Throwaway, single-use products are in the DNA of the beauty industry.
Of the 120 billion pieces of discarded packaging associated with makeup and skincare each year, 95 percent is destined for landfill (or, just as likely, for the world’s oceans).
Though most of that waste is plastic—some of which could, in theory, be recycled—only nine percent of it actually is. Few curbside recycling programs will even accept pumps, wands, squeeze tubes, and tiny caps, many of which are made with mixed materials that keep them from being easily sorted.
This quagmire of waste and wasted opportunities is something San Francisco’s own clean beauty champion Credo has been working to untangle. On Earth Day 2021, the certified B Corp and co-founders Mob Beauty launched Pact, a nonprofit dedicated to changing the way in which beauty products are designed and disposed of.
Exactly five years later, there are thousands of Pact drop-off bins around the U.S. (including at Credo’s locations in Pac Heights and Hayes Valley) which get sorted at a special facility for reuse and recycling. Even those who live nowhere near a dedicated bin can get a return shipping label when ordering from the company online to send back up to ten empties at a time. Both earn you Credo Rewards Points that can then be put back into new clean beauty purchases.
Between stringent standards on chemicals and other harmful ingredients, a focus on products that use greener alternatives like glass and paper in their packaging, and the promotion of brands that use refillable compacts and bottles, Credo is slowly helping to shrink the footprint of anyone who comes through their doors, IRL or online.(Courtesy of Credo)
It’s far from the only way Credo is cleaning up the beauty industry. Between stringent standards on chemicals and other harmful ingredients, a focus on products that use greener alternatives like glass and paper in their packaging, and the promotion of brands that use refillable compacts and bottles, the San Francisco company is slowly helping to shrink the footprint of anyone who comes through their doors, IRL or online.
More than that, Credo is helping to raise the profile of other clean local beauty brands creating sustainable products that are effective, environmentally friendly, and, because they’re Bay Area-made, result in fewer carbon emissions getting from manufacturer to consumer.
This Earth Day, we’re tipping our hats to those companies from San Francisco and Marin to Napa and the East Bay that are going above and beyond, and calling out their most essential products to give your routine a sustainability makeover.
This article is the first in 7x7’s new sustainability series, a collaboration with Bay Area-based media company NextGen Purpose, a global network for anyone who cares about nourishing people and the planet. Catch this month’s companion piece—a deep dive conversation with Credo Beauty—on their podcast Essential Ingredients on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Exponent Beauty
(Courtesy of @exponent.beauty)
San Francisco B Corp Exponent Beauty uses an innovative delivery system for their clean, anti-aging skincare formulas. Instead of pre-mixing their active ingredients like most brands, they house them separately until you’re ready to combine them, dosing out only as much as you need at any one time. The patented packaging is refillable, and its clinical-grade serums contain only natural ingredients gentle enough for sensitive skin.
Clean Beauty Essential: Firming Filter CoQ10 Antioxidant Power Serum ($128)
// Buy online at exponentbeauty.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Mob Beauty
(Courtesy of @themobbeauty)
Sustainable, biodegradable, cruelty-free—SF-based Mob Beauty and Pact co-founder is “conscious without compromise,” substituting nourishing plant oils like bisabolol (chamomile extract) and phytosphingosine (a natural, anti-bacterial lipid) for silicones, petroleum-based oils, and micro-plastics. But it’s not just the colorful formulas for eye, lip, and face that sets Mob’s makeup apart, it’s their packaging: unique, modular, customizable palettes made from recycled materials into which shades of eyeshadows and blushes in 100 percent biodegradable packaging pop in and out.
Clean Beauty Essential: Repurpose Palette ($10) with Matte Eyeshadow ($19)
// Buy online at mobbeauty.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Gntl
(Courtesy of @gntlskincare)
The beauty industry has done a capital job of convincing us that healthy skin requires dozens of different products to maintain. Napa-born Gntl disagrees: An intentionally crafted formula can not only do the work of half a dozen products, it can promote sustainability by decreasing how much we consume. Formulated for the whole body with facial-quality standards, their Japanese-made skin wash and emulsion are a minimalist’s dream.
Clean Beauty Essential: Skin Wash ($12-38)
// Buy online at gntlskin.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Evolvh
(Courtesy of @evolvh)
Evolvh has been a pioneer in high-performance hair care since 2009. In 2021, the Petaluma-based brand added something new to their repertoire: a revolutionary formula for preventing and reversing hair loss and greying they call Better Roots. The natural, science-backed shampoo and conditioner made with extracts from pea sprouts, red clover flower, and prickly pear are an easy way to help to maintain beautiful, healthy hair at every stage.
Clean Beauty Essential: Better Roots Growth Support Conditioner ($28)
// Buy online at mybetterroots.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Innersense Organic Beauty
(Courtesy of @innersenseorganicbeauty)
Fed up with hair care products containing harmful, toxic ingredients, East Bay salon stylists Greg and Joanne Starkman set out to create effective alternatives that weren’t just good for hair, but for the body and planet, too. A certified B Corporation, Innersense Organic Beauty makes products derived from natural sources like tamanu and rosemary oils that are minimally-processed to preserve peak purity and potency. The result is a versatile line for virtually every hair type, concern, and styling need.
