The Numbers Are New. The Outrage Should Be Too.

In March 2026, Toxic-Free Future released an independent analysis focused on hair products sold by Sally Beauty.

Researchers examined ingredient labels on 577 hair products marketed for curly (Type 3) and coily (Type 4) hair — products disproportionately bought by Black and brown women. The findings: 17% contained chemicals linked to cancer and serious health harm.

Break that down:

• Nearly one in six products contained chemicals that release formaldehyde — a known carcinogen the National Cancer Institute links to leukemia and rare throat cancers.
• About one in 14 contained siloxanes (D4, D5, or D6), chemicals tied to cancer, reproductive toxicity, endocrine disruption, and liver damage.

The analysis was led by Cheri Peele, Director of Government and Market Policy at Toxic-Free Future. Dr. Marissa Chan, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, also contributed research examining local availability of these products and their health impacts on communities of color.

Sally Beauty Is Playing Regional Favorites — With Your Health

Washington State will restrict formaldehyde releasers in cosmetics starting January 2027. The European Union has already restricted certain siloxanes and will tighten limits on leave-on cosmetics in 2026.

So Sally Beauty will remove these chemicals — just not for customers nationwide, unless they live in the right state or the right country.

"If Sally Beauty can remove these chemicals in Washington and Europe to meet regulatory requirements, it can extend those same health protections to customers nationwide," Peele said.

Sally Beauty has not publicly responded to the Toxic-Free Future analysis with any commitment to reformulate nationwide.

New York Moves. Washington Stalls.

On April 14, 2026, New York environmental justice advocates called for the state legislature to pass the Beauty Justice Act, introduced by state Sen. Lea Webb.

The bill would regulate toxic ingredients across personal care products and cosmetics sold in New York — shampoos, conditioners, lotions, hair products. It would outright prohibit the sale of products containing restricted chemicals.

Advocates held a direct action outside a Sally Beauty location, with Bobbi Wilding, executive director of Clean+Healthy, naming the retailer directly: "A lot of other beauty product retailers have already established thresholds and lists of chemicals that they won't allow in the products that they sell, and Sally Beauty needs to join that group."

Jasmine Phillip, communications coordinator for Clean+Healthy, said consumers have no idea what's in the products they use every single day.

Jordana Vanderselt, director of environmental health at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, tied the health risk to demographic reality: "Often times the most dangerous chemicals are the ones that are being marketed to textured hair, which of course is Black and Latino women."

The Federal Government Has Basically Done Nothing

The EU bans nearly 1,800 harmful chemicals from personal care products, according to Clean Water Action. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has restricted 11.

A separate February 2026 report from the Silent Spring Institute examined 44 hair extension and braiding products and found nearly 170 chemicals — including known carcinogens, phthalates, and organotins. Organotins are the same class of compounds banned internationally for use on ship hulls because they devastate marine ecosystems.

Analytical chemist Elissia T. Franklin, Ph.D., who contributed to the Silent Spring research, asked: "How is it not OK to have couches that have flame retardants, but something you're wearing in your hair for days or months at a time — how is that OK?"

The Regulatory Picture

The racial disparity is documented — but this is also a basic consumer protection story and a government failure story.

The FDA's near-total inaction on cosmetic chemicals isn't a partisan issue. This is regulatory capture and bureaucratic negligence that spans administrations from both parties. Republican and Democratic FDA chiefs have both presided over a system where 11 chemicals are restricted while the EU restricts 1,800.

The "cleanwashing" problem makes it worse. According to Clean Water Action, companies slap "natural" and "non-toxic" labels on products without any required standard to back those claims. Only 13.8% of U.S. adults even check ingredient labels when buying skincare and cosmetics, per a Prosper Insights & Analytics survey. The industry is betting on consumer ignorance.

What's Next

Regular people — specifically Black and brown women — are absorbing cancer-linked chemicals through everyday grooming products. The manufacturer knows what's in them. The retailer knows. The federal government knows and has done almost nothing. State governments are finally starting to move.

If the Beauty Justice Act doesn't pass in New York, these products stay on shelves. Same chemicals. Same consumers. Same inaction from the people who are supposed to protect them.