Christine Esposito, Managing Editor04.13.21
Leading brands and stakeholders from across the personal care space came together, virtually, for Hairstory's Sustainable Beauty Summit, which was held on April 8, 2021.
Eli Halliwell, Hairstory CEO, opened the Summit, which included panel and one-on-one discussions about key issues and challenges brands face related to sustainability. For example, he noted that there is often a gap between what consumers want to believe is possible and what is really possible—a lesson the industry veteran learned when he was running Jurlique.
When Halliwell started his current company, Hairstory, in 2015, he said he was hesitant to “put words to what we were doing as a sustainable business. We made it part of our culture, we did everything we could, but we were reserved in terms of what word we used—natural, organic, etc.”
Halliwell’s Sustainable Beauty Summit was born of his desire to have a conversation among those who are leaders in the industry; those that have been tackling issues around being sustainable business.
That conversation began with a keynote address from Beautycounter Founder and CEO Gregg Renfrew.
Renfrew discussed launching Beautycounter and the rise of clean beauty.
“There is no clear definition of clean. When people talk clean, sustainable, organic—the words are confusing to consumer and not well defined,” she said. “What we need to do is put some definition behind those words to help consumers navigate.”
At Beautycounter, clean is more holistic, according to Renfrew. The company’s approach goes beyond removing ingredients of concern or having a “never” list.
“We look at number of end points,” she said, noting numerous issues including sustainability, carbon foot print, ethical sourcing and testing for trace contaminants.
She stressed the need for clean beauty to be efficacious. “Performance is incredibly important,” she said.
But performance and safety needs to have equal emphasis, according to Renfrew.
If you are asking consumers to choose between the two, “you are doing them a disservice.”
Renfrew discussed “tragedies of choice” that mission-driven clean brands face. As an example, she recalled her brand’s initial plans to add makeup to its lineup. Renfrew said trace testing revealed that the color products contained heavy metals—and she made the decision to dump the entire line just before launch.
“It took us another 18 months to launch another line,” she said. “We lost a lot of time and money, but it was the right thing to do.”
A Power Panel
The summit then rolled into a panel discussion featuring Joe Cloyes, CEO of Youth to the People; Rose-Marie Swift, founder of RMS Beauty; Sarah Lee, co-CEO and co-founder of Glow Recipe; Hillary Peterson, founder of True Botanicals; and Sasha Plavsic, founder of Ilia Beauty.
The initial conversation centered around how each brand defines clean beauty.
At Glow Recipe, it is more than individual ingredients; “It is the approach,” said Lee.
For Cloyes, Youth to the People considers “what’s good for you, what’ s safe for planet and what works.”
Rose-Marie Swift of RMS Beauty, who considers her brand to be “green,” said she looks at the marketplace as “clean, cleaner and cleanest.”
According to Peterson of True Botanicals, clean brands must “deliver products with proven results.”
She also said how ingredients are processed matters, too. For example, she noted: is the material CO2 extracted? Is it cold pressed? Are solvents involved?
True Botanicals relies on Made Safe Certified to ensure that her products are clean, according to Peterson.
For Peterson, in the end, words like green and natural are just words. What matters, she insisted, is the intention behind those words.
Plavsic, founder of Ilia Beauty, pointed to the challenges of being in the color cosmetics space.
“I tried to be more organic and in color that is so much harder,” she said.
Ilia Beauty lists every trace ingredient on its packaging.
“In clean, the percentages matter—and that is important. What is the percentage used?” she noted.
Lee of Glow Recipe agrees.
“You can’t single out one ingredient in a blend, and every formula is unique in its own way,” she said. “There is a reason and purpose and intention to the percentage. As a brand our job to educate our consumers to what those mean.”
According to Cloyes, while there are myriad labels, the reasoning behind the pursuit of the certification matters. It shows that the brand is making an effort to be transparent, it shows their intent and what they believe in, he said.
Additional discussions in the Summit included a “fireside chat” on greenwashing with Amy Ziff, founder and executive director of Made Safe; a presentation from Olivier Zimmer of Spate; and a panel discussion on sustainable packaging with Jackie Gilbert Bauer (head of product development at Hairstory), Mark Veeder (original co-founder of Farmacy Beauty and founder of & Sk*p), Stephanie Hon, (founder and CEO of Cadence) and Tom Szaky (founder and CEO of Terracycle).
During the packaging panel, consumption was a major point of discussion. Szaky called it the white elephant in the room.
“You can be highly circular and still ruin the planet in the process,” he said.
Szaky insists that stakeholders in beauty need to think pragmatically. As an example, Szaky said Tesco has banned compostable packaging because UK composters said they burned it because it proved too costly to handle any other way.
“It’s not what could a consumer do, not what a brand could do, but what will they do. That distills down the reality of what we should do,” Szaky said.
The conversation proved a great segue to the closing discussion on Conscious Consumerism with Meika Hollender, VP-communications of Grove Collaborative, and Mia Davis, VP-sustainability and impact at Credo.
On Sustainability Journey Together
Panelists who spoke at Hairstory’s Sustainable Beauty Summit said that working collectively would lead to more success across the board.
Halliwell concurs.
“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the Hairstory Sustainable Beauty Summit. I was super impressed by the quality of the participants – the true leaders in sustainable beauty – and I particularly appreciated getting to know the various CEOs and founders personally during the preparations for the event,” he told Happi after the event. “I think we have a think tank here that can continue to come together to brainstorm, support and challenge each other on an ongoing basis as we all strive for a more sustainable industry. In my communications after the event, each participant shared an eagerness to continue the dialog and stay in touch. I’m hopeful this could be the first of many similar events we can host far into the future.”
