“Beauty is wonderful, but I think safe beauty is the real glow up,” said Christin Birkhead. She has been a makeup artist for more than two decades and is also the owner of Conceptual Beauty, a company that offers on-site hair and makeup services in Washington D.C. and surrounding areas.

Spectrum News caught up with Birkhead, who said she wants to see more safety standards in the beauty industry.

“I think it’s so interesting because makeup has been around forever, and they’re just now saying, ‘Hey, maybe we should look to see what’s in here,’” Birckhead said.

She’s not alone.

Four women in the U.S. House of Representatives have re-introduced what they call the “Safer Beauty Bill Package.” The legislation aims to update federal regulations on cosmetics and personal care products.

The four bills would address several aspects of the industry from banning chemicals known to cause significant harm, to requiring the full disclosure of ingredients in them, to funding research to protect the salon workers and women of color who are disproportionately at risk. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Texas, is a co-sponsor, and spoke to Spectrum News about the proposed legislation.

“The first responsibility of the government, right, is public safety, and these are things that are going to make a meaningful difference for people and keep our communities healthier,” Fletcher said in an interview last month.

“Honestly, this is one of the reasons it's important to have diverse voices in Congress and to have some women at the table, talking about some of these products, talking about how much they're used and what the health outcomes are,” Fletcher continued.

The package of bills has received endorsements from over 150 organizations and safe cosmetics advocacy groups, including Defend Our Health. The organization's Vice President of Policy and Advocacy Sarah Woodbury blamed the problem of harmful beauty products on the power of the cosmetic industry and Congress not making women’s health issues a higher priority. 

“I think cosmetics sometimes are seen as frivolous and not necessary, and a thing that people can just not use if they don't want to use them,” Woodbury said in an interview with Spectrum News. “So I think it's considered kind of a frivolous issue as well.”

But, cosmetics are a hundred-billion-dollar a year industry in the U.S., according to Statista market insights. An industry trade group, the Personal Care Products Council, said they and their member companies “are fully committed to upholding the highest standards of safety, quality and transparency for cosmetics and personal care products.”

A PCPC spokesperson continued: “While the Safer Beauty Bill package is well-intentioned, the bills are premature until we fully implement MoCRA to ensure strong, science-based regulation that protects consumers and supports continued innovation in our industry.”

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, otherwise known as MoCRA, was a regulatory law passed under former President Joe Biden. It came after a previous version of the safer beauty bill package was introduced when Democrats had control of Congress but did not pass.

Now, with Republicans in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the sponsors of the Safer Beauty Bill Package face an uphill battle to win passage, as Republicans often favor less regulations. 

But, for artists like Birckhead, safety is an everyday concern. She said she can use dozens of products on just one client. 

“Every time a brush touches someone’s skin, I make sure that I wash it,” Birckhead said. “And you’re gonna sanitize and wash, not just with soap and water. I am using a sanitization product and washing every time. Which means I have 10-15 of each brush because I could have seven to eight clients in a day.”

Citing horror stories of unsafe practices in the industry, Birckhead said she ultimately hopes stricter standards and licensing for makeup artists can be enacted one day, too.

“There’s not even regulation for freelance artists,” she explained. “You don’t have to have a license, degree, anything to be a freelance makeup artist and do weddings, to come to an organization, to do anything like that. So it’s completely unregulated from the ingredients to the freelancers.”

The package of bills currently sits in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Congress is scheduled to return to Washington, D.C. in September.

View this article in Spectrum News.