Olaplex infertility concerns: Dermatologist discusses popular hair care product

The popular hair care product Olaplex has been making headlines after a ban was put in place by the EU regulatory authority focused on the ingredient called lilial which has been linked to infertility, miscarriages and disruptions in fetal development.

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Olaplex says the ingredient was just used in their product as a fragrance, and it has since been removed.

FOX 5 spoke with dermatologist Dr. Noelle Sherber to clear up a few questions and address concerns consumers may still have about Olaplex and their products.

"Lilial is a fragrance, so it's not what we consider an active ingredient meaning something that's designed to absorb," says Dr. Sherber. "It's something that is just a fragrance additive to products."

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The original safety study on lilial was published back in 2019 and March 2022 is the deadline for products to remove this ingredient in the European Union.

So, what do we know about the link between lilial and infertility issues?

"The safety concerns stem from animal studies where the animals were fed lilial, so it was not applied to their hair, it was ingested, and they saw that, at high doses, there could be effects, particularly on male rat fertility," Dr. Sherber says.

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Watch the full interview above for more information on Olaplex.