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THE NON TOXIC BLACK OWNED BEAUTY PROJECT

Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project​

BCPP’s Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is tackling the environmental injustice of Black beauty with our database of non-toxic Black-owned beauty products and list of brands that Black women can trust. 

Search the Database

The products on our list are made and sold by Black-owned companies that are committed to safer beauty and personal care products, free of the toxic chemicals linked to health concerns that disproportionately impact Black women.

CSC’s Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project

is guided by an Advisory Committee made of representatives from leading nonprofit organizations and scientists working to address the over-exposure Black women experience to unsafe ingredients in beauty and personal care products because of Eurocentric beauty standards and the aggressive and targeted marketing practices by the cosmetics industry.

Beauty products marketed to Black women often contain the most toxic ingredients used by the cosmetics industry, including chemicals linked to breast and ovarian cancer, uterine fibroids, reproductive harm, and more. This toxic exposure is of particular concern to Black women because they purchase and use more beauty products per capita than any other demographic—spending more than $7.5 billion on beauty products a year and nine times more on hair products than the average consumer. Black women already face many health disparities, including the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Project Report
Project Summary
Project Fact Sheet
dancing on the wall

Black women are over-exposed to and under-protected from toxic chemicals in the beauty and personal care products they use every day.

  • Almost 7,000 Black women in the U.S. die of breast cancer each year[1]
  • Black women have the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the US, with a rate 42% higher than that for White women.[2]
    • Black women also face other health disparities, including earlier puberty[3] and higher rates of hormone-mediated problems (e.g., preterm birth[4][5] and uterine fibroids[6][7]) an increasing incidence of endometrial cancer,[8] and poorer ovarian cancer outcomes.[9]
  • Lack of regulation of a $100 billion cosmetics industry especially harms Black women and girls.[10]
  • 10,000 cosmetic ingredients are on the market today.[12]
  • 3,600 fragrance ingredients are found in beauty products on the market today. [13]
  • Black women purchase $7.5 billion of beauty products each year.[14]
  • Black women purchase 9x more hair care products than any other demographic.[15]
  • Black women who regularly dye their hair with permanent hair dyes have a 44-75% higher risk of breast cancer.[16]
  • Black women who use chemical hair straighteners are 30% more likely to develop breast cancer.[16]

Thousands of industrial chemicals are used to create the personal care and beauty products that consumers and professional nail, hair, and beauty salon workers use every day. Many of these chemicals have been linked to serious health outcomes and harm the environment. The European Union (EU) has banned nearly 1,800 chemicals from beauty and personal care products that are known to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. In stark contrast to the progress made by the rest of the world, in the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has only banned or restricted eleven ingredients from cosmetics, to date.[17] 

Conservative estimates suggest Americans use roughly 10-12 personal care products each day (the actual number may be closer to 20-25), resulting in daily exposure to an average of 168 unique chemicals, many of which have been linked to endocrine disruption, earlier puberty,[3] cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm. Despite the growing body of scientific evidence and consumer concern, cosmetics are one of the least regulated consumer products on the market. Until the recent passage of the Modernization of Cosmetic Regulation Act (MoCRA) in 2022, the FDA did not even have the authority to recall unsafe cosmetic products the way it can recall unsafe food and drugs. Now, the FDA has recall authority to get unsafe products off store shelves, and it can better regulate the cosmetics industry, as MoCRA requires companies to register their facilities, products, and ingredients with the FDA. 

However, MoCRA did not give the FDA any additional authority over ingredient safety. So, unlike the European Union, companies can continue to legally formulate products with hazardous chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm.

Black women and professional salon workers experience some of the highest rates of exposures to toxic chemicals in the cosmetic products they use or work with daily.[18][19][20] In their landmark publication “The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern,” Drs. Zota and Shamasunder were the first to frame racial/ethnic inequalities in beauty product–related chemical exposures as an environmental justice concern.[21][22] They argued that elevated exposures to beauty product chemicals in women of color are, in part, attributable to the “environmental injustice of beauty”—a framework that links intersectional systems of oppression (i.e., racism, sexism, classism) to Eurocentric beauty norms (e.g., societal preferences for light skin and straight hair) and racialized beauty practices, all of which can have long term consequences on women’s chemical exposures and their health and wellbeing.

For Black women, this issue is especially urgent. Almost 7,000 Black women in the U.S. die of breast cancer each year.[23] In fact, Black women have the highest breast cancer mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the US, with a rate 42% higher than that for White women. Black women also face other health disparities, including earlier puberty[3] and higher rates of hormone-mediated problems (e.g., preterm birth[4][5] and uterine fibroids[6][7]), an increasing incidence of endometrial cancer,[8] and poorer ovarian cancer outcomes.[9]

These problems are compounded by the fact that Black women suffer from a high level of exposure to unsafe chemicals that are found in their beauty products – including hair dyes, hair relaxers and straighteners, skin lighteners, feminine douches, deodorant, etc.[18][19][20] Indeed, studies show that Black women and women of color are more likely to use personal care products, including hair products that contain unsafe chemicals.[24] In fact, recent evidence shows that among Black women, use of permanent hair dyes is associated with approximately 45-77% increased risk of breast cancer,[16][25][26] with greater risk for use of darker hair dye shades.[25] Regular use of chemical relaxers and straighteners have also been suggested to increase the risk of breast cancer in Black women,[26][27][28] particularly among women who use these products frequently, started using these products in childhood or adolescence, or use lye-based relaxers.

Some chemicals in hair care and personal care products such as phthalates,[29][30][31] heavy metals,[32] and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)[33] have been associated with earlier puberty among girls.[24] Heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead, are found in many cosmetic products used by Black women, such as lipsticks, eyeliners, eyeshadow, foundation, and more. These metals have been linked to higher instances of uterine fibroids.[34][35][36] In addition, some chemicals found in the personal care products and cosmetics used by Black women have also been associated with altered reproductive outcomes, including preterm birth,[37][38][39] gestational diabetes,[40] and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.[41] Chemicals known as aromatic hydrocarbons, which may show up on product labels as “toluene,” “benzene,” or “xylene,” have been shown to have toxic effects on developing fetuses.[42]

Chemical exposures also exist for professional salon workers – many of whom are Black women and other women of color – who use potentially hazardous products daily in their work, including nail polish hardeners, thinners, plasticizers, bleaches, conditioners, detergents, dyes, fixatives, relaxers, and straighteners that are most often used as commercially prepared mixtures.[43][44]

Another study, published in 2018 by the Silent Spring Institute in the journal Environmental Research, showed Black women are also potentially exposed to dozens of hazardous chemicals through the hair products they use.[44][45] The study looked at 18 different hair products including hot oil treatments, anti-frizz hair polishes, leave-in conditioners, root stimulators, hair lotions, and hair relaxers. A total of 45 endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) associated with a variety of health effects including reproductive disorders, birth defects, asthma, and cancer were detected, with each product containing anywhere between 4 and 30 EDCs. Data from the same research showed that these chemicals were able to alter the body’s normal hormone receptors linked to breast cancer and diabetes.[47]

As the Black beauty industry grows, the fact that the chemicals in Black beauty and personal care products are not adequately tested for safety and are largely unregulated raises real concerns for Black women’s health.[21][22]

CSC’s Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project started in 2020. In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, a growing drumbeat to support and shop Black-owned businesses emerged. Social media exploded with lists of recommended Black-owned businesses, including beauty companies.

Upon closer examination, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics became concerned that many of the lists of Black owned beauty brands, recommended by influencers and mainstream media alike, included products made with toxic ingredients.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics knew that Black women were already over-exposed to toxic beauty products because of racist and sexist Eurocentric beauty standards.

