Sally Beauty: It’s Time for a Non-Toxic Makeover!
Sally Beauty CEO Denise Paulonis
This holiday season we demand retailers to transition to non-toxic beauty!
A 2023 report found high levels of formaldehyde in cosmetics and personal care products marketed to people of color.
This year, researchers from Washington State Department of Ecology tested for formaldehyde in 40 cosmetic and personal care products marketed to people of color, including lotion, styling gel, and foundation. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen that can cause cancer as well as irritation to the eyes, throat, and lungs. The study found formaldehyde "in seven out of ten skin lotions, nine out of ten leave-in conditioners, and all ten hair styling gels". Although formaldehyde was not listed in the ingredients of these products, the formaldehyde level in these products was above 200 parts per million (ppm), which is the level known to cause allergic reactions in some people.
Carcinogens like formaldehyde, and other toxic chemicals, have no place in products that we use on our skin, in our hair, and in our homes. Communities of color are already overburdened by exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals that harm our health. Despite the known health harms from formaldehyde, companies like Sally Beauty continue to sell products that contain chemicals like formaldehyde.
This holiday season, let's take action and tell Sally Beauty that hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde don’t belong in the personal care products we use every day! Sally Beauty has thousands of stores around the country, and sells many products marketed toward people of color. And they are one of the major beauty retailers who earns a failing grade in the
Retailer Report Card made by our colleagues at Toxic Free Future for continuing to sell toxin-laden products in their stores. We are calling on the CEO of Sally Beauty to do better. It's time for them to create a safer chemical policy and ensure the public that they will start to reduce and eliminate toxic chemicals from the products sold in their stores.
To:
Sally Beauty CEO Denise Paulonis
From:
[Your Name]
Recent testing by the Washington State Department of Ecology found high levels of formaldehyde in products from skin creams to hair gels and leave-in conditioners. Sally Beauty sells many of these products or products like them, which could expose its customers to a dangerous chemical that is linked to cancer.
Customers should be able to trust that the products they buy from Sally Beauty are safe. Sally Beauty should enact commonsense policies to safeguard customers from chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, and other health problems.
Over the last five years, other major beauty retailers like Sephora have announced progress in reducing and eliminating toxic chemicals. For example, see: https://toxicfreefuture.org/blog/four-ways-sephora-is-cleaning-up-cosmetics/
But in comparison, Sally Beauty has no public safer chemicals policy.
Please develop a comprehensive safer chemicals policy that includes public quantifiable goals with clear timelines for reducing and eliminating chemicals of high concern, such as formaldehyde and PFAS, and ensure the substitutes are truly safer. This is especially needed for products marketed to women of color. We demand beauty justice. Thank you.
