What is green chemistry, and why is better than clean beauty?

Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is an area of chemistry focused on the design of more efficient processes to manufacture effective products that do not pollute the environment or prove toxic to any humans, animals, or the planet at any point — from how it’s sourced to what happens when it goes down the drain.

The design of safer, effective, but less toxic chemical products is one of the core tenants of the 12 principles of Green Chemistry first proposed by American chemists Paul Anastas and John C. Warner in the late 1990s.

It’s important first to recognize that all ingredients are chemicals. Water, plants, and food are all made up of chemicals. Clean beauty tends to favor natural chemicals over synthetic chemicals, promoting the idea that natural chemicals are always a better choice, but that’s simply not the case. Many natural ingredients can be harmful and irritating to the skin, and many synthetic ingredients have been tested and proven to be safe and beneficial to the skin.

REYN uses ingredients that are wild-harvested from nature and transformed through science via fermentation and biotechnology. This process is actually more environmentally friendly than many of the extraction processes that some clean beauty brands use to distill and stabilize the plant-based ingredients in their products, which often creates a lot of waste. It also prevents over-harvesting, since fermentation increases the potency of the ingredients, allowing us to get more use out of fewer ingredients.

REYN also utilizes lab-created ceramides, peptides, and hyaluronic acids, which help support your skin’s inherent repairing functions by sparking a boost of collagen production.

"Designing for degradation" is another core tenant of the principles of Green Chemistry. It suggests that products should be designed so that at the end of their function, they break down into molecules that do not persist in the environment. This is one of the most important green chemistry principles, as it is one of the hardest ones to achieve.

REYN's formulations are completely biodegradable and contain no polymers or pollutants. Any REYN product that is washed down the drain will return to the earth without harming the soil or delicate ecosystems.

Green chemistry is one of the most promising, innovative, and important directions in the search for sustainability. Unlike clean beauty, which only provides a lengthy list of ingredients to avoid, green chemistry provides a clear roadmap towards a better future for both humans and the environment — in the beauty industry and beyond.
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