So, with the guidance and help of a broad-based Advisory Committee, made up of leading NGOs and scientists working to improve Black women’s health, we launched the Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project. We curated our own list of safer Black beauty brands to get non-toxic beauty products into the hands of Black women and girls. The project has since grown from there. 

lady with orange background

The Goal

With the goal of reducing Black women and girls’ exposure to unsafe ingredients in beauty and personal care products, the Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project set out to achieve the following:

Raise public awareness about the presence of hazardous chemicals in Black beauty products with the goal of increasing consumer demand for safer products.

Create a list of non-toxic beauty products made by Black-owned beauty brands so Black women can shop with confidence knowing the beauty and personal care products they are purchasing do not contain chemicals linked to negative health effects.

Equip Black women with fact sheets, tip cards, and other resources they can trust to help them make safer purchases.

Grow the safe Black beauty industry by elevating and increasing consumer demand for companies that are making safer beauty and personal care products for Black women and providing technical support to Black-owned beauty businesses that don’t make the list and want to do better.

Featured Resources

Black Beauty Project Tips

Get our Black beauty tip cards! Save, print, or share with a friend. 

Black Beauty Tips

Advisory Committee Members

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project is guided by a 20-member advisory committee made up of leading NGOs and scientists working to improve Black women’s health by addressing the toxic beauty products marketed to them. 

Dr. Adana A.M. Llanos

Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Dr. Adana A.M. Llanos

Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Research Related to Beauty Justice:

A major focus of Dr. Llanos’ research is to examine risk factors that contribute to increased breast cancer incidence at younger ages, increased incidence of more aggressive breast tumors, and increased mortality among Black women. Relevant to beauty justice, her ongoing work includes investigating associations of personal care products, especially hair products, with breast cancer. Some of Dr. Llanos’ recent findings from the Women’s Circle of Health Study highlighted associations between hair dye use with increased breast cancer risk in Black and White women. And further analysis suggested that longer duration and earlier use of relaxers and application type of permanent hair dyes and relaxers were associated with breast tumor features that denote more aggressive phenotypes. Dr. Llanos’ ongoing research in this space seeks to better understand patterns and prevalence of personal care product use, attitudes and perceptions about potential health risks associated with use, and how they differ across sociodemographic groups. Ultimately this work will contribute critical new data that will inform development of interventions to reduce harmful chemical exposures through simple changes to personal care product use, which might have an impact of inequities in various health outcomes.

Background:

Adana A.M. Llanos, PhD, MPH (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. As a cancer and molecular epidemiologist her research program seeks to understand the molecular and sociobiologic contributors to cancer outcomes inequities, and ultimately to identify ways to address them. Dr. Llanos has methodologic expertise in contemporary molecular techniques (including biomarker analysis in histologically normal tissues and in the tumor microenvironment) and molecular pathological epidemiology, analysis of cancer surveillance data, the conduct of large, diverse observational studies, and community-based participatory research.

In addition to her scholarship, Dr. Llanos is actively involved in community service through engagement with community-based organizations, particularly those whose mission includes providing timely public health advocacy, education and outreach, and cancer survivorship support among members of the community. She recently served as a member of a National Community Advisory Board led by Black Ladies Advocating for Cancer Care (BLACC) and the Stanford School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement (OCE) and as a Board Member of the Yvonne McCalla Foundation, Inc. (YMF Inc. – a non-profit, community-based breast cancer organization in New Jersey).

Dr. Ami Zota

Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Dr. Ami Zota

Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Ami Zota is an Associate Professor in the Environmental Health Sciences department at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Zota is a population health scientist with expertise in environmental health, environmental justice, and maternal and reproductive health. Her research focuses on understanding social and structural determinants of environmental exposures and their consequent impacts to women’s health outcomes across the life course. Her long-term goal is to help secure environmental justice and health equity among systematically marginalized populations by advancing scientific inquiry, training next generation leaders, increasing public engagement with science, and supporting community-led solutions for structural change.

Dr. Zota was among the first to frame the disproportionate burden of toxic chemical exposures from beauty and personal care products among women of color as an environmental justice concern. She co-developed an intersectional framework called “the environmental injustice of beauty”, which links systems of power and oppression, such as racism, sexism, and classism, to Eurocentric beauty norms, racialized beauty practices, and adverse environmental health outcomes. She currently works with community-based research collaboratives in New York City and Los Angeles to reduce risks from unregulated chemicals in consumer products among Black, Latinx, and Asian women and femme-identifying individuals. 

Dr. Zota is the founding director of the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice program which seeks to foster more diverse, equitable and inclusive leaders in environmental and climate justice. Agents of Change in Environmental Justice trains early career scientists from systematically marginalized backgrounds in science communication, storytelling, community engagement, and policy translation. The program empowers its fellows to shift mainstream narratives on environment and climate by broadly disseminating their voices, stories, and research contributions over multi-media platforms.

Amit Rosner

Co-Founder of Clearya

Amit Rosner

Co-Founder of Clearya

“When my wife recovered from cancer she had one request: ‘Let’s keep toxic chemicals out of our home.’”

‍Easier said than done! Turns out in order to avoid endocrine disruptors in a soap bar or developmental toxicants in a deodorant you need to be a Chemist working around the clock on deciphering product ingredient names and reading medical articles. 

And so we decided to develop an automated way to tap into the combined knowledge of the scientific community and the work done on product safety by regulators around the world. 

Two years later, following research and software development, motivated by the passion to live better, Clearya was born: for us, and for everyone else to use. 

We hope that one day every household and personal care product we buy, and everything we eat or drink will be 100% safe. We’d like to believe that one day manufacturers will prioritize the wellbeing of their customers above everything else. 

But until that moment arrives, our mission at Clearya is to build a digital protective shield that keeps toxic ingredients away by automatically alerting online shoppers of ingredients of concern, and helping you find safe products instead. In parallel to empowering consumers, we harness Clearya’s technology to support environmental health nonprofit organizations and scientists.” 

About Clearya

Clearya helps people reduce exposure to toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer, infertility, developmental harm and more, which abound in everyday products due to the inadequate regulation of toxic substances in personal care and other products.

  • Clearya empowers consumers: Clearya’s free, mobile app and Chrome extension automatically screen ingredient lists for you while shopping online popular retail websites including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sephora and iHerb. Clearya alerts shoppers of potentially toxic ingredients in the products they browse, based on science and regulatory agencies worldwide, and suggests safe alternatives in makeup, personal care, baby care, cleaning, and other product types.

By informing and empowering people to reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals and effortlessly choose safer products, Clearya aims to accelerate a demand-driven, health-first market shift that will ultimately incentivize the industry to prioritize safety above all. 

Clearya has been featured on the HBO Max docuseries “Not So Pretty” as a recommended app for avoiding toxic chemicals in personal care.

  • In parallel to directly impacting the health of everyday consumers, Clearya’s technology is designed to advance the environmental health and justice movement through collaboration with nonprofit organizations and regulators. Clearya crowdsources and analyzes data from millions of product webpage visits, which uniquely capture the bigger picture of toxics in common products. It mines insights that are leveraged for environmental health research and advocacy and effective public health regulation by our partner organizations.

Clearya is funded by philanthropic foundations. The app is completely free, not affiliated with retailers, and does not display ads or sponsored products of any kind.

Download Clearya for Chrome on your computer, or get the app for your mobile device: https://www.clearya.comLearn about our collaborations with environmental health and justice organizations: https://www.clearya.com/partners

Dr. Astrid Williams

Director, Programs & Initiatives, California Black Health Network

Dr. Astrid Williams

Director, Programs & Initiatives, California Black Health Network

California Black Health Network

Background: Dr. Astrid Williams has an extensive background in public health. Dr. Williams’ background spans the fields of chronic disease, maternal and reproductive health. She is most passionate about women’s issues and its connection to health. 

