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Girls who selectively buy private care merchandise based mostly on their elements have been efficiently capable of decrease their exposures to a number of chemical compounds related to well being dangers. The peer-reviewed findings from a examine of Black and Latina girls in South Los Angeles are revealed within the journal Environmental Justice.
The Taking Inventory Research is a community-academic partnership between Columbia College Mailman College of Public Well being, College of California, Santa Barbara, Silent Spring Institute, LA Grit Media, and Black Girls for Wellness that explores the impacts of magnificence merchandise on Black and Latina girls in California—a inhabitants disproportionately burdened by publicity to probably dangerous chemical compounds in cosmetics, hair merchandise, menstrual/intimate care merchandise, and leave-on and rinse-off merchandise like physique lotions and soaps.
The examine staff requested 35 Black girls and 35 Latinas in South Los Angeles about their private care product buying behaviors. Additionally they collected urine samples and analyzed them for 28 private care product chemical compounds, together with phthalates, parabens, oxybenzone, and bisphenol A (BPA).
All of the Black girls and two-thirds of the Latina group regularly reported selecting merchandise that don’t include dangerous elements. Most individuals mentioned they shopped for unscented merchandise; many additionally sought out BPA-free merchandise.
Black girls who selected merchandise with out perfume had lower than half the concentrations of the metabolite of diethyl phthalate of their urine in comparison with girls who didn’t keep away from fragranced merchandise. Phthalates are identified to disrupt the physique’s hormone system and are linked to threat for weight problems and diabetes, amongst different well being dangers.
Latinas who selected merchandise with out the UV filter oxybenzone had considerably decrease ranges of the chemical of their urine than those that didn’t keep away from it. Oxybenzone (often known as BP-3) is a chemical utilized in sunscreens and might also disrupt the physique’s hormone system.
All girls who averted merchandise with parabens—a category of chemical compounds used as preservatives—had two occasions decrease concentrations of methyl and propyl paraben. Nevertheless, these findings didn’t attain statistical significance.
“To fill a regulatory gap, Black women and Latinas have had to become chemistry experts to shop for beauty products. It is great that shopping choices can make a difference and lower exposures to some harmful chemicals. However, the burden to protect oneself from risky products should not be on the consumer,” says examine co-first writer Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., affiliate analysis scientist within the Division of Environmental Well being Sciences at Columbia Mailman College.
“There needs to be changes in the marketplace and in policy to protect consumers,” provides one of many examine’s senior authors, Ami Zota, ScD, affiliate professor of environmental well being sciences at Columbia Mailman College.
“While a ‘shopping clean’ strategy is helpful, ultimately it is insufficient,” Zota continues. “We want legal guidelines that prioritize transparency in labeling necessities, particularly for perfume, since advanced mixtures of scent elements are merely listed as ‘perfume’ or ‘parfum’ on product labels.
“We also need an industry-standard definition of ‘clean’ because, currently, clean beauty is a marketing term, not a legally defined or regulated one, making its meaning different for every brand. And we need to incentivize companies to make and sell safer products for all populations, especially those who are overburdened by environmental chemical pollution.”
One other barrier to “shopping clean” is the supply and affordability of “clean” magnificence merchandise, significantly in low-income neighborhoods. Moreover, language boundaries could exist for people who can’t learn ingredient lists in English.
Whereas the examine confirmed that individuals who averted sure elements had decrease ranges of some chemical compounds versus these individuals who didn’t keep away from sure elements, few individuals have been acquainted with the chemical compounds themselves, suggesting the necessity for elevated schooling about chemical compounds in private care merchandise.
“While we actively work and advocate for stronger regulations, we will educate, inform, train, and support women making healthy choices,” says Janette-Robinson Flint, examine co-author and government director of Black Girls for Wellness (BWW).
BWW facilitates quarterly workshops referred to as Curls & Conversations, designed for and by Black girls to share sources on how you can type hair with fewer chemical compounds. These workshops additionally assist to lift consciousness about dangerous elements and empower girls to make more healthy buying decisions.
Different teams, together with WE ACT in New York Metropolis, have organized related instructional occasions. LA Grit Media trains a brand new cohort of Neighborhood Well being Promoters in South Los Angeles yearly on environmental hazards in neighborhoods, comparable to poisonous chemical compounds present in pores and skin lighteners and different private care merchandise; the group additionally works to strengthen group capability for advocacy round this difficulty.
“Our community-academic partnership has included participants often excluded from research,” says examine co-senior writer Bhavna Shamasunder, Ph.D., a professor on the College of California, Santa Barbara.
“Through this study, we better understand that women living in an environmentally overburdened community in Los Angeles face tough trade-offs and significant barriers to information when selecting their personal care products. Yet, community efforts such as BWW’s that support strategic shopping for safer products can have important benefits.”
The examine’s co-first writer is Catherine Connolly, Ph.D., previously a postdoctoral analysis scientist within the Division of Environmental Well being Sciences at Columbia Mailman College. Extra authors embody Robin E. Dodson, Bethsaida Cardona, and Elissia T. Franklin at Silent Spring Institute; Astrid Williams from Black Girls for Wellness; and Sandy Navarro from LA Grit Media.
Earlier in 2025, Zota, Edwards, and colleagues revealed analysis from the Taking Inventory Research, which discovered that greater than half of individuals reported utilizing private care merchandise that include formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. Formaldehyde is thought to trigger most cancers in people.
In 2024, researchers revealed a examine discovering that Black Individuals and other people with much less formal schooling are extra probably to make use of scented and scent-altering menstrual and intimate care merchandise than different teams. One other examine examined how racialized magnificence norms that encourage using chemical hair straighteners and pores and skin lighteners are linked to poor well being outcomes.
Associated analysis by Adana Llanos, affiliate professor of epidemiology, discovered a relationship between hair dye use and breast most cancers threat in each Black and white girls, and that longer-term and earlier use of hair dyes and relaxers is related to extra aggressive tumor options.
Extra info:
Lariah Edwards et al, Analyzing the Function of Self-Reported Product Choice Methods in Shifting Chemical Exposures Amongst Black Girls and Latinas: Classes from the Taking Inventory Research, Environmental Justice (2025). DOI: 10.1177/19394071251376441
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Selecting safer private care merchandise may help decrease exposures to dangerous chemical compounds (2025, September 18)
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