Clean Beauty = Credo Beauty

Imagine walking into a beauty store knowing with certainty, every single skin care or makeup item you consider buying is completely “clean” and sustainably sourced–a store where you are 100% confident that you don’t even need to bother reading the microscopic list of ingredients because you know that every product has undergone the strictest of environmentally conscious standards? Credo Beauty– a revolutionary beauty company founded by Annie Jackson and Shashi Batrathat has redefined clean beauty for a new generation of consumers. By soley stocking multiple brands fully devoted to clean ingredients, Credo (meaning “I believe” in Latin) is pioneering a, eco-conscious approach, positioning themselves as the clear leader in green cosmetics.   Mill Valley resident, Dawn Dobras has proudly served as CEO for the past three years and shared with us,   “It is the ultimate  jewel of a company.  There are very few companies where you can direct social impact and be a hot start-up.” 

Credo Beauty leads the industry in setting the standards and goals for formulating clean products.  Their co-founder, Annie Jackson was recently deemed one of the Top 5 Beauty Executives Leading the Way by Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).  Where Credo goes, others follow. Credo is flourishing more than ever as they continue to educate their consumers who have certainly had more time to slow down and “consume education”  this past year.  They offer Clean Swaps where you can bring your bag of makeup into their store and dump it out so their well trained, green conscious, Credo Beauty staff can go through each product of yours and offer you a Credo Clean alternative. Meanwhile, online master classes offered by Credo have hundreds of people together on zoom washing their faces!

Credo’s first store opened on Fillmore Street on San Francisco’s Hayes Street, with subsequent stores opening throughout the country.. Credo houses 135 brands in their stores with a remarkable 90% of those brands founded by or run by women.  To that end, Clean Beauty truly represents a movement by women and for women. In conventional beauty, only 18% of companies are run by women.  Most recently, Credo was named Fast Company’s Most Innovative Company for 2021 in Beauty, due to their sustainability efforts.

The Credo Clean Standard, in place for over 2 years now, encompasses everything that makes a product clean. What truly sets Credo apart from other retailers, is that they actually ban 2700 ingredients! It is the nexus of safety, ethics, sustainability and sourcing that deem a product clean at Credo, They have the most stringent standards of any retailer today and clearly set the standard for the industry. Their “dirty ingredient”  list is comprehensive accounting for complete transparency and sustainable packaging. And if that’s not enough, Credo Clean’s ambitious set of guidelines inspire their brands to continue to advance their commitment to being green.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2021,  Credo Beauty launched a new program revealing their recycling and reclaiming strategy to completely eradicate any packaging waste.

Then, on June 1, they launched a new, even greener sustainability packaging guidelines by targeting a transition to 100% reusable packaging to eliminate all single use products, including face masks, treatment pads and disposable mascara wands. 

Dawn acknowledged  that today’s clean beauty movement is led by our youth because they care so passionately about social impact and sustainability. However, with doctors now beginning to discuss  toxic loads with their patients who are pregnant or having other health issues, other generations of customers are looking to Credo for alternative beauty products as well. Dawn further explained that over the last four years, a great deal of innovation in green skin care has occurred. The clean beauty space is now, arguably higher quality than its conventional counterparts and while cosmetics have lagged behind the advances in skin care, the evolution of these macro trends in beauty lipsticks, concealers and mascaras are now on par with conventional brands. 

Clean beauty is a worldwide trend and Credo Beauty enthusiastically advocates spreading the word.  Their new partnership  with Ulta Beauty  gives them a compelling  in-store presence in which they curate 10 brands for placement in Ulta with a focus on education. You can also find a new Credo store on   Hayes Street in the heart of the hip shopping district in San Francisco

As Dawn explained, nothing makes the team at Credo Beauty happier than seeing what used to be a niche market now being embraced around the world by more of the masses. “More people using less resources with more ethically sourced products” — music to her ears.