Dr. Astrid Williams’ specific interests include advancing evidence-based practices in the development of public policy that addresses community-level health and social aspects. She has coordinated numerous programs as it relates to public health as an administrator and leader.  She serves as faculty in higher learning teaching the next generation of healthcare leaders. 

She is a graduate of Loma Linda University School of Public Health earning a Doctorate in Public Health and Master of Public Health in Health Promotion & Education. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychobiology from the University of California at Los Angeles, (UCLA). Additionally, Dr. Williams is certified as a Health Education Specialist (CHES). She enjoys self-care, wellness and traveling abroad.

Dr. Bhavna Shamasunder

Professor, Occidental College

Dr. Bhavna Shamasunder

Professor, Occidental College

Bhavna Shamasunder, Associate Professor and Chair, Urban and Environmental Policy;  

Co-Chair, Public Health, Occidental College 

Background

Bhavna Shamasunder teaches and conducts research at the intersection of environmental health & justice at Occidental College with a focus on inequalities in chemical exposures faced by low-income communities and communities of color who live and work in urban and/or industrial environments.  

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice

Current Research Projects:  

  • Race, Immigration, and the Public Understanding of Science: The Case of Skin Bleaching. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Science, Technology, and Society Division.  
  • Taking Stock: Product Use Among Black and Latina Women funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.  Our co-PI on this project is Black Women for Wellness and co-investigators are Silent Spring Institute and Dr. Ami Zota, George Washington University, School of Public Health.   
  • The Environmental Injustice of Beauty. 
  • Environmental Justice impacts from oil extraction and new unconventional drilling practices in Los Angeles.

Dr. Dede Teteh-Brooks

Assistant Professor of Public Health, Chapman University

Dr. Dede Teteh-Brooks

Assistant Professor of Public Health, Chapman University

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice: Dede K. Teteh-Brooks, Dr.P.H., is a certified health education professional with a wide breadth of experience across academia, research, policy development, and strategic communications. She brings a deep knowledge of the public health sector—spanning both individual and community health—as well as a teaching and research-based background. Through her work in community advocacy and prevention, as well as several roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she has cultivated an interest in sustainable public health infrastructure and building healthier communities, particularly in Black populations. 

Dr. Teteh-Brooks is a social/behavioral scientist who uses community-based participatory research approaches to reduce health disparities and promote health equity in African diaspora populations in the U.S. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Department of Health Sciences at Chapman University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Equities at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (Duarte, CA). Her area of research includes 1) endocrine-disrupting chemical exposures in hair and other personal care products and breast cancer risk with particular focus on Black women (the Bench to Community Initiative); and 2) the impact of social determinants of health on lung cancer surgery family caregivers and patients.   

 The Bench to Community Initiative (B2C) is a community-based participatory research project with two overarching goals: 1) develop multidisciplinary partnerships with community stakeholders, basic and social/behavioral scientists to better understand the sociocultural and biological determinants of EDC exposures from personal care products and breast cancer risk; and 2) implement community interventions aimed at reducing breast cancer risk including EDC exposures from personal care products for Black women. To learn more about the B2C visit www.bench2community.org.

Background: She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and minor in Theology from St. John’s University in Queens, New York; a Master of Public Health in Health Education & Promotion from Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; and a Doctor of Public Health in Health Education from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California. Dr. Teteh-Brooks has been a recipient of numerous honors and awards, including selection as a Bill & Melinda Gates scholar, a National Cancer Institute-Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, Scholar-in-training awardee, and the recipient of the Glen Blix award for excellence in preventive care from Loma Linda University. She also served on the Desert Coastal area board of directors for the American Cancer Society (ACS) and is a legislative ambassador for the ACS’s Cancer Action Network. 

Dr. Teteh-Brooks was born and raised in Lomé, Togo and grew up in Bronx, NY and Atlanta, Georgia, but currently calls Southern California home.  Her friends and family, especially her nieces and nephews, are the joys of her life and her motivation for addressing disparities in health outcomes for Black people.

Hannah McCall

Executive Director and Founder, Clean Beauty for Black Girls

Hannah McCall

Executive Director and Founder, Clean Beauty for Black Girls

Work Related to Beauty Justice: Clean Beauty for Black Girls is a platform for Black women to connect, find safer products and support one another. Clean Beauty for Black Girls makes the connection between the toxins in our everyday products and the health issues affecting Black women on a large scale. 

Background: Hannah is an educator, a truth-seeker, and motivator to Black women seeking to put their health & success first. Hannah was born and raised in Iowa, and now her & her teenage son call the DMV home. She is a former Track & Field collegiate athlete and high school girls’ coach. She earned her MBA from Northeastern University before leaving the corporate world to learn how to walk in her entrepreneurial shoes. Since then, she has been developing ideas & championing ways for Black women to rise above their stereotypes and expectations.  

Clean Beauty for Black Girls  

Organizational Description 

  • Clean Beauty for Black Girls’ mission is to educate Black women and girls about the harmful ingredients in many of our personal care products, while empowering them to make safer choices. Clean Beauty for Black Girls Co brings awareness and education to a community that is provided with fewer options for safer and cleaner personal care products. By providing insight into why certain ingredients should be avoided, their services create a positive change through knowledge empowerment.  

Check out their educational blog to learn more about their work on toxic-free living and wellness.

Janette Robinson Flint

Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness

Janette Robinson Flint

Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness

Background: “My work in the health field began as an advocate during my pregnancy, seeking a holistic practitioner to work with my concept of a gentle birth, and it gives me great pleasure to imagine a world with powerful women, at optimum physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and financial health leading us to justice and peace. 

Over the course of the years my journey has included The Birthing Project USA, Great Beginnings for Black Babies, National Health Foundation, March of Dimes, California Primary Care Association, Inglewood Healthy Mothers & Babies, South Los Angeles Health Project and Women Infant & Children (South Los Angeles advisory board) Programs as well with a member of the community faculty with Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science.” 

Ms. Robinson Flint is also part of the Los Angeles Coalition for Reproductive Justice, California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom and In Our Own Voice; National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda with the intention of lifting the experiences and voices of Black women in pursuit of health and well-being.

Black Women for Wellness  

Organizational Description 

  • Black Women for Wellness (BWW) is a multi-generational, community-based organization committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls by building healthy communities through access and development of health education, awareness, empowerment and advocacy opportunities and activities. 

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice 

  • Black Women for Wellness’ Sisters in Control Environmental Justice programs works to build healthier communities by addressing issues such as the elimination of oil drilling, the exposure of toxic chemicals in our personal and hair care products and more. 
  • BWW’s Healthy Hair Initiative Beauty Professionals Behind the Chair focuses on hair stylists and salon workers, who face occupational workplace exposures including chemical, ergonomic and reproductive hazards plus respiratory irritants. Hair stylists are at higher risk of developing specific health complications, such as: cancer, immune disorders, uterine fibroids, and miscarriages. Hair care professionals are concerned for both their own health and their clients, and want to learn more about the chemicals in the products they use and make a healthier and safer workplace. BWW’s Curls & Conversation is a space that allows consumers, hair care professionals and advocates to talk openly about the Black beauty industry and share safe salon practices. See more here.
  • For more information on BWW’s research on the connection between the beauty products we use and the health status of Black women, pick up a copy of their report Natural Evolutions: One Hair Story.  
  • For more information on BWW’s work on Toxic Beauty Additives, check out their helpful Toxic-Free Beauty Pocket Guide, and Eco-Friendly Self Care Guide.  
  • BWW is a key member of Taking Stock, a study on what products women use every day and how these contribute to disparities in health. See study here. There is growing information on chemical exposures from personal care products and consequent adverse health effects, with implications for health disparities. Yet, there remains limited information on the range and types of products used by diverse racial/ethnic communities. This study helps close an important gap on product use inventories that can enable more informed public health interventions to limit exposures from personal care products. 
  • BWW is calling on Vanguard, Johnson & Johnson’s largest shareholder, to vote in favor of J&J conducting a racial equity audit and ceasing its global sale of talc-based baby powder. Join their call to action here.

