Walk into any beauty aisle in any store and among the products, you’ll see recurring terms such as natural, chemical-free, environment-friendly, non-toxic, organic, etc. As a consumer, some of these terms may be appealing.

If it’s environmentally friendly then you can buy it in good conscience, knowing you’re not causing harm. Alternatively, you might be concerned about harsh chemicals in your products, so if a product has a label saying chemical free that would coax you into buying it.

Since all these products are sitting on shelves in a big store, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must have checked them, meaning there’s no reason to be wary.

That mindset in itself is a common misconception. Cosmetics don’t have to be checked by the FDA before being sold on the market unless an instance occurs where a company wishes to use a color additive. Those ingredients require the FDA to check and approve them.

In addition to that, these previously stated terms are unregulated by the FDA. Even the term cruelty-free is unregulated by the FDA, which is unexpected considering how animal testing is widely regarded as unethical.

The mindset behind brands putting these terms on their products is fairly obvious, it’s a marketing strategy. They are trying to give consumers a reason to value their products specifically, but as a consumer what does this mean to you?

It means the products sitting on shelves in stores are woefully unregulated. Both in terms of the labels on them and the ingredients.

“There are 80,000 chemicals currently manufactured in products, materials, and other items within the U.S., with only a few hundred having been tested for safety. Many of these untested, or unstudied, chemicals can be found in personal care products such as sunscreen and other cosmetics,” Notre Dame Journal of Legislation wrote.

Since products and chemicals aren’t checked before being put on shelves, this leads to dangerous outcomes. Take for instance in 2019 when asbestos was found in Claire’s makeup.

Claire’s sells makeup, jewelry, and accessories directed to young girls. That means there were little girls rubbing asbestos— a dangerous carcinogen— into their skin.

Not only are brands and companies saving pennies by cutting corners in quality control; but they are also making large amounts of profit from their unregulated advertising methods.

The U.S. beauty industry is estimated to have made $49 billion in 2022. There is concern that using the aforementioned unregulated terms has coaxed consumers into contributing to that number. 

“66% of consumers, including 73% of millennials, would spend more money on a product if it comes from a sustainable brand. This priority has led young Americans to pay premium prices for products that they believe are healthy and environmentally conscious,” Notre Dame Journal of Legislation wrote.

These claims encourage people to buy products, but how many of these claims are actually true? In order to answer this question, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc. conducted a study.

“In an effort to describe, understand, and quantify the growth of greenwashing, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc. conducted a survey of six category-leading big box stores. Through these surveys, we identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims. Of the 1,018 products examined, all but one made claims that are demonstrably false or that risk misleading intended audiences,” the study writes.

With the lack of supervision over cosmetic brands, this issue could be on its way to becoming larger than anyone expected. The solution has to start with the federal government.

The FDA doesn’t create rules and regulations, they only enforce them. Luckily, there are several options for the government to choose from.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Susan Collins introduced the Personal Care Products Safety Act to the Senate in June of 2021. This act would completely modernize the powers of the FDA, updating regulations that haven’t been touched in 83 years.

Then, of course, there is the option of updating regulations to be more similar to European standards. These standards require that products undergo a safety assessment before being sold, and are registered on a public database, which makes all ingredient information publicly available.

As beneficial as it would be if the government could immediately update regulations, processes like these take time. The best thing you could do for yourself as a consumer is to educate yourself and read the fine print.