Sponsors (18)
The bill would reduce consumer and worker exposure to formaldehyde and clarify regulatory standards, especially protecting salon workers, but it will impose compliance costs on manufacturers and salons, may raise prices or limit product availability, and shifts enforcement and study burdens onto agencies without directly funding worker protections.
Consumers and salon workers (including many women and immigrants) face reduced exposure to formaldehyde because formaldehyde-containing hair-smoothing products would be treated as adulterated and removed from interstate commerce and FDA could issue stronger recommendations.
Retailers and distributors gain clearer safety standards about which hair-smoothing products are allowed, reducing legal uncertainty about selling these products.
Salon workers and consumers will get clearer, timely evidence and FDA recommendations about cancer, respiratory, and endocrine risks from these products, which can inform workplace protections, warnings, and future regulation.
Manufacturers and importers (and upstream suppliers) will face costs to reformulate or withdraw products within 180 days, causing compliance costs and potential lost sales that disproportionately hit small cosmetic businesses.
Consumers and salon clients may lose access to preferred keratin/smoothing treatments or face higher prices if products are reformulated, withdrawn, or if salon owners pass on compliance costs.
Enforcement and regulatory review to police adulterated products could increase costs and workload for the FDA, potentially diverting resources from other inspection or enforcement priorities.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Designates hair straightening/smoothing cosmetics containing formaldehyde (or releasing substances) as adulterated and orders an FDA/NIOSH study with reports in 1 and ~26 months.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Shontel M. Brown · Last progress February 25, 2026
Classifies any hair straightening or smoothing cosmetic that contains formaldehyde or formaldehyde-releasing chemicals as adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, effectively barring such products from interstate commerce unless reformulated. Requires the FDA, working with NIOSH, to study short- and long-term health effects of these products on salon workers and others, with an initial report to Congress in one year and a final report in about 26 months that includes regulatory and research recommendations. The rule change for cosmetics takes effect 180 days after enactment, and the study focuses on links to cancer, respiratory disease, and endocrine disruption and on occupational exposures in salon settings.