BWW’s Action Project is “unapologetically working for the health and wellness of Black women and girls” by actively engaged in developing and advocating for state and federal legislation that would more strictly regulate – or force the disclosure of – chemicals of concern in both retail cosmetic products and professional hair salon products. They successfully helped remove toxic chemicals from beauty products in California through the passage of the CA Toxic Free Cosmetic Act, secured passage of the CROWN Act, the CA Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Disclosure Act, and more. Currently, BWW is an NGO sponsor of the federal Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers (HR5540), a federal cosmetic safety initiative that would force the disclosure of the unlabeled ingredients in professional salon products, fund research grants to investigate the problem of toxic chemicals in beauty products marketed to women of color and used by professional salon workers; and direct the FDA to prioritize safety assessments of chemicals of concern in these products. 

Dr. Jasmine McDonald

Assistant Professor, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Dr. Jasmine McDonald

Assistant Professor, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health

Jasmine McDonald is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. She received her Doctorate in 2009 from the Biological Sciences in Public Health Program at Harvard University with a concentration in Immunology and Infectious Disease. She has postdoctoral training in breast cancer epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.  Her research portfolio integrates individual level factors (e.g., health behaviors) and the macroenvironment (e.g. physical, social, microbial environment) with biology (e.g. endocrine disruption, epigenetic modification) to inform how these multiple levels of etiology impact breast cancer risk across the lifecourse. Much of her portfolio is nested within populations that have a higher burden of cancer including those with a genetic predisposition, racial and ethnic minorities, and young women. An avid teacher and mentor, Dr. McDonald was awarded the 2021 Columbia University Teaching Award for her dedication and excellence in teaching, mentoring, and community engagement. Dr. McDonald teaches Cancer Epidemiology within the Mailman School of Public Health, is the Assistant Director of the Cancer Research, Training, and Education Center at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) and is the Co-Director of the CURE Program at the HICCC. The CURE program is catered to high school and undergraduate students from traditionally overlooked and underserved backgrounds and communities and has hosted over 40 students since 2015.  Dr. McDonald also actively engages with the community from a research and educational perspective on the harmful role of endocrine disruptor chemicals within personal care products.

Dr. Jenny Kay

Research Scientist, Silent Spring Institute

Dr. Jenny Kay

Research Scientist, Silent Spring Institute

Background: Dr. Jenny Kay is a Research Scientist whose work focuses on the toxicology and carcinogenicity of environmental exposures. She comes to Silent Spring with expertise in DNA damage and mechanisms of mutagenesis, which she is applying to the Institute’s work on chemically-induced breast carcinogenesis. Using experimental approaches, analysis of publicly-available data, and literature review, Dr. Kay is investigating the biological effects of chemicals that increase breast cancer risk, focusing especially on DNA damage and repair, inflammation and hormonal stimulation, and the interactions between these mechanisms that lead to breast cancer. Her goal is to develop approaches for classifying chemicals based on their potential to increase breast cancer risk. 

Dr. Kay received her PhD in Biological Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Bevin Engelward. For her graduate work, Dr. Kay utilized a novel transgenic mouse model to explore the mechanistic relationships between inflammation, DNA damage, mutations, and cancer using the intestines as a model organ. 

As a postdoctoral fellow, she helped found the MIT Superfund Research Program (MIT SRP), a transdisciplinary center with a specific emphasis on investigating N-nitrosodimethylamine, an environmental contaminant and probable human carcinogen. She led animal-based research projects at MIT SRP, studying DNA repair gene-environment interactions to identify genetic susceptibility factors. Her collaborative research integrated key biological endpoints over time to map the progression from exposure to toxicity and cancer in mice. Her work has garnered international attention, as N-nitrosamines have recently come under scrutiny for contaminating pharmaceuticals at high levels. Dr. Kay also led the MIT SRP Research Translation Core, serving as the communication hub between MIT SRP researchers and government agencies, community partners, other academics, and the general public. 

Silent Spring Institute 

Organizational Description 

  • Silent Spring Institute is the leading scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the links between chemicals in our everyday environment and women’s health, with a focus on breast cancer prevention. Silent Spring’s contribution to breast cancer prevention and environmental health is unparalleled. Since its founding, the Institute has published more than 145 scientific papers in top journals and its science has informed policies around the country.  
  • Launched in 2018, Silent Spring’s Safer Chemicals Program is providing regulators and manufacturers with new tools to help quickly identify chemicals that increase breast cancer risk and prevent their use in everyday products. With the publication of several influential studies, their work is expanding the definition of a breast carcinogen to consider the multiple ways chemicals can cause cancer, such as encouraging the body to produce more estrogen. The ultimate goal is to shift the burden so that it’s no longer on consumers to reduce their exposure to toxics, but on companies and regulators to ensure the chemicals that make their way into consumer products are safe. 

In 2016, Silent Spring launched Detox Me™ Action Kit—the first crowdsourced biomonitoring study on people’s exposure to common household and environmental toxics. The innovative project was part of a national study to assess the U.S. population’s exposure to potentially harmful chemicals found in everyday consumer items, such as personal care products, food packaging, and household cleaners. Thanks to this study, people around the country could find out what was in their bodies and become empowered to reduce their exposures and live healthier lives. To learn more about their research and its impact click here and here.

Maimah Karmo

Founder & CEO, Tigerlily Foundation

Maimah Karmo

Founder & CEO, Tigerlily Foundation

Background: Maimah Karmo is the Founder/CEO of the Tigerlily Foundation (Tigerlily) and a sixteen-year survivor of breast cancer. On February 28, 2006, at 4:45 p.m., Maimah was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. She had no family history and was 32-years old. While undergoing her second round of chemotherapy, she made a promise to God that if she survived, she would create an organization to educate, empower, advocate for and support young women affected by breast cancer. After her second treatment, Tigerlily Foundation was born. Tigerlily provides breast health, educational, empowerment wellness and transformational programs to young women. After working with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to develop the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act, in October 2011, Maimah was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women, a committee established by the Affordable Care Act, on which she works to develop initiatives to increase knowledge of breast health and breast cancer, for women under the age of 45 and those at heightened risk for developing the disease. She is a speaker and media personality, regularly called upon to speak on Capitol Hill and other venues, as a health, advocacy and empowerment expert. In 2015, Maimah advocated with Members of Congress to ensure that young women had access to breast screening. Tigerlily Foundation flew young women to Washington, D.C. to meet with 74 members of Congress. The visit resulted in doubling the House and Senate support for the Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screening (PALS) legislation.  The bill was signed into law within a month, protecting the lives and rights of millions of women. She is a leader in the women’s health field, creating and implementing national health initiatives for women and girls, with a goal of eliminating disparities of age, stage and color. Under Maimah’s leadership, Tigerlily Foundation has launched national and global health initiatives focused on ending disparities, including its ANGEL Advocacy Program, which trains Black women living in communities with the highest disparities in breast cancer. Through the Tigerlily Foundation’s #InclusionPledge, partnering with global stakeholders, Tigerlily made a call to action to recognize health disparities as a social justice issue, and is working to end disparities for Black women in our lifetime. 

Maimah has appeared in USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, Black Enterprise, Oprah Magazine, Essence Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Redbook, Women and Cancer, Cure Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine and more. She has also been featured on Fox 5, ABC 7, CBS, the Oprah Winfrey Show, OWN, Good Morning America, the Today Show and more. She is a sought-after speaker by the media and for policy events; and she is a philanthropist.  In 2010, Maimah published Fearless: Awakening to my Life’s Purpose Through Breast Cancer. In 2018, she published the “Badass Girl’s Book of Prayers”.  She recently published Divine Downloads:  Transforming through Trauma, followed by Unicorn Boss, in June 2020. 

