New Report Highlights Gaps in Beauty Product Safety Data
Over a quarter of ingredients lack safety classification, leaving consumers with incomplete information on product contents.
Updated on Oct. 30, 2026 in Beauty
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A new report on beauty product chemistry reveals that over a quarter of ingredient occurrences remain uncharacterized for safety. The analysis of nearly 2.9 million entries offers a look at the prevalence of undisclosed fragrance components and potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals in consumer products.
Why it matters
Understanding the chemical profile of personal care items is difficult when safety data is incomplete, creating potential hurdles for shoppers managing chemical sensitivities or specific health concerns. This report aims to bridge these information gaps to support better-informed product choices.
This analysis evaluated 2.9 million ingredient occurrences across the industry. While 62.8% of these ingredients are classified as safer chemistry, 27.4% lack sufficient data for classification, leaving their safety profiles uncharacterized.
The players
ChemFORWARD
A non-profit organization dedicated to creating a shared repository of chemical hazard data to drive safer product innovation.
KBDB Collaborative
An industry partnership focused on evaluating the chemical safety of ingredients used in beauty and personal care products.
The details
The report utilizes a shared-data methodology through the Chemical Hazard Data Trust to assess ingredient risks. It identifies that 15.4% of products contain at least one potential endocrine-disrupting chemical, with 19 such substances appearing 34,885 times in the dataset. Additionally, over 40,000 products contain undisclosed fragrance components, complicating efforts to identify potential chemical triggers.
Timeline
Participating organizations invested $140,000 in chemical hazard assessments throughout 2025.
The 2026 Beauty & Personal Care Safer Chemistry Profile was published on October 30, 2026.
The United Nations Global Framework on Chemicals conference takes place in Geneva from November 16-20, 2026.
Health Landscape
This analysis fits into the broader movement toward transparent ingredient reporting in the personal care industry, reflecting the standards set by the United Nations Global Framework on Chemicals. The report highlights an industry-wide push to reach an 80% chemical hazard characterization target.
Consumers looking to avoid specific chemicals should note that over 40,000 products still contain undisclosed fragrance components. If you have concerns about potential endocrine disruptors, it is worth discussing specific product ingredient lists with your physician.
The takeaway
Large portions of ingredients in common products still lack clear safety classification due to data gaps. When navigating beauty aisles, look for products that provide full ingredient transparency to better manage your personal risk factors.
Further reading
For more insight into how ingredients are assessed, visit our Beauty section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Environment+Energy Leader.
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