Cleanser, moisturizer, concealer, eye shadow, mascara, powder. Repeat. Does this routine sound familiar to you? Many women have a daily beauty routine that consists of cabinets full of matching skin care, hair care, and makeup products. Women use a lot of beauty products in an effort to feel and look better, but using more products results in increased exposure to a wider variety of harmful chemicals. This reality is disproportionately detrimental to women of color, especially black women, as they invest more money in hair and beauty products than white women. The fact that black women are disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals in cosmetic products illustrates how the beauty industry is a danger to environmental justice.
So why exactly do black women use beauty products more? The answer lies in the history of colorism and racism that has repeatedly emphasized Eurocentric beauty while degrading the physical characteristics of black women. Even within the black community, colorism has led societal beauty standards to favor lighter-skinned black women over darker-skinned black women. As a result, black women are expected to modify their physical characteristics to conform to those of white women. In professional circles, black women who wear their hair naturally see their hairstyles considered unprofessional. It sends the message that women of color must try to look as white as possible if they are to meet the standards of professionalism.
In order to fit white beauty standards, many black women use hair straighteners to straighten their curly hair, they iron their curly hair using thermal tools which greatly damage the natural hair, they use shampoo intended for black women to smooth their curly hair textures. and some even use skin lightening creams. These cosmetics that black women use contain many harmful chemicals. For example, skin lightening creams contain mercury, hydroquinone, and steroids. Depending on a person’s health and other factors, exposure to mercury can cause behavioral irregularities, tremors, and deterioration of vision, while hydroquinone is known to be a skin irritant that can also cause vision problems. Hair straighteners contain sodium hydroxide, or lye, which can cause chemical burns and blindness.
Cosmetic companies use nefarious marketing strategies to trick black women into buying specific products that are supposed to make them look better – that is, whiter. For example, some skin lightening cream manufacturers display advertisements showing women with half face black and half face white. This marketing strategy aims to contrast the desired beauty of whiteness with the negative stereotypes of blackness so that manufacturers can take advantage of black women who wish to meet Eurocentric beauty standards. In addition, some hair products marketed to black women for the purpose of “improving” the texture of their hair contain carcinogens and hormone disrupting compounds such as parabens. These chemicals can lead to decreased fertility and an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Phthalates are also present in many cosmetic products and are known to cause asthma, cancer and reproductive problems.
These problematic marketing strategies are extensions of modern institutionalized racism, in which dark complexions are seen to be at the bottom of a hierarchy of racial beauty. This hierarchy values white women with blond hair and blue eyes the most, and women of color the least. The fact that many products marketed to black women contain more toxic chemicals than other products is another example of structural violence and racism. About 40% of beauty products on the market are classified as low risk, but less than 25% of beauty products marketed specifically for black women are considered low risk. Black women have access to fewer non-hazardous products, which manifests itself in more harmful health effects. Worse yet, cosmetics companies perpetuate this structural violence when the health and lives of black people are not a priority.
The beauty industry is glossing over all the damage it does, especially to women of color. Currently, federal law does not require the cosmetics industry to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, before starting to sell products to consumers, except for the color additives used. Cosmetic makers aren’t even required to share potential safety risks with the FDA, and there’s no law requiring companies to recall potentially dangerous products. The lack of federal control over cosmetic chemicals gives the beauty industry the freedom to continue distributing toxic chemicals without fear of penalty. The government must do more to protect women, especially black women. The Environmental Protection Agency must step up its efforts by limiting the types of chemicals that manufacturers can put in cosmetics.
In addition to government agencies that tightly regulate cosmetic companies, it’s important for the beauty industry to challenge racist beauty standards so that black women don’t feel pressured to use so many harmful products. Mainstream media needs to portray more black women wearing their hair naturally to portray how black women naturally have beautiful hair. Beauty brands themselves have a responsibility to feature more black women in advertisements to highlight the beauty of darkness.
If we can create our own definitions of beauty by going against what society tells us to be beautiful, then we can make a change from the cosmetic companies that have such a profound influence on our health and wellbeing. -to be. In order to protect women from exposure to toxic chemicals, the federal government must tighten its regulations on the types of chemicals that go into beauty products, especially those marketed to women of color. We must collectively lobby the FDA to ensure our safety so that we can continue with our beauty routines without fear for our lives.
Lily Yang is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying molecular and cellular biology.