Tigerlily Foundation  

Organizational Description 

Tigerlily Foundation is a national breast cancer foundation providing education, awareness, advocacy and hands-on support to young women (15-45) – before, during and after breast cancer. Through their programs, they seek to educate and empower women of all backgrounds, including those at heightened risk, those facing health disparities, and those with less access to care. They strive to improve the quality of life and end isolation among breast cancer survivors.

Paula Johnson

Director of the CA Department of Public Health Safe Cosmetics Program

Paula Johnson

Director of the CA Department of Public Health Safe Cosmetics Program

Work Related to Beauty Justice:   

California is the only state that requires companies to report hazardous ingredients used in cosmetics. The primary purpose of the California Safe Cosmetics Program is to collect information on hazardous ingredients in cosmetic products sold in California and to make this information available to the public. Consumers and salon workers everywhere can use the California Safe Cosmetics Product Database to learn more about the products they use.

The California Safe Cosmetics Program also researches chemicals of concern in cosmetics and is a partner in the CAPABLE Project, a diverse coalition of community health organizations and scientists executing a multi-pronged approach to study racial/ethnic differences in personal care product use and chemical exposures.

Background:  

Paula Johnson PhD, MPH is Chief of the California Safe Cosmetics Program at the California Department of Public Health. Dr. Johnson’s expertise includes exposure and epidemiological research on chemicals in consumer goods and methods for synthesizing streams of evidence of toxicity. She also has 10 years’ experience in product development and analysis for manufacturing industries. She holds a PhD in environmental health sciences from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State University, and studied biology and chemistry at the University of Redlands. Prior to joining CDPH, she was a research fellow with the University of California San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, where she helped develop the first systematic review methodology for environmental health.

Rhonda Smith

Executive Director, California Black Health Network

Rhonda Smith

Executive Director, California Black Health Network

Background: Rhonda currently serves as the Executive Director of the California Black Health Network. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Life Serve Youth Foundation and as the Interim Executive Director for Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US). Prior to this role, Rhonda served as the IM4US Board President-elect. Before her tenure with IM4US, Rhonda was the Consultant/Project Director for the LiveHealthy OC Initiative, a three-year initiative that transformed the model of care of a network of FQHCs from a disease-focused treatment model to a prevention and wellness model to provide a whole person care approach. 

Before the LiveHealthy OC Initiative, Rhonda served as the Consultant/Statewide Project Manager for the Susan G. Komen® Circle of Promise California Initiative, an intensive four-year effort to identify evidence-based strategies to decrease the high mortality rate of African American women diagnosed with breast cancer, and address disparities at the system, community, and individual levels. 

Rhonda has also consulted on an NIH/NCI funded breast cancer survivorship research study at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami targeting the diverse population of Black women in the South Florida community. The study focused on evaluating the impact of stress management and wellness education on survivors who were within twelve months of competing treatment. Her responsibilities included marketing, PR, community outreach and recruitment, and facilitating the study’s ten-week health and wellness education program to the control group cohorts. 

Rhonda earned her MBA in Marketing and Operations Management from the Colgate Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and her B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. Rhonda served as the Mission Integration Chair for the American Cancer Society 2012 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk and as a member of the Baptist Health South Florida Breast Center’s Patient and Family Advisory Council. Rhonda is a Leadership Charlotte alumnus, Past-Chair of the Board of The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade, and a past CEO Forum member of The Commonwealth Institute South Florida. Rhonda served on the 2007 NFL Super Bowl Special Events Committee, and in 2006 was named one of South Florida’s “25 Most Prominent and Influential African-American Women” by Success South Florida Magazine. 

CA Black Health Network  

Organizational Description 

CA Black Health Network (CBHN) is the only Black-led, state-wide organization dedicated to advancing health equity for African Americans and Black Immigrants in California. CBHN is the voice and trusted resource for Black Health Equity in California and provides policy analysis, research and training that promotes best practices which support the creation of optimal conditions needed to sustain healthy Black people.

Dr. Robin Dodson

Research Scientist, Silent Spring Institute

Dr. Robin Dodson

Research Scientist, Silent Spring Institute

Work Related to Beauty Justice:   

California is the only state that requires companies to report hazardous ingredients used in cosmetics. The primary purpose of the California Safe Cosmetics Program is to collect information on hazardous ingredients in cosmetic products sold in California and to make this information available to the public. Consumers and salon workers everywhere can use the California Safe Cosmetics Product Database to learn more about the products they use.

The California Safe Cosmetics Program also researches chemicals of concern in cosmetics and is a partner in the CAPABLE Project, a diverse coalition of community health organizations and scientists executing a multi-pronged approach to study racial/ethnic differences in personal care product use and chemical exposures.

Background:  

Paula Johnson PhD, MPH is Chief of the California Safe Cosmetics Program at the California Department of Public Health. Dr. Johnson’s expertise includes exposure and epidemiological research on chemicals in consumer goods and methods for synthesizing streams of evidence of toxicity. She also has 10 years’ experience in product development and analysis for manufacturing industries. She holds a PhD in environmental health sciences from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State University, and studied biology and chemistry at the University of Redlands. Prior to joining CDPH, she was a research fellow with the University of California San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, where she helped develop the first systematic review methodology for environmental health.

Micaela E. Martinez, Ph.D.

Director of Environmental Health and Education, We Act for Environmental Justice

Micaela E. Martinez, Ph.D.

Director of Environmental Health and Education, We Act for Environmental Justice

Background: Dr. Micaela E. Martinez is a Chicana scientist, artist, and justice advocate. She is the newly appointed Director of Environmental Health at WE ACT for Environmental Justice in New York City. She is responsible for advancing efforts to improve environmental health in communities of color and low-income communities by conducting research, promoting public health awareness, education, coalition-building, and advocacy. Dr. Martinez earned her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolution in 2015 at the University of Michigan and did her postdoctoral training at Princeton University.

Before joining WE ACT, she served as an Assistant Professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, followed by Emory University in the Dept. of Biology. Since 2017, Dr. Martinez has been supported by the prestigious NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. Over the past decade, her research has focused on infectious disease ecology, climate change, maternal and infant health, social justice, and environmental impacts on health. Dr. Martinez is currently leading WE ACT’s Beauty Inside Out campaign, which seeks to remove toxic chemicals from beauty products, particularly products marketed toward women of color and those rooted in racist beauty standards.

WE ACT for Environmental Justice 

Organizational Description 

WE ACT for Environmental Justice is an organization made up of activists, lawyers, community organizers, public health experts, and local Northern Manhattan residents. Their mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT envisions a community: informed and engaged residents who participate fully in decision-making on key issues that impact their health and community, strong and equal environmental protections, and increased environmental health through community-based participatory research and evidence-based campaigns.

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice 

  • To ensure our community is aware of the risks posed by the chemicals commonly found in beauty and personal care products, WE ACT partnered with Columbia’s NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health to develop a community briefing on cosmetics and other personal care products to raise awareness of the serious health hazards people face when using these products as well as to provide suggestions on how the public can minimize those risks.
  • WE ACT’s Beauty Inside Out is a campaign to educate women on toxic chemicals in beauty and personal care products, especially those marketed to women of color.  The Campaign includes a Working Group (sign up here) to involve community members in the Campaign’s work.
  • WE ACT recently surveyed women and femme-identifying people of color in Northern Manhattan regarding their beauty product use and how this might affect their health. You can see the survey results (here) and download the Beauty Inside Out educational booklet in English or Spanish. 
  • WE ACT is also involved in advocacy for state and federal policy addressing Beauty Justice. For example, WE ACT helped develop and is an NGO sponsor of two federal cosmetic safety bills: The Toxic-Free Beauty Act and the Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act. These two bills were introduced to Congress in May 2023 that will significantly protect women of color from unsafe cosmetic chemical exposures if enacted into law. 
  • WE ACT is also the co-lead of the Beauty Justice Coalition, a nationwide group of Beauty Justice Advocates from non-profits, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Beauty Justice Coalition will launch summer of 2023.

