Choosing Safer Personal Care Products: A Practical Guide

Personal care products—including soaps, lotions, hair care products, and cosmetics—are widely used as part of daily hygiene and grooming routines. However, many of these products contain chemical ingredients that may have implications for human health.

A number of these substances serve functional roles, such as fragrances, preservatives, antimicrobial agents, and ultraviolet (UV) filters. Some of these compounds are classified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), meaning they have the potential to interfere with normal hormonal signaling. Exposure to EDCs has been associated in epidemiologic and experimental studies with adverse health outcomes, including metabolic disorders (such as obesity and diabetes), reproductive and fertility issues, and certain cancers.

Given the frequent and cumulative use of personal care products, exposure to these chemicals may increase over time. This cumulative exposure may be particularly relevant among individuals who routinely use multiple products daily, including items such as hair sprays, deodorants, cosmetics, and body lotions.

Emerging research suggests that consumer choices can meaningfully influence exposure levels. For example, a recent study involving Black and Latina women demonstrated that selecting products with fewer potentially harmful ingredients was associated with measurable reductions in chemical exposure. These findings highlight the potential impact of informed product selection. In particular, limiting exposure to commonly implicated ingredients—such as synthetic fragrances, parabens, and UV filters like oxybenzone—may help reduce overall exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Health Effects of Chemicals in Personal Care Products

Although there are many chemicals of concern, avoiding a handful of them can help make personal care routines healthier over time. The recent study focused on 28 chemicals, including these common harmful ingredients:

Phthalates

• What they are: Chemicals used to make fragrances last longer, commonly found in perfume, hair spray, nail polish, and scented lotions. They’re often hidden under the label “fragrance.”
• Health effects: Linked to hormone disruption, fertility issues, and developmental concerns.

Parabens

• What they are: Preservatives used to prevent mold and bacteria, found in moisturizers, makeup, shampoos, and cleansers. 
• Health effects: Can interfere with hormones and are associated with reproductive health concerns and skin irritation.

Triclosan

• What it is: Antibacterial ingredient used in hygiene products, found in some soaps, toothpaste, deodorants, and acne products.
• Health effects: Can disrupt thyroid hormones and contribute to antibiotic resistance.

Benzophenone-3 (Oxybenzone)

• What it is: A chemical UV filter used in sunscreens, lip balms with SPF, moisturizers, and hair products.
• Health effects: Linked to hormone disruption, skin irritation, and reproductive issues.

Bisphenol A (BPA)

• What it is: Used in plastic packaging and some product containers; it can leach into lotions, cosmetics, and personal care items.
• Health effects: Known to disrupt hormones and linked to fertility issues, metabolic disorders, and developmental issues.

Health Outcomes of Reducing Chemical Exposure

A recent study evaluated urinary biomarkers of exposure to chemicals commonly found in personal care products. Analysis revealed that nearly all participants had detectable levels of compounds such as phthalates, parabens, oxybenzone, and chlorinated phenols, reflecting the widespread nature of exposure.

Importantly, the study also demonstrated that consumer behavior can influence exposure levels. Participants who reported actively avoiding specific ingredients showed measurable reductions in corresponding biomarkers. Key findings included:

• Among Black women, those who selected fragrance-free products had less than half the urinary concentration of a commonly measured phthalate compared with those who did not avoid fragranced products.
• Among Latina women, avoidance of oxybenzone-containing products was associated with significantly lower urinary concentrations of oxybenzone.
• Women who reported avoiding parabens exhibited approximately twofold lower levels of methyl and propyl parabens; however, this difference did not reach statistical significance.

These findings suggest that targeted product selection may reduce individual exposure to certain chemicals, although exposure remains prevalent due to the widespread presence of these compounds in consumer products.

Evaluating Personal Care Products for Health and Safety

Several practical strategies can help reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals in personal care products. Adopting informed purchasing habits and making incremental changes can meaningfully lower cumulative exposure over time.

Recommended approaches include:

• Selecting products labeled “fragrance-free” and “paraben-free”, which may help limit exposure to commonly implicated endocrine-disrupting compounds
• Simplifying personal care routines, as using fewer products can reduce overall chemical burden
• Utilizing ingredient-safety resources, such as Clearya, to evaluate product formulations and identify potentially concerning ingredients

These strategies emphasize the role of consumer awareness in mitigating exposure risks. However, broader systemic efforts are also necessary. Clean beauty should not be a privilege, instead it should be the norm. Ensuring that safer products are widely available and accessible across all communities is a critical next step in advancing public health.

Key Takeaways and Implications

This study underscores both the potential benefits and inherent limitations of individual behavior in reducing exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. While avoiding specific ingredients can meaningfully lower personal exposure, sustainable and population-level risk reduction will require broader systemic changes. These include strengthened federal safety standards, improved ingredient transparency, and equitable access to safer personal care products across all communities.

To address gaps in regulation, many consumers, particularly Black women and Latinas—have effectively had to become highly informed about product chemistry in order to make safer purchasing decisions. Although it is encouraging that individual choices can reduce exposure, the responsibility should not rest solely on consumers.

While selecting products marketed as “clean” may be beneficial, it is not a comprehensive solution. There is a clear need for more rigorous labeling requirements—particularly for fragrance ingredients, which may represent complex mixtures of undisclosed chemicals—as well as a standardized regulatory definition of terms such as ‘clean beauty,’ which currently lack formal oversight.

In addition to adopting informed purchasing practices, consumers can play a role in advancing public health by supporting policies that promote ingredient transparency and restrict the use of potentially harmful chemicals in personal care products.