Earlier this year, Consumer Reports conducted a study proving human hair has even more harmful chemicals than synthetic braiding hair. However, the study also tested ReBundle, a plant-based braiding hair brand known for being free of heavy metals, as positive for lead. And, when Silent Springs Institute tested their hair, so did they. 

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But, with ReBundle using banana stems, a sustainable, non-toxic formula, and known to advocate for Black women’s health, the findings were shocking to say the least. “We only had six hours to digest the findings and respond,” ReBundle founder Ciara Imani May tells ESSENCE after finally reading Consumer Reports’ emails, which reached the wrong inbox, the day the study was published. “We hadn’t had a chance to do any further investigations.” 

Since then, she conducted an independent third-party study to find out how their non-toxic formula was exposed to the toxin in the first place. Using the same tests as Consumer Reports and Silent Springs Institute, May says they tested eight different samples at various steps in the production process to track the source of contamination. Except, in the finished product, there wasn’t any. No lead. No VOCs. 

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“We thought that was interesting,” she says. “It could have been that particular day, that particular lot, or environmental factors that made it appear on their panel.” Ironically, when the studies were first published in February, May was in Kenya already working on her braiding hair’s production process. 

From research and development to switching up ingredients and evaluating textures, and even cutting costs on ingredients their manufacturers consider difficult or expensive to source, “we evaluate performance, safety, and cost,” she says about production. Even with a patent on banana fiber, which is what their braiding hair is derived from, ReBundle still improves their formula—which includes, of course, the process in which it’s produced. And, after the reports of lead, that means the containers their chemicals are stored in. 

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“Depending on what that container is made of, the chemicals can leach,” she says. “We had to evaluate how to switch to containers that are more inert, like glass, where it won’t leach.” From noting expiration dates and how long certain chemicals are used in the production line, “what we’re learned in this process is even if your formula is clean, the manufacturing process can still have issues,” she says. “Those containers that contain the ingredients can end up in the product.”

While there’s no safe exposure to lead, it’s an environmental metal often found in our food, water, and beauty products. And, worst of all, there is no science-backed limit for safe exposure to it. “For hair extensions specifically there aren’t necessarily standards for what is considered safe,” she says. With just days left for New York to pass the Beauty Justice Act, a bill prohibiting the sale of cosmetics and personal care products containing toxic ingredients including lead, May is still advocating for holding brands accountable for Black women’s health—even her own. 

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“What we’ve been advocating from the beginning is a heightened level of transparency from brands and for some sort of standardization,” she says. “We are involved with the Beauty Justice Act here in New York to help advocate for regulation.” The act would ban only intentionally added toxic chemicals, target the most harmful substances, and finally set science-based limits on lead determined by the Department of Environmental Conservation. States like California, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont have all passed laws on restricting toxic chemicals in personal care products. Meanwhile, the European Union prohibits more than 2,400 chemicals in the same products. But, still, not in New York. 

ReBundle has long pushed for Black women to have higher expectations in beauty products. “We were focused on sustainability and safety in the category before it became a hot topic,” May says. Now, as standards rise, “we have to operate on the same playing field.”

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