In 2017, I was trying to understand why I was having horrible allergic reactions to beauty and skincare products. Along with eliminating certain foods from diet and swapping out chemical-ridden household cleaners, I started digging deep into the origins of my skincare and beauty products. As a fem-presenting, black consumer, what I discovered was rather alarming. It actually led me to ask: are “green” products are safer for consumers?

Short Answer: Yes

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit organization working to uncover toxins in cosmetics. EWG's Skin Deep data base ranks personal care products on a low-to-high hazardous scale. When adding products marketed specifically to Black women and people to their Skin Deep database, Eco Salon reports that around one in twelve of 1,177 products received a “highly hazardous” ranking by EWG.

From relaxers to cosmetics and sunscreen-infused products, EWG's report suggests there's an underwhelming amount of healthy products available to Black women and people. Some of the most concerning ingredients include parabens, synthetic fragrance, and those that release formaldehyde. These ingredients can cause cancer, asthma, headaches, dizziness, eye and skin irritation, and even hormonal disruption.

The Real-Life Implications

Naturally, learning about these hazards was shocking. I thought it’s bad enough that black consumers are regularly pandered to and yet are rarely considered, but now racialized people have added health and safety concerns to worry about, too?

Finding this information out helped with my health and healing journey. Putting the pieces together, it all started to make sense. I found that my health struggles subsided more when I swapped out products with toxic ingredients for those that were clean, natural, green, and organic. Once I learned more about what made up the products I used on a daily basis in 2016-2017, I slowly transitioned to clean/green beauty to hopefully never look back. Thankfully, I saw a huge improvement in my skin with less irritation overall. It wouldn’t surprise me if news about a class-action lawsuit were to come out in a couple years, featuring Black consumers and the negligence of chemical regulation that impact us.

The Cons of Going Green

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies shifting to “clean” or “green” beauty though. Issues regarding limited shade ranges for complexion products are *starting* to be addressed within common beauty realms; however, it should be noted that this flies more under the radar in the non-toxic beauty space. The problem showcases just how much darker, diverse, and inclusive shades are still an afterthought. Shade range diversity, or lack thereof, force most to seek out market alternatives that shelve dangerous products. Alternatives provide diverse color ranges and affordable price points, so as with anything, there are pros and cons.

With boycotts and demands for more inclusivity, organic or plant-based brands run the risk of pandering to acquire the all-mighty and powerful Black dollar. Thus, once again, leaving the burden to fall squarely on Black people and consumers to choose between the lesser of two evils. And, once again, leaving Black people to decipher between allied and well-intentioned ventures, or those simply out for profit and greed.

So if you don’t know where to start or how to make the transition, and you’re a melanated person, check out my video on YouTube (also linked above). In it, I take you through all of the clean beauty products I use on a regular basis.