Our commitment to ethical sourcing and sustainable development

We passionately believe in a responsible planet if the most modest 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 the DNA of Skin Diligent. It starts with the sourcing of raw materials, formulation and manufacturing process, the choice of packaging, and finally, the end-of-life of the products when they reach our customers (ease of recycling).

People

We are proud to source our botanical ingredients responsibly. They come directly from cooperatives of gatherers and growers, without intermediaries. In Cameroon, our Caesalpinia sappan is gathered by a group of hunter-gatherers who use a sustainable method proven over millennia and involving no destructive modern methods. At the mouth of the Amazon, an ethnobotanist works in partnership with the local population for the ethical sourcing of our Protium heptaphillum.

The farming cooperatives in Africa from which our Lannea microcarpa comes practice Pierre Rabhi's agro-ecological 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 champions 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, emulsification implies very high energy consumption because the mixing phases require a high temperature for the oil and water to mix. Then, the mixture is cooled down. 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 an incredible amount of time analyzing the carbon footprint, cost, and safety of various packaging solutions for skin care products.

We calculated that there is the equivalent of more than 8,000 Empire State Buildings filled with used plastic littering our landfills and oceans. This is one of the reasons why our plastic is fully recyclable, with a minimum content of 50 to 80% already recycled plastic. We intend to switch to 100% recycled plastic when this type of plastic is safe and compatible with skin care products. Today, we cannot trace the exact origin of recycled plastic. However, 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 is far behind the theory...

 

For our food supplement, we opted for 100% compostable bioplastic made from surplus sugar capacity. Our pill containers are approved for food packaging in the EU. Over 90% of the mass decomposes in 6 months under industrial composting conditions (high temperature, humidity, and bacteria). The absence of one of these conditions slows down decomposition but does not stop it as long as the temperature is above 0ºC.

As we develop new products, we monitor advancements in packaging sustainability. We are committed to continuously improving our sustainable and ethical sourcing.