Clean Beauty Essential: Sweet Spirit Leave In Conditioner ($10-$28)
// Buy online at innersensebeauty.com or online/in store at credobeauty.comIris & Romeo
(Courtesy of @irisandromeo)
San Francisco’s Iris & Romeo is all about keeping things simple with sustainable products that do double duty as skincare and makeup. All-in-one heroes like 2025 Marie Claire Makeup Awards winner Weekend Skin—a mineral SPF with brightening vitamin C and a glowy tint—and plumping and hydrating Lip Cocoon Barrier Peptide Balm, help minimize your packaging footprint and the time spent getting gussied up.
Clean Beauty Essential: Weekend Skin SPF 50 + Vitamin C + Glow ($50)
// Buy online at irisandromeo.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Rye Beauty
(Courtesy of @rye.beauty)
Marin County eyebrow-shaping expert extraordinaire Michele Holmes (aka “The Eyebrow Whisperer”) spent three-and-a-half years formulating Rye Beauty Grooming Serum, a clean, nourishing eyebrow gel made with natural ingredients like aloe, green tea, castor seed oil, and so much more. Brow Milk soon followed—a gel-pomade hybrid built to lift, condition, and define with amino acids and plant extracts—a natural solution for anyone whose hair refused to grow back after overplucking in the early aughts (*raises hand sheepishly*) or cursed with wonky brows at birth.
Clean Beauty Essential: Tinted Brow Milk ($32)
// Buy online at ryebeauty.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Vertly
(Courtesy of @vertlybalm)
Greenbrae-born Vertly’s philosophy is “slower is better,” not just in terms of carving out mindful moments for self-care, but in the hand-crafting of their small-batch therapeutic bath products. Locally-sourced plants like comfrey and calendula undergo a three week extraction process that captures peak potency, before being combined with natural oils, butters, and minerals designed to hydrate and soothe sore muscles.
Clean Beauty Essential: Muscle Soak Bath Salts ($24)
// Buy online at vertlybalm.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Church California
(Courtesy of @churchcalifornia)
GQ’s Grooming Awards described Church California’s Coastal Creme Pomade as “the superfood smoothie your hair has been begging for.” Indeed, the water-based styling cream uses natural ingredients like seaweed extract and spirulina that nourishes while adding volume and hold. In addition to their pomades, Church operates what they call “the world’s first Botanical Barbershop” right around the corner from Credo’s Hayes Valley location.
Clean Beauty Essential: Coastal Creme Pomade ($30)
// 524 Octavia St. (Hayes Valley), churchcalifornia.com or buy online/in store at credobeauty.com
True Botanicals
(Courtesy of @truebotanicals)
After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer, True Botanicals founder Hillary Peterson made it her mission to develop clean beauty products that prioritized the health of both people and the planet. The first one she developed, Pure Radiance Oil, didn’t just result in glowing skin—its natural anti-aging formula outperformed a major global competitor. Today, the Mill Valley-based brand offers everything from hand cream and body oil to overnight lip treatments and sugar scrubs based on the same science-backed philosophy.
Clean Beauty Essential: Clear Pure Radiance Oil ($120)
// Buy online at truebotanicals.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Marie Veronique
(Courtesy of @marieveronique_)
Small-batch beauty brand Marie Veronique has been on a quest to heal and balance skin since 2002. Combining science with holistic medicinal traditions, their formulas are made to target a variety of common concerns, from acne to hyperpigmentation to pregnancy. The Berkeley-based company is especially known for the magic it works on aging skin, with ingredients like vitamin A-derived retinol that boost collagen production and cell turnover.
Clean Beauty Essential: Gentle Retinol Night Serum ($120)
// Buy online at marieveronique.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Kinship
(Courtesy of @lovekinship)
Marin-based Kinship was designed with science-backed pre-probiotic technology to nourish and restore sensitive skin. We love the brand’s affordable, clinically-proven Brightwave serums and creams, which use vitamin C and peptides to hydrate and reduce dark spots and fine lines, as well as their Dreamwave two percent bio-retinoid complex overnight serum which firms and tightens while you sleep.
Clean Beauty Essential: Brightwave Vitamin C Brightening + Energizing Eye Cream ($40)
// Buy online at lovekinship.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
Bathing Culture
(Courtesy of @bathingculture)
Cult-favorite Bathing Culture’s all-purpose, certified organic soaps work hard and smell great. The San Francisco Public Benefit Corporation’s biodegradable formulas are safe for use in outdoor showers and while camping, and their most beloved product—Mind and Body Wash—can be refilled at more than 200 stores nationwide.
Clean Beauty Essential: Cathedral Grove Mind and Body Wash ($10-$175)
// Buy online at bathingculture.com or online/in store at credobeauty.com
