You might not expect to find PFAS in cosmetics, but they are added to condition and smooth the skin and hair, improve consistency and texture, and make products like mascara and lipstick more durable, spreadable and water resistant.
These chemicals can also find their way into cosmetics accidentally due to raw material impurities or the breakdown of intentionally added PFAS ingredients that form other types of PFAS.
PFAS aren’t vital ingredients for cosmetics and an international team of researchers proposed a few years ago that they be phased out. This group concluded that if PFAS in these products were needed for their technical function, such as water repellence or ease of spread, then alternatives already appear to be readily available given the ‘rapid phase out by retailers’.
Cosmetics giant L’Oreal said in 2018 it would phase out all PFAS in its products and that substitution plans are well underway. But earlier this year, the FDA reported that 31 PFAS were found in 570 cosmetic products on the market.
Common types of PFAS the agency identified in these products were PTFE or Teflon, perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane, perfluorononyl dimethicone, perfluorodecalin and perfluorohexane.
The percentage of cosmetics products on the European market that contain PFAS as a listed ingredient is estimated to be 1.4%, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. By comparison, a 2021 analysis led by scientists at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana found that 56% of foundations sold in the US and Canada contained high levels of fluorine, a marker for PFAS.
Earlier this year, New Zealand became one of the first countries to ban PFAS in cosmetics, and this will come into effect at the end of 2026.
Alternatives to PFAS in such products include fatty acids derived from estolide oils, synthetic waxes with boron nitride and zinc oxide, polyamide powders and polyethylene-based wax.
