The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has no assigned enforcement or implementation role in California’s new cosmetics ingredients bans. However, we have received several inquiries about the new laws. As a courtesy, we are providing some information about what the new laws require for companies and individuals who work with or manufacture cosmetics. The California Attorney General’s Office has authority to enforce these laws.
After AB 2762 became law in 2020, the California Health and Safety Code prohibited specific cosmetics ingredients in California starting January 1, 2025. Pursuant to California Health and Safety Code 108980 – 108982, the law now states no person or entity shall manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale in commerce any cosmetic product that contains any of the following intentionally added ingredients:
(1) Dibutyl phthalate (CAS no. 84-74-2)
(2) Diethylhexyl phthalate (CAS no. 117-81-7)
(3) Formaldehyde (CAS no. 50-00-0).
(4) Paraformaldehyde (CAS no. 30525-89-4)
(5) Methylene glycol (CAS no. 463-57-0)
(6) Quaternium-15 (CAS no. 51229-78-8)
(7) Mercury (CAS no. 7439-97-6)
(8) Isobutylparaben (CAS no. 4247-02-3)
(9) Isopropylparaben (CAS no. 4191-73-5)
(10) m-Phenylenediamine and its salts (CAS no. 108-45-2)
(11) o-Phenylenediamine and its salts (CAS no. 95-54-5)
(12) The following per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their salts:
(A) Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonic acid (CAS no. 1763-23-1)
(B) Potassium perfluorooctanesulfonate; potassium heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonate (CAS no. 2795-39-3)
(C) Diethanolamine perfluorooctane sulfonate (CAS no. 70225-14-8)
(D) Ammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate; ammonium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate (CAS no. 29081-56-9)
(E) Lithium perfluorooctane sulfonate; lithium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate (CAS no. 29457-72-5)
(F) Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)(CAS no. 335-67-1)
(G) Ammonium pentadecafluorooctanoate (CAS no. 3825-26-1)
(H) Nonadecafluorodecanoic acid (CAS no. 355-76-2)
(I) Ammonium nonadecafluorodecanoate (CAS no. 3108-42-7)
(J) Sodium nonadecafluorodecanoate (CAS no. 3830-45-3)
(K) Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)(CAS no. 375-95-1)
(L) Sodium heptadecafluorononanoate (CAS no. 21049-39-8)
(M) Ammonium perfluorononanoate (CAS no. 4149-60-4)
The California PFAS-Free Cosmetics Act of 2020 further banned the entire class of PFAS “forever chemicals” also as of January 1, 2025. It mandated that no person or entity shall manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale in commerce any cosmetic product that contains intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or “PFAS” means a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. Further, the passage of AB 496 adds 26 additional banned chemicals beginning January 1, 2027.
Salon workers must refrain from offering services or products containing these ingredients, and vendors may not sell existing stock of products containing these ingredients. Your local environmental department can advise on how to dispose of products containing hazardous ingredients.
Banned Ingredients Found in Cosmetics on the Market
The California Safe Cosmetics Program’s (CSCP) publicly accessible California Safe Cosmetics Database has 173 products reported as currently containing one or more banned ingredient. The products were reported by the companies that own the brands. Companies must edit submitted product reports when they discontinue reported products or when they reformulate products and they no longer contain reportable ingredients. The products listed in this spreadsheet are currently reported as containing banned ingredients as of June 4, 2025.
In addition, CSCP partnered with Clearya to identify ingredients in products sold in stores in 12 different counties in California. CSCP partnered with California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative and Healthy Heritage Movement to collect these data. We identified 18 products containing banned ingredients across about 3,000 product labels captured during the store visits in 2025. A list of those products is here. While this was not a comprehensive survey of the market, the results indicate the presence of non-compliant products still being offered for sale in California after the laws went into effect.
