Where Does B-silkTM Protein Fit in the Clean Beauty Movement?
Trends in the beauty industry come and go just as often as the sun rises. While the sun sets on most trends, some have staying power and become cornerstones in the industry. The most recent example is clean beauty. What started out as an undefined term a decade or so ago has since become a new way beauty companies formulate their products and build their brands. More than that, most consumers now expect all of their products to be ‘clean’. Read on to learn more about clean beauty and where Bolt Threads’ b-silk™ protein fits into this critical industry shift.
What is clean beauty and why should you care?
Clean beauty is about developing products that minimize negative effects on human health. Due to outdated federal legislation (last updated in 1939…yikes!), there has been little oversight as to what ingredients can be put into beauty products. As a result, there are numerous instances of harmful chemicals making their way into products that people use on their bodies every day. Thanks to the clean beauty movement, this has come under scrutiny by consumers, brands, and retailers alike. Due to vocal consumer demand, we now see retailers like Sephora and Credo applying strict ingredient standards to the brands they carry. Moreover, we are also seeing regulatory movement at the state and federal level to update legislation that will do things like increase the number of restricted ingredients for cosmetic use and give the FDA more authority to regulate cosmetic products. Exciting times! This all means that your cosmetic products are on a trajectory to be safer than they have ever been.
In recent years, the clean beauty movement has gotten an upgrade, termed sustainable beauty, which takes into account the impact the beauty industry has on the planet. While there isn’t a global definition of what sustainable beauty means, generally speaking, the term refers to brands that are making a commitment to not only address ingredient safety but that also demonstrate a commitment to reducing pollution, mitigating climate change, and enabling a circular economy. Being clean is good, but being sustainable is great! Again we have the consumers and retailers to thank for helping to shepherd sustainable beauty. Consumers are now looking for ingredients that are biodegradable, bio-based, and that are produced in a manner that minimizes the impact on our ecosystem.
The clean beauty movement has played an important role in drumming up consumer demand for safer products, which is no small feat. Retailers have gone through great strides to set data-backed standards and now it is up to the brands to provide products that meet those consumer demands and retailer standards.
B-silkTM protein is a clean + sustainable protein
When it comes to clean and sustainable beauty, the problems are easy to identify. It’s harder to find replacement solutions. This is one of the many reasons we are so proud of b-silk™ protein and the role it will play in the critical clean beauty industry shift.
At Bolt Threads, we saw a gap in the availability of materials to replace problematic (and not-so-clean), non-biodegradable polymers like silicones and animal-derived ingredients like keratin. After years of research, we discovered b-silk™ protein and found that it acts as a replacement for both silicone and keratin. B-silk™ protein provides an environmental defense to skin and hair—like silicone and keratin—while also providing superior soft texture. What’s more, is that b-silk™ protein has an impressive clean + sustainable beauty backstory. B-silk™ protein is:
- Made with a production process where the inputs are renewable (sugar, water, salt, yeast) and without the use of palm-derived ingredients
- Free of carcinogenic, mutagenic, reproductive, and endocrine disruptive contaminants
- 100% bio-based
- Biodegradable (and the degradation products are amino acids)
- Vegan
- Never tested on animals