Department of Ecology State of Washington

Countdown to compliance: Are your cosmetics ready for 2026?

Washington Department of Ecology sent this bulletin at 11/19/2025 09:00 AM PST

Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act (TFCA): Key deadlines approaching

Washington’s new cosmetics law restricting nine harmful chemicals and chemical classes went into effect January 1, 2025. The one-year sell-through period for product inventory in salons, retailers, and distributors ends December 31, 2025.

Visit theTFCA compliance website

We recognize that this is your busiest time of the year and hope these tools will be helpful to you. Please contact us with any questions you may have.

Sell-through and disposal guidance

All cosmetics made, distributed, or sold in Washington must comply with TFCA.

Sell-through period: You can sell or use cosmetics bought before January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2025, even if they contain restricted chemicals. This applies to in-state retailers existing stock.

Read the sell-through & disposal focus sheet

Do your cosmetic products contain banned chemicals?

What Washington salons must do now.

TFCA bans specific harmful chemicals in cosmetics. If your cosmetic products contain any of the banned chemicals, you'll need to swap them out for safer alternatives. In this video, we highlight the products that are more likely to contain the banned chemicals like hair dye, nail polish, skincare, and makeup products. Do you use or sell any of these products at your business? If so, it's time to sell through older products and make room for safer cosmetic products at your workplace.

Watch the video

Spread the word

We work with communities to keep everyone safe. To help, we've created a communications toolkit for cosmetologists, retailers, and distributors. Use these to inform your colleagues, employees, clients, and supply chain partners about the December 31, 2025 deadline. The toolkit includes:

Sharable resources: Use and modify email templates, social media posts, images, and an explainer video.
Toolkit for cosmetologists
Toolkit for retailers and distributors

Spread the word!