There’s an urgent call for New York lawmakers to pass legislation to regulate toxic ingredients in personal care products and cosmetics sold in New York state.
“Hair products, makeup, any type of personal care lotions, shampoos, conditioners, something we use every day, and a lot of consumers are not aware that there are really harmful chemicals in there,” said Jasmine Phillip, communications coordinator for Clean+Healthy.
A recent independent analysis conducted by Toxic-Free FUTURE looked at the ingredient labels for 577 hair products sold on the Sally Beauty website. The products were primarily for textured hair.
According to the review, nearly one in eight contained chemicals that release formaldehyde, a cancer-causing agent.
About one in 14 contained siloxanes, which can cause cancer and reproductive harm.
“Often times the most dangerous chemicals are the ones that are being marketed to textured hair, which of course is Black and Latino women,” said Jordana Vanderselt, director of environmental health for WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “A lot of these ingredients are sometimes linked with reproductive cancers. We’re also really concerned with phthalates, parabens, defiantly the siloxanes.”
There is currently a proposal in the New York state Legislature called the Beauty Justice Act.
It was introduced by state Sen. Lea Webb.
It calls for the regulations of ingredients in personal care products and cosmetics and prohibits the sale of personal care products and cosmetics containing restricted products.
To highlight the need for regulation, the proposal found on a daily average women us about 12 personal care products exposing themselves to 168 chemical ingredients.
Men on average use about six exposing themselves to 85 unique chemicals.
“We’re here in front of Sally Beauty calling for them to take action,”said Bobbi Wilding, executive director of Clean+Healthy. “A lot of other beauty product retailers have already established thresholds and lists of chemicals that they won’t allow in the products that they sell, and Sally Beauty needs to join that group of leaders. “On top of that, we’re calling on New York state to pass the Beauty Justice Act which would ban a host of toxic chemicals in personal care products of all kinds.”
This call comes as a new report from Consumer Reports found contaminants in all of the hair dyes it tested.
Advocates say until legislation is passed, consumers can be more informed by using apps that help them sort through a product’s chemicals.
Capital Tonight reached out to Sally Beauty for comment and is waiting to hear back.
