Never Mind, Rapunzel: Illinois AG Sues Hair Growth Institute

Hair today, gone... no, that's just too easy. What is more difficult than promised, apparently, is for follically challenged Illinois consumers to get their money back from the Natural Hair Growth Institute. The Institute is a company supposedly promoting hair growth remedies. In a suit announced November 17, Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, is seeking $50,000 in penalties for each violation of the Consumer Fraud Act, full restitution for customers, and to ban the defendants Natural Hair Growth Institute (NHGI) and owner, Steve Bennis, from operating in Illinois.

According to the Attorney General's News Release, the claims made by the NHGI are completely unsupported by science. The company, for a token $8,000-$12,000, guarantees (or your money back) that its laser therapy, scalp massage and topical hair products will help re-grow hair within six months. The NHGI also claims that it uses an FDA approved "Orbit Laser Light" treatment like one commonly used in that great oasis of cutting edge health treatments, Europe. In fact, Madigan says, the laser used is not the same as the approved Orbit Laser Light device. 

The Illinois AG's Office has received nine complaints by consumers that, even after the promised "scalp detoxification... massage" and additional treatments failed to work, they did not receive their money back, as promised. Even after repeated requests.

ChicagoBreakingNews.com reports that the defendant remains unbowed.  A spokeswoman for Bennis said Tuesday night that he stands behind his businesses and called the suit a waste of taxpayer money. The suit "is 100 percent one-sided and has no basis whatsoever," spokeswoman Angela Kolton said.  Maybe hats will just come back into fashion in Illinois.

Related Resources:

• What is Fraud? (FindLaw)
• Madigan Files Suit against Natural Hair Growth Institute (Ill. AG's Office)
• Lawsuit alleges hair growth firm's claims are bald (Chicago Sun Times)
• State sues 2 local hair growth businesses (ChicagoBreakingNews.com)