Edward Henderson | California Black Media
Throughout history, Black women have been pioneers in the beauty and fashion industry, redefining standards, creating groundbreaking products, and advocating for safer, more inclusive practices.
In honor of Women’s History Month, the California Black Health Network (CBHN) is launching the Conscious Black Beauty Movement (CBBM) to continue this legacy. The effort aims to empower all Black women and girls to lead healthy lives, free from the harmful effects of toxic chemicals in beauty and personal care products.
According to CBHN, the average woman uses 12 different beauty and personal care products every day, exposing her to 168 toxic chemicals. Many of these chemicals are hormone disruptors that have been linked to health conditions including diabetes, endometriosis, infertility, obesity, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine fibroids. Even products that claim to be natural or organic can contain these dangerous chemicals.
“Current beauty standards often celebrate light/white skin and European features, creating an unhealthy image for Black women and girls,” said CBHN in a release. “Beauty products marketed to Black women frequently contain the most harmful ingredients in the cosmetics industry. Black women, who use more beauty products per capita than any other demographic, are particularly vulnerable to these toxic exposures.”
Black women purchase $7.5 billion of beauty products each year, which represents 9 times more than any other demographic. Additionally, Black women who regularly dye their hair with permanent hair dyes have a 45-77% higher risk of breast cancer and those who use chemical hair straighteners are 30% more likely to develop breast cancer.
“The goal is to ignite a movement across California to engage Black women and girls to amplify their voices and drive change,” said CBHN. “We hope that providing Black women with educational resources about the toxic chemicals in their products will provide them with the information they need to make more informed and safer purchases.”
The CBBM addresses the impact of toxic beauty products marketed to Black women and girls, driving informed choices, policy changes, and community empowerment in California and beyond and will catalyze manufacturers to remove toxic ingredients from these products.
The Campaign’s Non-Toxic Black Beauty Project also 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 their partner, Clearya, CBHN 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 Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) website in a searchable database by name and product type.
The CSC has also created a database of Black-owned beauty brands whose product ingredients were vetted for safety by the campaign and their advisory committee of scientists and NGO’s working to improve Black women’s health.
“The companies we’re showcasing are making safer Black beauty products that won’t harm the health of Black women and girls,” said Janet Nudelman, CSC Director in a release. “We hope that more and more companies will follow their lead and help grow the clean Black beauty industry by selling non-toxic makeup and personal care products that Black women can trust.”
CBHN is asking community members to get involved with their campaign by staying informed, spreading the word about the information from the campaign, supporting the Black owned brands cleared by the CSC and continuing to advocate for change within the beauty industry by collaborating with them.