Eli Halliwell, Hairstory CEO, opened the Summit, which included panel and one-on-one discussions about key issues and challenges brands face related to sustainability. For example, he noted that there is often a gap between what consumers want to believe is possible and what is really possible—a lesson the industry veteran learned when he was running Jurlique.
When Halliwell started his current company, Hairstory, in 2015, he said he was hesitant to “put words to what we were doing as a sustainable business. We made it part of our culture, we did everything we could, but we were reserved in terms of what word we used—natural, organic, etc.”
Halliwell’s Sustainable Beauty Summit was born of his desire to have a conversation among those who are leaders in the industry; those that have been tackling issues around being sustainable business.
That conversation began with a keynote address from Beautycounter Founder and CEO Gregg Renfrew.
Renfrew discussed launching Beautycounter and the rise of clean beauty.
“There is no clear definition of clean. When people talk clean, sustainable, organic—the words are confusing to consumer and not well defined,” she said. “What we need to do is put some definition behind those words to help consumers navigate.”
At Beautycounter, clean is more holistic, according to Renfrew. The company’s approach goes beyond removing ingredients of concern or having a “never” list.
“We look at number of end points,” she said, noting numerous issues including sustainability, carbon foot print, ethical sourcing and testing for trace contaminants.
She stressed the need for clean beauty to be efficacious. “Performance is incredibly important,” she said.
But performance and safety needs to have equal emphasis, according to Renfrew.
If you are asking consumers to choose between the two, “you are doing them a disservice.”
Renfrew discussed “tragedies of choice” that mission-driven clean brands face. As an example, she recalled her brand’s initial plans to add makeup to its lineup. Renfrew said trace testing revealed that the color products contained heavy metals—and she made the decision to dump the entire line just before launch.
“It took us another 18 months to launch another line,” she said. “We lost a lot of time and money, but it was the right thing to do.”
A Power Panel
The summit then rolled into a panel discussion featuring Joe Cloyes, CEO of Youth to the People; Rose-Marie Swift, founder of RMS Beauty; Sarah Lee, co-CEO and co-founder of Glow Recipe; Hillary Peterson, founder of True Botanicals; and Sasha Plavsic, founder of Ilia Beauty.
The initial conversation centered around how each brand defines clean beauty.
At Glow Recipe, it is more than individual ingredients; “It is the approach,” said Lee.
For Cloyes, Youth to the People considers “what’s good for you, what’ s safe for planet and what works.”
Rose-Marie Swift of RMS Beauty, who considers her brand to be “green,” said she looks at the marketplace as “clean, cleaner and cleanest.”
According to Peterson of True Botanicals, clean brands must “deliver products with proven results.”
She also said how ingredients are processed matters, too. For example, she noted: is the material CO2 extracted? Is it cold pressed? Are solvents involved?
True Botanicals relies on Made Safe Certified to ensure that her products are clean, according to Peterson.
For Peterson, in the end, words like green and natural are just words. What matters, she insisted, is the intention behind those words.
Plavsic, founder of Ilia Beauty, pointed to the challenges of being in the color cosmetics space.
“I tried to be more organic and in color that is so much harder,” she said.
Ilia Beauty lists every trace ingredient on its packaging.
“In clean, the percentages matter—and that is important. What is the percentage used?” she noted.
Lee of Glow Recipe agrees.
“You can’t single out one ingredient in a blend, and every formula is unique in its own way,” she said. “There is a reason and purpose and intention to the percentage. As a brand our job to educate our consumers to what those mean.”
According to Cloyes, while there are myriad labels, the reasoning behind the pursuit of the certification matters. It shows that the brand is making an effort to be transparent, it shows their intent and what they believe in, he said.
Additional discussions in the Summit included a “fireside chat” on greenwashing with Amy Ziff, founder and executive director of Made Safe; a presentation from Olivier Zimmer of Spate; and a panel discussion on sustainable packaging with Jackie Gilbert Bauer (head of product development at Hairstory), Mark Veeder (original co-founder of Farmacy Beauty and founder of & Sk*p), Stephanie Hon, (founder and CEO of Cadence) and Tom Szaky (founder and CEO of Terracycle).
During the packaging panel, consumption was a major point of discussion. Szaky called it the white elephant in the room.
“You can be highly circular and still ruin the planet in the process,” he said.
Szaky insists that stakeholders in beauty need to think pragmatically. As an example, Szaky said Tesco has banned compostable packaging because UK composters said they burned it because it proved too costly to handle any other way.
“It’s not what could a consumer do, not what a brand could do, but what will they do. That distills down the reality of what we should do,” Szaky said.
The conversation proved a great segue to the closing discussion on Conscious Consumerism with Meika Hollender, VP-communications of Grove Collaborative, and Mia Davis, VP-sustainability and impact at Credo.
On Sustainability Journey Together
Panelists who spoke at Hairstory’s Sustainable Beauty Summit said that working collectively would lead to more success across the board.
Halliwell concurs.
“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the Hairstory Sustainable Beauty Summit. I was super impressed by the quality of the participants – the true leaders in sustainable beauty – and I particularly appreciated getting to know the various CEOs and founders personally during the preparations for the event,” he told Happi after the event. “I think we have a think tank here that can continue to come together to brainstorm, support and challenge each other on an ongoing basis as we all strive for a more sustainable industry. In my communications after the event, each participant shared an eagerness to continue the dialog and stay in touch. I’m hopeful this could be the first of many similar events we can host far into the future.”