Silent Spring Institute, Newton, MA, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, DC, USA.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2021 May;31(3):487-502. doi: 10.1038/s41370-021-00327-3. Epub 2021 May 6.
Personal care product use may contribute to elevated body burdens of consumer product chemicals among women of color; however, racial/ethnic differences in product use has been understudied. Community-engaged research can support the recruitment of diverse participants.
To document personal care product use among a diverse group of women (aged 18-34 years) living in California.
Through a community-academic partnership, we surveyed 357 women in California about product use information for 54 cosmetic, hair, menstrual/intimate care, and leave-on and rinse-off personal care products. We compared type and frequency of product use among Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, and White women. We also summarized use of scented products and reasons women select products.
Women reported using a median of 8 products daily, with some women reporting up to 30 products daily. Hispanic/Latinx and Asian women used more cosmetics, and Black women used more hair and menstrual/intimate products than other women. Of the 54 products compared, there were significant differences in use by race/ethnicity for 28 products, with the largest number of significant differences between Black and White women.
There is growing information on chemical exposures from personal care products and consequent adverse health effects, with implications for health disparities. Yet, there remains limited information on the range and types of products used by diverse racial/ethnic communities. This study helps close an important gap on product use inventories that can enable more informed public health interventions to limit exposures from personal care products.
个人护理产品的使用可能会导致有色人种女性体内的消费品化学物质含量升高；然而，产品使用方面的种族/民族差异尚未得到充分研究。社区参与式研究可以支持招募不同的参与者。
记录加利福尼亚州一群不同种族的女性（18-34 岁）的个人护理产品使用情况。
通过社区-学术合作，我们对加利福尼亚州的 357 名女性进行了调查，询问了她们关于 54 种化妆品、头发、月经/私密护理以及留用和冲洗型个人护理产品的使用信息。我们比较了黑人、西班牙裔/拉丁裔、亚裔和白人女性的产品使用类型和频率。我们还总结了使用有香味产品的情况以及女性选择产品的原因。
女性报告每天平均使用 8 种产品，有些女性每天最多使用 30 种产品。西班牙裔/拉丁裔和亚裔女性使用的化妆品更多，而黑人女性使用的头发和月经/私密护理产品比其他女性更多。在所比较的 54 种产品中，有 28 种产品的使用存在显著的种族/民族差异，其中黑人女性和白人女性之间的差异最大。
关于个人护理产品中的化学暴露及其对健康的不利影响，人们已经获得了越来越多的信息，这对健康差异有影响。然而，关于不同种族/民族社区使用的产品范围和类型的信息仍然有限。本研究有助于填补产品使用清单方面的重要空白，这可以为实施更明智的公共卫生干预措施以限制个人护理产品中的暴露提供依据。
