Natural Next Step
AS THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY REDEFINES THE TERM ‘CLEAN’, BIOTECH IS LEADING THE CHARGE — OFFERING POTENT, LAB-GROWN INGREDIENTS THAT PROMISE PURITY WITHOUT COSTING THE PLANET
WORDS BY ANGELA LAW
GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF REOME AND BIOSSANCE
It’s 2013 and I’m mindlessly scrolling on Instagram when I come across a video from a woman who lives not far from me. I don’t know her, we’ve never met, but I pause. She’s wiping coconut oil on her underarms, claiming it’s ‘as good as deodorant’ and also great for breakouts.
It was my first introduction to the 2010s era of natural beauty — when anything natural was deemed virtuous and anything ‘chemical’ was quietly exiled from the bathroom cabinet. At the time, most natural or ‘clean’ beauty products came from either your kitchen or the health food store.
But natural beauty has come a long way since then, with the sector projected to be worth $122 billion by 2033.
“The clean beauty movement was an important corrective that forced the industry to be more transparent,” says Joanna Ellner, founder of biotech-powered luxury skincare brand Reome. “It was also entrenched in the idea that natural equals better, which, scientifically, isn’t always true. In fact, natural can mean inconsistent potency, unstable actives and even irritation.”