Clean Beauty in Newark, NJ

NCT07216898 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: Pro2025001147P30ES005022
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Every day, consumers use personal care products containing thousands of manmade chemicals. Growing evidence suggests that personal care products specifically marketed to Black women (e.g., hair straighteners and oils, skin lighteners) often contain potentially hazardous chemicals that can interfere with hormones or increase cancer risks. This research focuses on how the investigators can educate and activate community members in Newark, NJ to reduce disparities in exposures occurring through hair products. Leveraging educational clean beauty events hosted by collaborators at Clean Water Action, the investigators will administer surveys on hair product use and attitudes immediately before and after a clean beauty educational intervention. Participants will also complete surveys 3 months post-event to examine any changes in attitudes or behaviors around hair products and their use and safety.

Conditions

Health Disparities; Education

Keywords

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals; Personal Care Products; Environmental Health Disparities

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• The primary outcome is any intended changes in participants' hair routines from pre to post event

  After the Clean Beauty intervention event, participants will be asked, "Based on what you learned today, do you think you will make any changes to your hair style, hair routine, or the products you use?" \[Answer choices: Yes/No/Not sure\] We will calculate the percentage of participants who plan to make a change in their hair routine.

  The outcome will be assessed immediately post-event (1-2 hours after baseline).

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Perceptions of hair product safety following the Clean Beauty intervention event.

  Changes in perceptions around hair product safety will be evaluated 3 Months after baseline.

Study Arms (1)

Clean Beauty Event Attendees

Participants in clean beauty events will be educated on the risks of toxic chemicals in personal care products and safer alternatives. They will be invited to provide information on their personal care product use and buying habits immediately before and after the educational events. Three months after the events, participants will complete surveys on any sustained changes in product use behaviors.

Behavioral: Chemical Exposure Prevention

Interventions

Chemical Exposure Prevention BEHAVIORAL

Education on potential toxic chemicals found within personal care products and safer alternatives during community-engaged clean beauty events.

Clean Beauty Event Attendees

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Attendees of clean beauty events hosted by Clean Water Action

You may qualify if:

• Attendees of clean beauty events hosted by Clean Water Action, age 18 and older

You may not qualify if:

• Not applicable

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: lead
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Weequahic Park

Newark, New Jersey, 07112, United States

RECRUITING

Related Publications (13)

• Wright MA, Moore KR, Upson K, Baird DD, Chin HB. Douching or Perineal Talc Use and Prevalent Fibroids in Young African American Women. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021 Dec;30(12):1729-1735. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2020.8524. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

  PMID: 33667128 BACKGROUND

• White AJ, Sandler DP, Gaston SA, Jackson CL, O'Brien KM. Use of hair products in relation to ovarian cancer risk. Carcinogenesis. 2021 Oct 5;42(9):1189-1195. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgab056.

  PMID: 34173819 BACKGROUND

• Silbergeld EK, Mandrioli D, Cranor CF. Regulating chemicals: law, science, and the unbearable burdens of regulation. Annu Rev Public Health. 2015 Mar 18;36:175-91. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122654.

  PMID: 25785889 BACKGROUND

• Johnson PI, Favela K, Jarin J, Le AM, Clark PY, Fu L, Gillis AD, Morga N, Nguyen C, Harley KG. Chemicals of concern in personal care products used by women of color in three communities of California. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2022 Nov;32(6):864-876. doi: 10.1038/s41370-022-00485-y. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

  PMID: 36323919 BACKGROUND

• Zota AR, Shamasunder B. The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017 Oct;217(4):418.e1-418.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2017.07.020. Epub 2017 Aug 16.

  PMID: 28822238 BACKGROUND

• James-Todd TM, Chiu YH, Zota AR. Racial/ethnic disparities in environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals and women's reproductive health outcomes: epidemiological examples across the life course. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2016 Jun;3(2):161-180. doi: 10.1007/s40471-016-0073-9. Epub 2016 Mar 31.

