Clean beauty trades “free-from” labels for science-led standards

Clean beauty has evolved from a “free-from” label into a comprehensive beauty standard. Where consumers once looked for shorter, less synthetic ingredient lists, they now demand full transparency. 

Beauty buyers want to know: what is in a product, what each ingredient does, where it comes from, how it is sourced, and whether credible evidence backs its safety and effectiveness. This switch has pushed clean beauty to represent a holistic approach. 

Increasingly, consumers also expect brands to demonstrate strong sustainability practices, ethical supply chains, support for farming communities, and cruelty-free commitments.

Personal Care Insights speaks to BASF and Howtian about the next phase of clean beauty — where ingredient transparency, proven performance, and environmental impact converge.

“Clean beauty is no longer defined today solely by what is excluded, but by what is delivered in terms of performance, transparency, and measurable environmental impact. We see a shift from ‘free-from’ claims to formulations designed according to defined criteria such as renewable sourcing, biodegradability, and safety standards, alongside high performance,” Andrew Miller, senior marketing manager – Hair, Body and Oral Care, North America at BASF tells us. 

Balancing performance and sustainability

Consumers scrutinize ingredient lists before buying personal care products.

Consumers increasingly seek plant-based and naturally derived ingredients, but manufacturers must balance this demand with ingredients that perform effectively and deliver a pleasant sensory experience. 

“Some of the most innovative clean beauty ingredients are those that successfully combine natural origin with clear functionality,” says Fiona Liu, marketing manager at Howtian.

“For ingredients suppliers, the key challenge is enabling brand partners to meet these expectations without compromising formulation integrity. Natural origin is critical, but manufacturers also need ingredients that offer consistent quality, scalable production, appealing sensory properties, and dependable technical performance.”

Howtian details stevia as an example of this combination, particularly in oral care and lip care. Most consumers associate stevia with food and beverage products, but it also offers value in personal care applications where taste, sweetness, and sensory quality matter. 

In toothpaste, mouthwash, lip balms, and lip treatments, manufacturers are looking for alternatives to artificial sweeteners and complex taste-masking systems. Stevia can help support such efforts because it is plant-derived, familiar to consumers, and useful in formulations where sweetness and mouthfeel are part of the user experience. 

Advanced extraction technologies, compositional analysis, and clinical validation are helping transform traditional plant materials into high-performance cosmetic ingredients. Liu says this combination of heritage and scientific substantiation has become a major driver of how clean beauty is evolving. 

“One of the most significant areas of innovation in clean beauty today is the use of botanical ingredients inspired by traditional Eastern wellness practices and enhanced through modern science,” adds Liu.

BASF frames the next phase of clean beauty around “performance-driven sustainability,” defined by several developments. Miller believes bio-based and biotech ingredients will scale up, with biopolymers like its Verdessence expanding to replace fossil-based materials. 

He states that multifunctional systems will increasingly replace complex formulations, with single ingredients delivering both conditioning and sensorial benefits.

Sustainability will also become more measurable, as carbon footprint, biodegradability, and lifecycle data become standard. BASF anticipates a move toward personalized and adaptive beauty, with clean formulations tailored to individual hair, scalp, and skin needs, alongside a broader push for holistic efficiency through water reduction, energy savings, and optimized routines.

Multifunctional solutions trend

Bio-based ingredients combine natural origin with proven performance. 

Another major trend is the move toward streamlined beauty routines. Consumers are seeking products that deliver multiple benefits in a single formulation, reducing both complexity and product clutter. 

This shift creates opportunities for versatile ingredients that can perform across multiple applications. Stevia, for example, is gentle, non-irritating, and naturally sweet-tasting, making it suitable for a wide breadth of applications, including two-in-one face and body washes, natural toothpaste, and lip balms. Its familiarity and mild sensory profile resonate with consumers who increasingly value recognizable ingredients that can be used across different product categories. 

“We see innovation moving toward multifunctional ingredients, barrier-supportive skin care, fermentation-derived ingredients, upcycled materials, and simpler but more purposeful formulas. The next generation of clean beauty is not just about removing ingredients; it is about designing smarter formulations,” says Liu. 

Miller adds that the most exciting innovations are multifunctional, bio-based technologies that combine performance with sustainability. 

“Our Plantapon Amino ASP (currently available in Asia and North America) is an amino acid-based conditioning booster that transforms the hair surface through targeted surface modification,” he says. 

“By restoring hydrophobicity, it reduces fiber swelling, improving hair’s appearance while helping manage the challenges of damaged hair with porosity concerns. Its strong coacervation performance enhances deposition of conditioning agents for improved manageability and conditioning.”

Miller explains that these combined surface effects deliver fast drying and a smooth sensory experience, “elevating performance across modern rinse‑off hair‑care formulations.”  It also improves fragrance deposition on hair. 

Clean beauty surfactants 

Consumers place heavy emphasis on ingredient transparency, naturally derived formulations, and sustainability. They are increasingly rejecting harsh chemical surfactants and showing greater preference for biodegradable plant-based cleansing ingredients. 

“They are actively avoiding petroleum-based synthetic surfactants like sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, and routinely scrutinizing ingredient lists before purchasing skin care, opting for plant cleansing ingredients with transparent sourcing. Even mass-market brands no longer rely on low-cost chemical cleansing systems as their core selling point,” says Lui.

According to Howtian, plant-based surfactants such as camellia saponin are attracting growing attention in clean beauty formulation. 

“It offers a compelling value proposition through soap-free, mild-pH formulations that help support skin barrier integrity, creating a clear point of differentiation from conventional sulfate-based systems. 

Plant-based surfactants are replacing harsh sulfates in clean formulations.

Also catering to the sustainable surfactant demand, BASF has its Plantaren/Plantacare line of alkyl polyglucosides (APGs) surfactants. Miller says the line represents the clean beauty evolution by offering naturally derived, readily biodegradable (according to OECD test methods) surfactants that deliver strong cleansing performance.

“Clean now means effective, gentle, and environmentally responsible, supported by science and not just perception,” states Miller. 

Solidifying trust with science 

Miller suggests providing biodegradability data, renewable carbon content, or life-cycle indicators, where possible, for personal care solutions to solidify consumer trust. “This is favorable, as the term ‘clean beauty’ does not have a legal definition in the US and a lack of standardization can lead to misleading claims.” 

Sustainability is now embedded at the ingredient level for beauty solutions, not just as a marketing claim. 

“Ingredients are increasingly selected for low aquatic impact and readily biodegradable profiles (according to OECD test methods). Certifications and standards related to ethical sourcing, such as Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), traceability (COSMOS), and naturality (ISO 16128), are now expected,” says Miller.

“Sustainability must coexist with high sensorial performance and efficacy and not trade off against it. Clean beauty is evolving from natural and safe to smart, sustainable, and highly performant.”

BASF believes clean beauty is entering a phase of “credibility through science.” The opportunity, in Miller’s view, lies in ingredients that deliver proven performance — conditioning, mildness, deposition — are rooted in renewable chemistry like APGs and biopolymers, and enable simpler, more efficient formulations.

“The future of clean beauty isn’t about limiting ingredients. It’s about designing smarter ones that do more in terms of performance, with less environmental impact,” concludes Miller.