New Bill Mandates Multi-Language Safety Data Sheets for Salon Products and FDA Oversight of Synthetic Braids

This legislation, officially titled the Cosmetic Safety for Communities of Color and Professional Salon Workers Act of 2025, sets up a multi-pronged federal effort to investigate and mitigate health risks from cosmetic products, specifically targeting communities of color and beauty industry workers. It mandates new research, establishes grant programs for safer alternatives, and creates two national resource centers focused on public education and occupational safety. Essentially, it’s a push to get real data on who is being exposed to potentially harmful cosmetic chemicals and how to fix it, from the manufacturing floor to the salon chair.

The Science of Safety: Focused Research on Health Disparities

One of the bill’s core mandates is directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fund or conduct focused research on health problems linked to cosmetics used by women and girls of color (Sec. 3). This is crucial because many studies haven’t specifically tracked how chemicals in products marketed toward these communities—like certain hair relaxers or intimate care items—affect health over time. The research must identify the specific chemicals, the negative health effects, and ways to reduce exposure. For a busy parent, this means that in five years, we should have publicly accessible data detailing which products might be riskier and why, allowing for more informed purchasing decisions.

Simultaneously, the bill sets aside $7.5 million for research into the health concerns of professional salon workers—the nail techs, hairdressers, and estheticians who are exposed to these chemicals all day, every day (Sec. 4). This research will investigate common salon chemicals, the health issues workers face, and the availability of safer options. This is a big deal for the millions of people working in salons, many of whom are immigrants or people of color, who currently lack comprehensive, targeted occupational health information.

Making Safety Data Sheets Speak Your Language

For salon owners and workers, one of the most immediate, practical changes comes from Section 7, which deals with Safety Data Sheets (SDS). Under new OSHA rules required by this bill, manufacturers of professional cosmetics containing hazardous chemicals must provide SDS information on their websites in multiple languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean. If you run a nail salon, this means you must keep these multi-lingual SDS documents on file and make them accessible to all employees. If an employee asks for a translation in any other language, you must provide it.

This provision directly addresses a massive communication gap in the industry. Currently, SDS sheets are often only in English, leaving many workers who are non-native speakers unable to understand the risks of the chemicals they handle daily. While this places a new compliance burden on manufacturers and salon owners—who must now manage and distribute translated documents—it’s a clear win for worker safety and access to critical information.

Funding the Shift to Safer Products

To ensure the research actually leads to change, the bill authorizes $10 million for a grant program focused on creating safer alternatives to toxic cosmetic chemicals (Sec. 5). The grants prioritize two main areas: replacing dangerous chemicals in professional salon products and finding safer ingredients for cosmetics marketed to women and girls of color. They also give preference to minority-owned cosmetic companies working on these safer formulations. This is the bill’s way of saying, “We know the problem, now let’s fund the solution,” incentivizing the industry to innovate away from known hazards.

FDA Steps In on Synthetic Braids

Section 9 brings a new category of product under federal oversight: synthetic hair braids. The bill explicitly includes the “appearance” of synthetic braids in the FDA’s definition of a cosmetic and requires the FDA to set specific safety standards within one year. If a product doesn't meet the new standard, it must carry a warning label stating, “This product does not meet the FDAs standard of safety for synthetic braids.” This is a significant move toward consumer protection, ensuring that the materials used in synthetic hair—which can cause scalp irritation or allergic reactions—are regulated for safety. Importantly, the bill clarifies that states can still enact stricter rules than the new federal standard, preserving local control over ingredient bans.

Community Empowerment and Education

Finally, the bill establishes two National Resource Centers, each funded at $2 million annually through 2030 (Sec. 6 and Sec. 8). The first, the National Resource Center on Beauty Justice, will focus on community education and outreach to underserved populations—including women and men of color, immigrants, and the LGBTQIA community—to help them choose non-toxic products. The second center focuses specifically on Salon Worker Health and Safety, developing culturally and linguistically appropriate training, including visual guides on how to understand those new multi-lingual Safety Data Sheets. These centers are designed to translate complex scientific findings into actionable, real-world advice for the people who need it most.