On March 26, 2020, WE ACT conducted an online congressional briefing on the health impacts of toxic personal care products and cosmetics on women and girls of color. Participants learned about the toxic chemicals in products marketed to communities of color, how businesses are responding and the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2019.

Dr. Tamarra James-Todd

Associate Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Tamarra James-Todd

Associate Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Tamarra James-Todd, Ph.D., Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Reproductive Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Harvard University 

Work Related to Beauty Justice: 

Dr. Tamarra James-Todd is an environmental reproductive epidemiologist researching the role of environmental chemicals on women’s health across the reproductive life course. She directs the Environmental Reproductive Justice (ERJ) Lab, which seeks to investigate and improve adverse environmental exposures and reproductive health disparities. Her work particularly focuses on the importance of pregnancy as a sensitive window of consumer product environmental chemical exposures. Dr. James-Todd is the Principal Investigator of multiple NIEHS funded R01 grants, focusing on endocrine disrupting chemicals and adverse maternal health outcomes during pregnancy, postpartum and mid-life in the ERGO study and Project Viva. Dr. James-Todd serves as the Principal Investigator for the Community Engagement Core of the Metals and Metal Mixtures: Cognitive Aging, Remediation, and Exposure Sources (MEMCARE) P42 Superfund Research Center. In addition, she is running interventions to improve environmental health literacy both in the lay community, as well as among health care professionals. Dr. James-Todd is also the Director of the Organics Core for the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center, where she launched the Environmental Justice Bootcamp in collaboration with two other NIEHS-funded P30 Centers. She has been awarded for her research in the area of environmental reproductive health by receiving the Estrellita and Yosuf Karsh Visiting Professorship in Women’s Health. She has had the honor of serving on the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board for the Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee, as well as two National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s committees and the March of Dimes Environmental Justice Working Group. 

Taylor Morton

Director of Environmental Health and Education, We Act for Environmental Justice

Taylor Morton

Director of Environmental Health and Education, We Act for Environmental Justice

Background: Taylor Morton (They/Them) is the Director of Environmental Health and Education at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. They have been working with WE ACT since 2016, formerly as an intern, environmental health fellow, educational consultant, and environmental health and education manager. Among their responsibilities are leading education programs such as the Environmental Health & Justice Leadership Training and WE ACT’s Climate Education Policy initiatives as well as the organization’s NYCHA Healthy Homes program, which seeks to improve the health and future of public housing residents. Taylor also recognizes the importance of exposing BIPOC and low-income youth to natural elements, and actively supports this mission. They hold a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Spelman College, a M.S. in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management from The New School, and a M.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

WE ACT for Environmental Justice 

Organizational Description 

WE ACT for Environmental Justice is an organization made up of activists, lawyers, community organizers, public health experts, and local Northern Manhattan residents. Their mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT envisions a community: informed and engaged residents who participate fully in decision-making on key issues that impact their health and community; strong and equal environmental protections; and increased environmental health through community-based participatory research and evidence-based campaigns. 

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice 

  • To ensure our community is aware of the risks posed by the chemicals commonly found in beauty and personal care products, WE ACT partnered with Columbia’s NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health to develop a community briefing on cosmetics and other personal care products to raise awareness of the serious health hazards people face when using these products as well as to provide suggestions on how the public can minimize those risks. You can watch the video briefing and panel discussion. 
  • WE ACT’s Beauty Inside Out is a campaign to educate women on toxic chemicals in beauty and personal care products, especially those marketed to women of color.  The Campaign also includes a Working Group to involve community members in the Campaign’s work, as well as surveys for girls and femme-identifying people of color between 13-17 years of age that live in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx on their beauty products consumption and purchasing and how this might affect their health. You can also download their Beauty Inside Out educational booklet in English or Spanish. 
  • WE ACT is also involved in advocacy for state and federal policy addressing Work Related to Beauty Justice. WE ACT helped develop and is an NGO sponsor of two federal cosmetic safety initiatives: The Toxic-Free Beauty Act (HR5537) and the Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor (HR5538), two bills that were introduced in October 2022 that will have a significant impact on protecting women of color from unsafe cosmetic chemical exposures if they are enacted into law. 

On March 26, 2020, WE ACT conducted an online congressional briefing on the health impacts of toxic personal care products and cosmetics on women and girls of color. Participants learned about the toxic chemicals in products marketed to communities of color, how businesses are responding and the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2019.

Tianna Shaw-Wakeman

Environmental Justice Program Coordinator, Black Women for Wellness

Tianna Shaw-Wakeman

Environmental Justice Program Coordinator, Black Women for Wellness

Background:  Tianna Shaw-Wakeman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California where she graduated as the first Black University Valedictorian for the Class of 2021. She currently works as an Environmental Justice Program Coordinator for the non-profit Black Women for Wellness. During her time as a student, Tianna committed herself to helping USC become more sustainable. She interned for the former USC Housing Sustainability Manager, Directed the prominent campus environmental activism group ECore, acted as the Lead Organizer for the USC 2019 Climate Strike, and she co-founded DivestSC. USC has since announced a commitment to full divestment from fossil fuels. Beyond her activism, Tianna served on the USC Sustainability Steering Committee and the Presidential Working Group for Sustainable Education, Research, and Operations to push for sustainable policies campus-wide. In addition to these achievements, Tianna is proud to be a Sydney Harman Polymathic Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa, a Brittingham Social Enterprise Scholar, and a former member of LA Mayor Garcetti’s Youth Council on Climate Action.

Black Women for Wellness  

Organizational Description 

  • Black Women for Wellness (BWW) is a multi-generational, community-based organization committed to the health and well-being of Black women and girls by building healthy communities through access and development of health education, awareness, empowerment and advocacy opportunities and activities. 

Related to Work Related to Beauty Justice 

  • Black Women for Wellness’ Sisters in Control Environmental Justice programs works to build healthier communities by addressing issues such as the elimination of oil drilling, the exposure of toxic chemicals in our personal and hair care products and more. 
  • BWW’s Healthy Hair Initiative Beauty Professionals Behind the Chair focuses on hair stylists and salon workers, who face occupational workplace exposures including chemical, ergonomic and reproductive hazards plus respiratory irritants. Hair stylists are at higher risk of developing specific health complications, such as: cancer, immune disorders, uterine fibroids, and miscarriages. Hair care professionals are concerned for both their own health and their clients, and want to learn more about the chemicals in the products they use and make a healthier and safer workplace. BWW’s Curls & Conversation is a space that allows consumers, hair care professionals and advocates to talk openly about the Black beauty industry and share safe salon practices. See more here.
  • For more information on BWW’s research on the connection between the beauty products we use and the health status of Black women, pick up a copy of their report Natural Evolutions: One Hair Story.  
  • For more information on BWW’s work on Toxic Beauty Additives, check out their helpful Toxic-Free Beauty Pocket Guide, and Eco-Friendly Self Care Guide.  
  • BWW is a key member of Taking Stock, a study on what products women use every day and how these contribute to disparities in health. See study here. There is growing information on chemical exposures from personal care products and consequent adverse health effects, with implications for health disparities. Yet, there remains limited information on the range and types of products used by diverse racial/ethnic communities. This study helps close an important gap on product use inventories that can enable more informed public health interventions to limit exposures from personal care products. 
  • BWW is calling on Vanguard, Johnson & Johnson’s largest shareholder, to vote in favor of J&J conducting a racial equity audit and ceasing its global sale of talc-based baby powder. Join their call to action here.

