are the more common name used for the group of manufactured chemicals called per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Exposure to PFAS is serious business, since the chemicals are known to cause everything from high blood pressure to cancer, so these claims against Native are raising red flags for those who use the products. Here's everything you need to know about the claims, including what the proposed lawsuit alleges.

As of April 26, 2024, the class action lawsuit against Native was still in the investigative stage. Attorneys joined forces with ClassAction.org to see if a suit could be filed against the company over false advertising concerns, since the company's claims that their products are made with "clean" ingredients could be misleading if they were found to contain PFAS.

The website lists a collection of products that the team is currently looking into, which includes but is not limited to the cucumber and mint shampoo and conditioner, the powder and cotton body wash, and the citrus and herbal musk deodorant. This has sparked concern amongst current users of the products, who chose Native in the hopes that they wouldn't be exposed to the same chemicals found in more mainstream products.

On Reddit, one user said that they were so worried about the news of the pending lawsuit, which was first mentioned in 2023, that they were too scared to continue using their Native purchases. "This lawsuit remains inconclusive, however, it has made me scared to use their products, especially after recently buying stock shelves of it for future use," user throwaway8262835 wrote online.

Obviously, with Native in the news in this way, regular users of the product are voicing concerns over whether or not they feel comfortable continuing to use their shampoos, deodorants, and toothpastes. But, even with the questions raised — and it's worth noting that questions are only being asked, and no findings have been shared with the public — Native does still have fewer potentially-toxic ingredients listed than a lot of their competition.

With product labels that contains familiar ingredients like water, citric acid, and sodium chloride, it's easy to see why naturally-minded organizations like Mamavation continue to recommend Native over other brands. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) also has pretty favorable Skin Deep ratings for many Native products based on ingredient hazards and data availability — Native products' scores range from 1 to 5 (1 is the second-best score, while 10 is the worst).

That being said, many people do opt to use Native because they want products with fewer, or "safer" ingredients, when compared with conventional brands. But if Native products are found to contain PFAS, that would certainly change things.

As for what Native has to say about the rumors, a representative did not response to a Green Matters request for comment prior to publication, but we will update this story if we hear back.