  PMID: 28497013 BACKGROUND

• Preston EV, Chan M, Nozhenko K, Bellavia A, Grenon MC, Cantonwine DE, McElrath TF, James-Todd T. Socioeconomic and racial/ethnic differences in use of endocrine-disrupting chemical-associated personal care product categories among pregnant women. Environ Res. 2021 Jul;198:111212. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111212. Epub 2021 May 3.

  PMID: 33957140 BACKGROUND

• Welch BM, Keil AP, Buckley JP, Engel SM, James-Todd T, Zota AR, Alshawabkeh AN, Barrett ES, Bloom MS, Bush NR, Cordero JF, Dabelea D, Eskenazi B, Lanphear BP, Padmanabhan V, Sathyanarayana S, Swan SH, Aalborg J, Baird DD, Binder AM, Bradman A, Braun JM, Calafat AM, Cantonwine DE, Christenbury KE, Factor-Litvak P, Harley KG, Hauser R, Herbstman JB, Hertz-Picciotto I, Holland N, Jukic AMZ, McElrath TF, Meeker JD, Messerlian C, Michels KB, Newman RB, Nguyen RHN, O'Brien KM, Rauh VA, Redmon B, Rich DQ, Rosen EM, Schmidt RJ, Sparks AE, Starling AP, Wang C, Watkins DJ, Weinberg CR, Weinberger B, Wenzel AG, Wilcox AJ, Yolton K, Zhang Y, Ferguson KK. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Phthalate Exposure and Preterm Birth: A Pooled Study of Sixteen U.S. Cohorts. Environ Health Perspect. 2023 Dec;131(12):127015. doi: 10.1289/EHP12831. Epub 2023 Dec 20.

  PMID: 38117586 BACKGROUND

• Manuck TA. Racial and ethnic differences in preterm birth: A complex, multifactorial problem. Semin Perinatol. 2017 Dec;41(8):511-518. doi: 10.1053/j.semperi.2017.08.010. Epub 2017 Sep 21.

  PMID: 28941962 BACKGROUND

• Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Newman LA, Freedman RA, Smith RA, Star J, Jemal A, Siegel RL. Breast cancer statistics 2024. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024 Nov-Dec;74(6):477-495. doi: 10.3322/caac.21863. Epub 2024 Oct 1.

  PMID: 39352042 BACKGROUND

• Katon JG, Plowden TC, Marsh EE. Racial disparities in uterine fibroids and endometriosis: a systematic review and application of social, structural, and political context. Fertil Steril. 2023 Mar;119(3):355-363. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2023.01.022. Epub 2023 Jan 20.

  PMID: 36682686 BACKGROUND

• Llanos AAM, Rockson A, Getz K, Greenberg P, Portillo E, McDonald JA, Teteh DK, Villasenor J, Lozada C, Franklin J, More V, Rivera-Nunez Z, Kinkade CW, Barrett ES. Assessment of personal care product use and perceptions of use in a sample of US adults affiliated with a university in the Northeast. Environ Res. 2023 Nov 1;236(Pt 1):116719. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116719. Epub 2023 Jul 21.

  PMID: 37481059 BACKGROUND

• Payne CE, Rockson A, Ashrafi A, McDonald JA, Bethea TN, Barrett ES, Llanos AAM. Beauty Beware: Associations between Perceptions of Harm and Safer Hair-Product-Purchasing Behaviors in a Cross-Sectional Study of Adults Affiliated with a University in the Northeast. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Nov 30;20(23):7129. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20237129.

  PMID: 38063560 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Emily Barrett, PhD

  Rutgers School of Public Health

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Emily Barrett, PhD

CONTACT

848- 445-0197; emily.barrett@eohsi.rutgers.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Vice Chair, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 3, 2025
• First Posted: October 15, 2025
• Study Start: November 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Last Updated: April 30, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)