Beautycounter envisions a future where all beauty is clean beauty
Known talks with Beautycounter founder Gregg Renfrew
This Earth Day we tap into our value of “See The Good,” so we’re spotlighting our partner, Beautycounter, a clean beauty company pushing the boundaries of what it means to have a positive impact on people and the planet. With a social mission to get safer skin care and beauty products in the hands of everyone, Beautycounter set out to transform the beauty industry by creating high-performing, clean, sustainable products. The company has committed to restricting more than 1,800 questionable chemicals in their formulations by partnering with leading scientists, which is 400 more ingredients than the EU has banned. And that’s not all. Beautycounter minimizes environmental impact through its use of sustainable packaging.
As a Certified B Corporation, Beautycounter is part of a global movement of brands using their business to create positive change. Check out our conversation with Gregg Renfrew, Founder & Executive Chair of Beautycounter. This Earth Day (and every day) consider this: How can I create a more sustainable planet with the products I choose to use?
For those who are not familiar, can you tell us a bit about Beautycounter’s mission? How has it evolved through the years?
Our mission at Beautycounter is to get safer products into the hands of everyone. I founded Beautycounter over a decade ago because I saw a void in the marketplace for a cleaner, safer beauty brand as well as a movement — people deserve products that are both high-performing and made with ingredients that are safer for human and environmental health.
I set out to change the beauty industry forever by using Beautycounter as a platform to advocate for stricter laws regulating personal care product safety. To date, we’ve helped pass 10 better beauty laws [in the US and Canada] and are currently working on over a dozen more, and I’m deeply proud of the impact our work has had on the evolution of the industry.
What does clean beauty mean to you?
The beauty industry is largely under-regulated, and the lack of standardized definition for what “clean” means can make the process of finding safe and effective products needlessly confusing for consumers. The US is far behind when it comes to protecting consumer health from chemicals of concern, which is why Beautycounter has led the way for greater transparency and regulatory change for more than a decade. This backdrop of confusion and an overall lack of updated federal regulation is why I started Beautycounter, and finding ways to educate consumers while elevating the industry continues to be priorities for us.
We use our platform to educate consumers on what clean beauty means to us, and we take a comprehensive and unparalleled approach that puts safety at the forefront. Our Blueprint for Clean is one place consumers can reference to better understand what we do, but also to better understand what matters in the industry. We created this innovative set of 12 safety standards that covers everything from our approach to sustainable packaging, how we source responsibly and address supply chain issues. For us, it isn’t just about doing the right thing at Beautycounter, but also about pushing the industry forward to ensure that safer products are accessible to everyone.
Clean beauty is not a fad, it is here to stay, and it is estimated to be valued at $22 billion by 2024.
How is Beautycounter revolutionizing the clean beauty industry? How does it stand out in a billion-dollar industry?
Clean beauty is not a fad, it is here to stay, and it is estimated to be valued at $22 billion by 2024. At Beautycounter, we are working towards a future where all beauty is clean beauty. Creating systemic change within the industry has always been the goal and is why we advocate for better health protective laws in both the US and Canada. To date, we’ve helped pass 10 better beauty laws and are currently working on over a dozen more, and sent over 200K+ emails, made 16K+ calls and held 2,100+ meetings with lawmakers urging them for cosmetic reform.
We set out to change an entire industry and while I am proud of the work we have done, wide-reaching, lasting impact requires partnership, and we welcome others to advocate for better health protective laws. We created the Counteract Coalition — a collective of like-minded businesses in the personal-care and beauty industries — to encourage other companies to advocate for stricter guidelines and regulations, and the Science Advisory Council — leading doctors and scientists — to ensure that our standards of safety are informed by the latest research. My hope is that we see more creative partnerships in the industry that drive real benefit for the conscious consumer.
Learn more about Known’s values here.