BWW’s Action Project is “unapologetically working for the health and wellness of Black women and girls” by actively engaged in developing and advocating for state and federal legislation that would more strictly regulate – or force the disclosure of – chemicals of concern in both retail cosmetic products and professional hair salon products. They successfully helped remove toxic chemicals from beauty products in California through the passage of the CA Toxic Free Cosmetic Act, secured passage of the CROWN Act, the CA Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Disclosure Act, and more. Currently, BWW is an NGO sponsor of the federal Cosmetic Safety Protections for Communities of Color and Salon Workers (HR5540), a federal cosmetic safety initiative that would force the disclosure of the unlabeled ingredients in professional salon products, fund research grants to investigate the problem of toxic chemicals in beauty products marketed to women of color and used by professional salon workers; and direct the FDA to prioritize safety assessments of chemicals of concern in these products. 

Marcha Isabelle Chaudry, Esq.

Marcha Isabelle Chaudry, Esq., Founder of the Equity and Wellness Collaborative

Marcha Isabelle Chaudry, Esq.

Marcha Isabelle Chaudry, Esq., Founder of the Equity and Wellness Collaborative

Founder, The Equity and Wellness Collaborative

Background: Marcha Isabelle Chaudry is the founder of The Equity and Wellness Collaborative. She previously worked as a Senior Policy Manager at the National Women’s Health Network where she developed and led their national cosmetics policy program, with a particular focus on historically marginalized communities. She helped build and led a national coalition of consumer and women’s advocates to bring national attention to the harmful practices of businesses engaged in corporate deception and harmful marketing in the beauty industry. Ms. Chaudry actively lobbies, at the grassroots and federal level, on women’s health and cosmetics policy and has provided expert testimony before Congress and the Food and Drug Administration. She has also appeared in several media and publication efforts including, Vogue Business, HBO Max, Democracy Now!, PBS NewsHour, Good Morning America, NBC News, and a host of other publications and networks. Ms. Chaudry earned a J.D. with distinction in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Howard University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University. She previously served as Board Chair of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Committee at Women’s Voices for The Earth. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Mosaic Economic Project of the Progressive Policy Institute, which aims to put more women at the forefront of policy making. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.

The Equity and Wellness Collaborative

Tiah Tomlin-Harris

CEO & Advocate, My Style Matters, Inc.

Tiah Tomlin-Harris

CEO & Advocate, My Style Matters, Inc.

Bio: Following a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer, or Can’t-cer as she calls it, Tiah Tomlin-Harris vowed to God that if she made it through breast cancer, she would help as many women as she could fight and survive breast cancer, particularly Black women, who are disproportionately impacted by this disease.   

Tiah believed that no sister should walk this journey alone and founded the My Breast Years Ahead Sisterhood, a sisterhood of women survivors.  She also founded My Style Matters, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization that focuses on prevention and improving health outcomes by providing support, resources, education as well as healthy lifestyle experiences to cancer patients and their loved ones.  

In 2019, upon obtaining news of a recurrence, Tiah opted to fight cancer a second time with food and faith.  She adopted a whole food plant-based diet, removed products containing toxins or other dangerous chemicals from her home, and added other complementary practices to her daily routine. Tiah believes that making healthy lifestyle changes can help improve one’s quality of life and help with better life outcomes. She is now helping others on their quest for optimal health as a licensed Food for Life Instructor and is educating individuals on ways to eliminate harmful exposures.  

Tiah is an activist, an advocate, a Cancer Coach, a Breast Health Educator, a consultant, and a Project Lead graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC). She developed Breast Health Matters, an empowerment and educational platform for teen girls and women and serves as the Program Manager for the Knowledge Is Power symposium that focuses on Black women diagnosed with breast cancer. Tiah has advocated for survivors on Capitol Hill; is a Community Advisory Board member with the Bench to Community Initiative, serves as a board member and advisory board member for several pharmaceutical companies and organizations; published a research paper on Clinical Trials in Metastatic Breast Cancer; has spoken on numerous talk shows and panels to include Tavis Smiley talk radio, American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Congressional Briefing with Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP). Through her life’s work, she has received recognition and awards, including President Bush’s – Point of Lights Award. 

Tiah is educating, motivating, and activating people to move from awareness to taking action. 

Findings & Methodology

Working with our partner, Clearya, we screened the Black Beauty Product Database against Tier 1 Red List chemicals. Brands that did not have any of the Tier 1 chemicals in their products were placed on a list of Non-Toxic Black Beauty Products, which includes 78 brands and 696 products. These brands and their products will be listed on the CSC website in a searchable database by name and product type.

The top 15 most frequently found chemicals were: 

  1. Titanium Dioxide(in inhalable forms only) 
  2. Crystalline Silica (in inhalable forms only) 
  3. Retinol (Vitamin A) (when in daily doses >10,000 IU, or 3,000 retinol equivalents) 
  4. Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) 
  5. Parabens (methyl, ethyl, butyl, and propylparaben) 
  6. Butyl Acetate 
  7. Ethyl Acetate 
  8. Benzophenone-1 
  9. Carbon Black 
  10. Diazolidinyl Urea 
  11. DMDM Hydantoin 
  12. Triethanolamine (TEA) 
  13. Siloxanes 
  14. Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate 
  15. Benzophenone-3 or Oxybenzone

Get our full list of top chemicals of concern found in Black bodycare, haircare, makeup, nail, skincare, and sunscreen products. 

Generating the List of Non-Toxic Black Beauty Products ​

The Campaign’s Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project created a list of safer Black Beauty products in order to help consumers make more informed purchases and guide the efforts of manufacturers and retailers to make and sell safer products. 

Working with our partner, Clearya, we screened the Black Beauty Product Database against Tier 1 Red List chemicals. Brands that did not have any of the Tier 1 chemicals in their products were placed on a list of Non-Toxic Black Beauty Brands, which includes 78 brands and 696 products. These brands and their products are featured in our searchable Non-Toxic Black-Owned Beauty Product Database.

  1. Through a survey of mainstream and ethnic beauty magazines and media, we created an initial list of over 400 beauty brands that were identified as selling personal care and beauty products primarily to Black women. 
  2. We vetted this initial list of brands and removed companies that were less than 51% Black-owned, did not have Black beauty products as their main product line or did not provide ingredient lists on their website. This resulted in a list of 283 Black-owned beauty brands. 
  3. We then scraped the product ingredients from the websites of the Black beauty brands to produce an ingredient database of 7,250 individual products covering 10 different product types. We organized the products into 9 categories (see table below): babycare/kidcare, bodycare, fragrance, haircare, makeup, nail products, personal hygiene, skin care, and sunscreen. 
  4. For each product we collected the product name, price, UPC, an image of the product, webpage link and the full ingredients list provided on the website. All of this information will be made available on our searchable database (coming soon).

     

Product Type CategoryDescription
Babycare/KidcareBaby powder, baby or kid shampoo, baby or kid conditioner, detangler, diaper cream, baby lotion, baby cleansers and soaps – anything with baby or kid in the name (except for sunscreen)
BodycareBody lotions, body butter, body scrubs, foot creams, body oil, bubble bath, bath bombs, bath salts
FragrancePerfume/parfume, body spray, vaginal spray, body mists, scents, body fragrance, aromatherapy, essential oils – products whose primary purpose is to add scent to any part of the body
HaircareShampoo, conditioner, gel, mousse, hair dye, hair straighteners, relaxers, hair oils
MakeupFoundation, face powder, concealer, lipstick, lip liner, blush, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner
Nail ProductsNail polish, topcoat, nail polish remover, cuticle cream, nail glue (anything with nail in the name)
Personal HygieneDeodorant, mouthwash, soap, toothpaste, bodywash, liquid soap, 3 in 1 products (body wash, bubble bath, shampoo)
Skin CareFacial cleansers, lip balm, moisturizers with or without SPF, anti-aging products, toner, masks, facial scrubs, creams, peels – products used on the face that are not make-up
SunscreenSunscreen creams, sprays, oils (note: make-up with SPF goes in the makeup category)

A. The newly expanded Red List includes health effects of greater concern to Black Women

In 2022, we expanded the Red List of Chemicals of Concern to include cosmetic chemicals of greater concern for Black women’s health. Explore the expanded Red List.

