We passionately believe in a responsible planet if the most humble people in the supply chain are treated with humanity and dignity. Skin Diligent believes that ethical sourcing and sustainability are one and the same concept.
This concept is in Skin Diligent's DNA. It starts with the sourcing of raw materials, the formulation and manufacturing process, the choice of packaging and, finally, the end of life of the products when they arrive at our customers (ease of recycling).
People
We pride ourselves on sourcing our botanical ingredients responsibly. They come directly from cooperatives of gatherers and growers, without middlemen. In Cameroon, our Caesalpinia sappan is harvested by a group of hunter-gatherers using a sustainable method that has been proven over millennia and does not involve any destructive modern methods. At the mouth of the Amazon, an ethnobotanist partners with the local population to ethically source our Protium heptaphillum.
The grower cooperatives in Africa where our Lannea microcarpa comes from put into practice Pierre Rabhi's agroecological philosophy . No chemicals are used and symbiotic plant species are planted together to increase plant and insect biodiversity and crop yields. This method is truly "organic" (but without the label) and advocates harmony with nature.
Manufacturing process
For the emulsion, we use an innovative cold emulsifier (ingredients that bind oil-based ingredients with water-based ingredients). Traditionally, emulsion means very high energy consumption because the mixing phases require a high temperature for the oil and water to mix. Then the mixture is cooled. Our cold emulsion technology skips this process of heating and cooling phases and reduces energy consumption during formulation by 100%, from 40 kW/h to 0.4 kW/h.
Packaging
We spend a lot of time analyzing the carbon footprint, cost and safety of different packaging solutions for personal care products.
We calculate that there is the equivalent of over 8,000 Empire State Buildings worth of used plastic littering our landfills and oceans. That’s one reason why our plastic is 100% recyclable, with a minimum content of 50-80% recycled plastic. We intend to move to 100% recycled plastic when it is safe and compatible with personal care products. Today, recycled plastic cannot be traced back to its exact origin. It can be contaminated if it has been used with toxic products, and ingredients like oils that come into contact with these plastics can release toxins.
The absence of endocrine disruptors is one of Skin Diligent's safety promises . Our plastic is therefore also free of endocrine disruptors.
We also believe that by increasing the demand for recycled plastic, we could encourage more investment in recycling. Currently, the practice of recycling lags far behind the theory...
For our food supplement, we have opted for a 100% compostable biodegradable bioplastic made from excess sugar capacity. Our pillboxes are approved for food packaging in the EU. More than 90% of the mass decomposes in 6 months under industrial compostability conditions (high temperature, humidity and bacteria). The absence of one of these conditions slows down the decomposition but does not stop it as long as the temperature is above 0ºC.
As we develop new products, we monitor advances in packaging sustainability. We are committed to continuously improving our sustainable and ethical sourcing.