Deciphering Endocrine Disruptors

As consumers are becoming more familiar with endocrine disruptors — or hormone-altering toxins, brands and retailers are defining the clean standard by removing them, providing transparent ingredient lists and offering consumer education.

Endocrine-disrupting ingredients are often used in beauty and personal care products as a preservative or as a texture enhancer. They are also commonly hidden within added fragrance.

While there are more than 1,000 of these endocrine disruptors, the Environmental Working Group cites eight key ones commonly seen across consumer-packaged goods in packaging or formula including pesticides, phthalates, parabens, perchlorate, heavy metals, PFAs, BPAs and oxybenzone. Many beauty brands and retailers start their “no list” here.

Similar to many beauty brands aiming to define clean, Agent Nateur founder Jena Covello has opted to follow the European Union’s guidelines on banned ingredients and transparently convey this to customers.

“Many of the endocrine disruptors that still exist in America were banned in Europe,” she said.

While Covello uses the brand’s website and her social channels to educate consumers on hormone-disrupting ingredients — most notably aluminum, an estrogen-mimicking chemical often used in deodorant — she has opted to highlight the brand’s clean alternative ingredients across their content.

Dianna Cohen has taken a similar approach with her hair care brand Crown Affair, which reached $4.6 million in sales last year and is expected to double this year.

“When it comes to the ‘no list,’ we don’t shout from the rooftops. We shout more what’s in our products than what’s not in our products,” she said, citing tsubaki seed oil, yuzu extract and a coconut surfactant system.

While Cohen is highlighting these ingredients on the website, on packaging and in marketing materials to showcase the brand’s approach to clean, she also recognizes the need for transparency, so the entire “no list” can also be found online.

Covello seconded this: “People do a lot of research in the green beauty community and they like to see studies and they want to see proof and data.”

Data from Spate shows that searches for endocrine disruptors are up nearly 40 percent year-over-year and the hasthtag #endocrinedisruptors on TikTok has more than 136 million views.

Highlighting ingredients this way is helpful for brands to educate on opting for clean without instilling fear around endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to cancer, autoimmune disorders, obesity and issues around sperm count and fertility.

Brands like home cleaning company Branch Basics and test-to-treatment brand Veracity have gone beyond listing a “no list” and opted for more hard-core education. Branch Basics, which is expected to reach $40 million in sales this year, released its $99 “Toss the Toxins” course.

“Our process is all about removing the harmful inputs, category by category, to create a healthier home,” said Branch Basics cofounder Allison Evans.

For those participating in the course looking for extra support, the brand also offers a community-based chat room.

Veracity’s approach to education starts with a swab-based hormone test. From there, consumers can see how their hormones are being impacted by endocrine disruptors or other factors. With the results, they are also provided with a one-on-one consultation and recommended swaps including Veracity’s skin care and supplement products. While this approach offers education and action items, Veracity founder Allie Egan has kept one key strategy in mind as she is conveying information.

“[It’s] about trying to pursue awareness without this scare tactic and showing the positive impacts of removing endocrine-disrupting chemicals,” she said, noting the brand’s customer base has grown three times over the last year. “To me, it is about cumulative exposure and if we can teach that taking 25 percent of it away, it makes a huge difference.”

For brands, like Innersense and Ursa Major, being sold at Credo is the greatest seal of approval, as customers are looking to the retailer as an authority in clean beauty. According to Credo senior scientist Christina Ross, the retailer has banned all known endocrine disruptors, including BHAs, parabens, phthalates and chemical sunscreens.

“There’s all these different governing bodies.…Will there ever be a true clean standard? I don’t know if anyone’s ever going to crack that because I don’t know who would own that standard,” said Ursa Major cofounder Emily Doyle, again pointing to Credo as an educational resource.

While personal care brands are defining the clean category and educating consumers on picking better products, certain groups are at a greater risk of being impacted by endocrine disruptors.

“They can impact us when we’re most sensitive, when we’re developing so in essence, adolescence, puberty, maternity, pregnancy,” said Homer Swei, Environmental Working Group senior vice president, healthy living science.

“Women are more impacted because there are these windows of susceptibility,” said Egan, pointing to hormonal shifts during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause.

Women of color are also disproportionately impacted by endocrine disruptors. These toxins are used in about 50 percent of the personal care products marketed to Black women, according to research from Dr. Tamarra James-Todd, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Greg Starkman, founder and chief executive officer of Innersense, added: “When you look at beauty professionals, their rate of exposure is anywhere between 12 to 15 times that of a normal consumer utilizing these products.”

Governing bodies and brands are working to change this. Earlier this week, the FDA proposed a ban on formaldehyde, a hormone-disrupting chemical, in hair-straightening treatments and products to go into effect in April 2024. Bread Beauty Supply offers customers clean products for types 3a-4c curls, including its cleansing Hair-Wash, $20, and detoxing Mud-Mask, $34. The brand prompts customers to embrace their natural curls rather than opting for chemical treatments.

Organizations such as the Environmental Working Group have developed tools where consumers can check their products for toxins. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 signed into law in December requires adverse effects from products to be recorded and allows the FDA to further regulate personal care products. However, regulation is slow, so retailers like Credo have taken a stance to take out the guesswork for consumers.

While organizations are aiming to incite change, experts aren’t sure there will ever be a single clean standard in the United States, making it key for brands and retailers to be transparent around ingredients.

“There’s so few regulations…but it’s not a way to win anymore,” said Doyle. “[Consumers] want to trust brands.”

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