We worked with our Advisory Committee to identify health issues of concern to Black women that were not already captured in the 2018 BCPP Red List. These were identified as: 

Diabetes, Early puberty, Endometriosis, Infertility, Earlier age at menopause, Less successful IVF outcomes, Maternal health, Obesity, Ovarian cancer, Polycystic ovarian syndrome, Pregnancy complications, Preterm birth, Pubertal development, Reproductive health, Uterine fibroids and Allergic reactions.

Because we were unable to identify authoritative scientific or governmental organizations which identified chemical exposures associated with the majority of these health effects, we completed a scientific literature review to investigate these potential links ourselves.

B. Scientific Literature Review

We performed multiple PubMed searches utilizing keywords to find articles in the peer-reviewed literature that connected these health outcomes with chemicals in personal care products. See Appendix 2 for the full list of keywords and search terms.

We used a formal scoping review process to review the articles. Scoping reviews are a method of synthesizing evidence to provide a wide perspective on a research topic. They are especially relevant for complex areas of research where different research methods may apply and offer a rigorous, transparent, and comprehensive approach to reviewing the literature. Unlike systematic reviews, researchers may not rate the quality of the literature, because scoping reviews are a means to get a broad overview of a research area.

For each of the health concerns, we screened the titles from the PubMed searches for relevance. The abstracts were then reviewed for possible inclusion by two independent researchers with a third acting as a tiebreaker. Next, we read the full papers and entered the findings and other details of the studies on a spreadsheet that tracked our findings. We did not weigh chemicals of concern against one another but assessed if findings of associations were significant and therefore suggested concern.

In total our process resulted in 8,119 titles and 580 full papers whose data were entered in the final spreadsheet. We reviewed these articles and identified 141 discrete studies finding a significant association between chemicals in personal care products and health outcomes of greater concern to Black women. We expanded the BCPP Red List to include the findings from these studies. See our Red List for an annotated bibliography of the scientific articles referenced in Tier 1. 

FAQs

To qualify for CSC’s list of non-toxic Black beauty brands, brands needed to 1) be Black owned, 2) market primarily to Black women, and 3) list all of the ingredients for their products on their websites or provide us with any product ingredients missing from their website. If a brand did not meet one or more of these criteria, it was not considered for the list. 

If a brand made it past this first stage of vetting, we then screened its product ingredients against the Campaign’s Red List of “do not use” chemicals in cosmetics, a list made up of 241 chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects and other serious diseases and conditions. If any of a brand’s products contained one or more of these chemicals, the brand was excluded from the final list. Brands with undisclosed fragrance ingredients who were unable to certify that none of their fragrance ingredients were present on Tier 1 of the CSC’s updated Red List of Chemicals of Concern in Cosmetics, were also excluded from the final list. 

Still have a brand you think should be included? Let us know! The Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project is a living project, and we would love to hear about your favorite clean Black beauty brands so we can vet them for next year’s list. Submit your favorite brand using this form. 

If you are a Black beauty brand owner and want your products to be featured on our next list, please fill out this form! We’d love to include your brand for consideration in the next round of Black beauty product screening. 

One of the primary goals of this project is to grow the safe Black beauty industry by 1) elevating Black-owned companies that are making and selling non-toxic Black beauty and personal care products; and 2) by providing technical support to Black-owned beauty businesses that don’t make the list and want to do better.  We offered personalized reports to companies that do not make the list, identifying the ingredients in their products that appear on the CSC Tier 1 “do not use” Red List of chemicals of concern in cosmetics, and the related adverse health effects. We hope that companies will use this information to reformulate their products in order to make it onto the next list of Non-Toxic Black Beauty Products. 

If you see the Non-Toxic Black Beauty Brand Product seal on a product, it means that the product was not made with any of the 241 chemicals on the CSC Red List of Chemicals of Concern in Cosmetics that have been linked to negative health effects, including those of greater concern to Black women.  

Our seal is the only cosmetic safety seal that addresses chemicals linked to health effects of particular concern to Black women (diabetes, early puberty, endometriosis, infertility, less successful IVF outcomes, adverse maternal health effects, obesity, ovarian cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome, pregnancy complications, preterm birth, uterine fibroids, and allergic reactions that are not represented by the “authoritative lists” of hazardous chemicals created by governmental and scientific organizations such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the National Toxicology Program, etc., which mainly focus on cancer, birth defects, and reproductive/developmental harm.   

 

The Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project began in 2021, and product ingredient lists were evaluated for safety during the summer of 2021. Any additional products that were marketed by a Black beauty brand that made the list after the company’s product safety evaluations were completed, were not awarded the Non-Toxic Black Beauty seal. Products with the seal include only those whose ingredient lists were vetted for safety. We plan to re-evaluate brands already represented on the CSC List of Non-Toxic Black Beauty products on a yearly basis to identify any new products that qualify for the Non-Toxic Black Beauty Brand Product seal, as well as new Black owned beauty brands. 

This project was guided by an Advisory Committee made up of a broad array of non-profit organizations and scientists working to better understand and respond to the over-exposure Black women experience to toxic chemicals in the beauty products marketed to them, including representatives from Black Women for Wellness, We Act for Environmental Justice, California Black Health Network, Silent Spring Institute, Tigerlily Foundation, Clean Beauty for Black Girls, Clearya and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners along with top scientists from Chapman University, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, George Washington University Milken School of Public Health, the California Department of Public Health and Occidental College. 

We plan to reassess our current products and screen new products annually. Stay tuned for 2023 to learn how you can help grow our list of non-toxic Black beauty products.  

Yes! The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has been hard at work since 2004 advocating for the passage of comprehensive, health protective, federal cosmetic safety legislation. See About to learn more and Take Action to support our campaigns.

Sources

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[29] Binder, A.M., Corvalan, C., Calafat, A.M. et al. Childhood and adolescent phenol and phthalate exposure and the age of menarche in Latina girls. Environ Health 17, 32 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0376-z

[30]Harley, K. G., Berger, K. P., Kogut, K., Parra, K., Lustig, R. H., Greenspan, L. C., Calafat, A. M., Ye, X., & Eskenazi, B. (2019). Association of phthalates, parabens and phenols found in personal care products with pubertal timing in girls and boys. Human reproduction (Oxford, England), 34(1), 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dey337

[31] Jurewicz, J., & Hanke, W. (2011). Exposure to phthalates: reproductive outcome and children health. A review of epidemiological studies. International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health, 24(2), 115–141. https://doi.org/10.2478/s13382-011-0022-2

[32] Ashrap, P., Sánchez, B. N., Téllez-Rojo, M. M., Basu, N., Tamayo-Ortiz, M., Peterson, K. E., Meeker, J. D., & Watkins, D. J. (2019). In utero and peripubertal metals exposure in relation to reproductive hormones and sexual maturation and progression among girls in Mexico City. Environmental research, 177, 108630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108630

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[35] Johnstone, E. B., Louis, G. M., Parsons, P. J., Steuerwald, A. J., Palmer, C. D., Chen, Z., Sun, L., Hammoud, A. O., Dorais, J., & Peterson, C. M. (2014). Increased urinary cobalt and whole blood concentrations of cadmium and lead in women with uterine leiomyomata: Findings from the ENDO Study. Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.), 49, 27–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2014.06.007

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