Some makeup contains PFAS, usually without saying so. In a 2021 screen of 231 products, 52 percent showed high fluorine levels, including 82 percent of waterproof mascaras. A 2024 laboratory study found most PFAS tested can pass into skin models. What daily wear means for a real person has not been measured, which is the honest place to start.
PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, have been in the news for years because of drinking water and non-stick pans. They reached the makeup bag more recently, and the coverage has swung between two unhelpful extremes: silence on one side, and on the other a vague sense that everything in your bathroom is quietly poisoning you. The data sits somewhere much more specific than either.
What are PFAS, and why are they in makeup?
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a large family of synthetic chemicals built around carbon-fluorine bonds, among the strongest in chemistry. That bond is exactly why manufacturers use them and exactly why they are a problem: they repel water and oil, they last, and they do not break down in the environment or, in some cases, in the body.
In cosmetics those properties translate into long wear, water resistance and a smooth, spreadable finish. So it is not surprising where they turn up most: the products sold on staying power.
Does all makeup contain PFAS?
No, and the pattern is informative. The most cited study is Whitehead and colleagues in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, 2021, from the University of Notre Dame. They screened 231 cosmetics bought in the US and Canada for total fluorine, a marker for PFAS.
| Product type | Share with high fluorine |
|---|---|
| All 231 products | 52 percent |
| Waterproof mascara | 82 percent |
| Foundation | 63 percent |
| Liquid lipstick | 62 percent |
They then took 29 products for detailed analysis and found between 4 and 13 different PFAS in every one of them. The finding that matters most for anyone trying to shop carefully came next: only 1 of those 29 products listed a fluorinated ingredient on its label.
How can you tell if a product has PFAS?
From the label, only partly. Some PFAS do appear by name, and it is worth knowing what they look like: PTFE, anything beginning with perfluoro- or polyfluoro-, and ingredients with fluoro in the middle of a long chemical name.
But the Notre Dame result is the important caveat. In 28 of 29 products the PFAS were not declared, which suggests they arrived as impurities or breakdown products of other ingredients rather than as listed components. A clean-looking ingredient list is not proof of absence. This is the same lesson as why "natural" is not a safety category, running in the opposite direction: a word on the front, or its absence on the back, tells you less than you want it to.
Can PFAS be absorbed through the skin?
For a long time the reassuring assumption was that they mostly could not. A 2024 study by Ragnarsdóttir, Abdallah and Harrad at the University of Birmingham, published in Environment International, tested 17 PFAS on laboratory-grown three-dimensional human skin models.
Fifteen of the 17 showed substantial absorption, at least 5 percent of the applied dose. For PFOA, one of the most regulated, 13.5 percent passed through and a further 38 percent was retained in the skin tissue. Shorter-chain PFAS moved most readily, with one reaching almost 59 percent.
I want to be precise about what that does and does not show. The chemicals were dissolved in a solvent and applied to a lab-grown skin model, not worn as mascara on a living face. It demonstrates that skin is a real exposure route, which matters. It does not tell us how much a person absorbs from a foundation, or what that amount does. Nobody has measured that yet.
Are PFAS banned in cosmetics?
In a growing number of US states, yes, for intentionally added PFAS. As of March 2026, fourteen states had enacted prohibitions, with California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington among those already in force and more scheduled over the next few years. The definitions are broad and cover makeup, skincare, hair care and sunscreen.
Two limits are worth knowing. Most laws target PFAS added on purpose, which does not necessarily capture the undeclared traces the Notre Dame study found. And there is still no single federal standard, so what is sold in one state may not match the rules in the next. The same slow patchwork runs through sunscreen regulation, which I set out in the entry on this year's FDA sunscreen changes.
What I would actually do
Not panic, and not ignore it. The reasonable response is proportionate to what we know, which is that exposure is plausible and the dose from makeup is unmeasured.
Reserve waterproof and long-wear products for the days you need them rather than every day. That is where the fluorine was most common, and it is the easiest change to make.
Look for fluorinated names on labels, and treat a product explicitly tested and marketed as PFAS-free as a small point in its favour, while remembering that the absence of a listed ingredient was not reliable in the research.
Take makeup off properly in the evening instead of sleeping in it, but without scrubbing. Long-wear formulas are designed to resist removal, and the answer is an oil or balm first and a gentle cleanser second, not force. I went through why in the cleansing entry.
And do not trade sunscreen away over this. Sunscreens fall under the same state definitions, but the evidence for daily UV protection is strong and specific, and the answer is a formula you trust, used in the right amount.
Frequently asked
Does all makeup contain PFAS?
No. In a 2021 study of 231 products from the US and Canada, 52 percent showed high fluorine levels, a marker for PFAS. The highest shares were in waterproof mascara at 82 percent, foundation at 63 percent and liquid lipstick at 62 percent. Products sold on long wear and water resistance were the most likely to contain them.
How can you tell if a product has PFAS?
Look for PTFE and ingredient names containing perfluoro, polyfluoro or fluoro. But labels are unreliable: in the 2021 study, only 1 of 29 products found to contain PFAS listed a fluorinated ingredient. A product tested and labelled PFAS-free is a better signal than an ingredient list alone.
Can PFAS be absorbed through the skin?
Laboratory research says yes. A 2024 study using 3D human skin models found 15 of 17 PFAS tested were absorbed at 5 percent of the applied dose or more. The chemicals were applied in a solvent rather than in real makeup, so how much a person absorbs from everyday cosmetics has not been measured yet.
