Common personal care and beauty products like lotions, soaps, shampoos, eyeliner, and even eyelash glue can contain formaldehyde or preservatives that release formaldehyde—a known carcinogen that has been linked to cancer. And Black and Latina women could be at particular risk.

Formaldehyde is a preservative (it’s a key ingredient of embalming fluid) and so it’s sometimes added to beauty products as a way to extend their shelf life and inhibit the growth of bacteria or mold. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are seen as an alternative to formaldehyde, but these chemical compounds do the same thing: they extend shelf life while slowly releasing formaldehyde into the product over time (just how much depends on multiple factors, but studies suggest longer storage times and higher temperatures lead to more formaldehyde released). 

That formaldehyde could then be absorbed by the skin, and even though the amount may be small, experts say low levels of formaldehyde still pose health risks. Personal care products are often used frequently, so repeated exposures could add up.

These chemicals have already been found in hair-straightening products, which are predominantly used by Black women. A new study, recently published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, found that this risk extends beyond chemical hair relaxers to all sorts of beauty products: lotions, shower gels, face creams, shampoo and conditioners, hair oils, eyeliner, eyelash glue, and so on. 

In that study, researchers asked a group of Black and Latina women in Los Angeles about their use of personal care products over a week. More than half reported using items that contain formaldehyde-releasing preservatives—and many of........

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