Hi, I’m The Lead Lady. 💛
But you can call me Chelsea. I’m a mom, educator, researcher, and content creator.
I started this work after discovering that lead hazards in my own home had poisoned my infant daughter—and experiencing firsthand how difficult it was to find clear, practical information about lead exposure and prevention.
The more I learned, the more I realized that lead isn’t only an old paint issue. It can show up in food, soil, water, dishes, cookware, toys, baby products, building materials, and everyday consumer goods.
And most of us have never been taught how to look for it.
🔬 So I started testing.
Today, I use handheld XRF analysis and perovskite photoluminescence to investigate the items and materials we encounter in everyday life. I buy products, test them, research the science and regulations behind what I find, and share the results publicly.
Sometimes that means testing an entire category of baby bottles. Sometimes it means wandering through a store with an XRF analyzer. Sometimes it means spending an unreasonable amount of time researching the history of lead in a very specific object. 😂
The goal is always the same: find the lead, understand the exposure, and give people useful information they can actually act on.
🏡 This started in my own home.
I didn’t choose the lead life. The lead life chose me.
Four months into motherhood, we discovered the unthinkable. Suddenly, alongside navigating the already overwhelming reality of new motherhood, I was trying to understand lead in antiques, paint, dust, water, food, and consumer products—while learning about testing methods, regulations, and, most importantly, what I could actually do to protect my family.
What started as me trying to solve a problem for my own family has grown into a community of hundreds of thousands of people who want better information about lead exposure.
I became The Lead Lady because I needed the information I now share with you.
🌱 My philosophy is simple.
Knowledge gives us power.
Lead is a serious neurotoxin, and preventing exposure matters. But people need more than scary headlines. They need to know where lead is found, how exposure happens, how to investigate potential sources, and what they can do about it.
Here you’ll find my testing results, investigations, articles, lead news, educational resources, and practical guidance—all in one place.
🌎 Why I share my work
I believe lead-safety information should be accessible.
That’s why my testing results, research, articles, and educational content live here. I want parents, homeowners, renters, caregivers—and anyone who wants to reduce their exposure—to be able to find this information when they need it.
For people who want to go deeper, I also create practical guides that walk you through how to identify and reduce lead exposures in your own life.
And if you want somewhere to talk about all of this, Club Lead is our private community for discussing lead news, testing results, research, questions, and discoveries.
🚀 The bigger mission
I want lead safety to become something ordinary people understand.
Not just the professionals and unlucky ones who had to learn the hard way.
All of us.
Because once you know where to look, you can start making informed choices about your home, your products, and your family.