Indie beauty conversation with Everist
24 Aug 2021 --- Introducing the first patent-pending shampoo and conditioner concentrates, and with their sights set on patent-pending body care, Everist co-founders, CEO Jessica Stevenson and Chief Brand Officer Jayme Jenkins, talk to us about the motivation behind the brand’s waterless hair care solutions, the process of making their vision a reality, and how they hope to contribute to removing single-use plastic from consumers’ beauty routines.
What was your inspiration behind launching Everist?
We are customers first. We were looking for ways to use less single-use plastic in our beauty routine but struggled to find options that we loved in terms of performance and convenience.
What was missing from the mainstream sampling that you sought to fill with Everist?
An easy eco upgrade to our hair care routine. There are lots of great sustainable options out there, including shampoo bars and refill stores but for us, we could never make these stick.
We wanted to start with something similar to what people were used to using so that mainstream beauty customers could consider stepping into the eco space. To do this, we knew the brand and the product would need to be an upgrade in every way.
What are consumers demanding from the sustainability of their favorite beauty and personal care products and brands?
They are demanding more. More options, more benefits, more creativity. Clean, single-use, plastic free and carbon neutral are not enough. Consumers want to know if it will make their hair look amazing. We need to start thinking bigger about how we are going to solve this plastic waste crisis together.
What led you to create your “just add water” solutions for hair care?
Concentrated, waterless formats activated by the water in your home are not just the future of beauty, they are the future of many consumer industries. Home care is where we were first inspired. In an ecommerce first world, it doesn't make sense to be shipping bottles of mostly water around the world anymore.
How do your solutions answer these consumer demands?
As the first patent-pending shampoo and conditioner concentrates, our hair care is concentrated three times, completely anhydrous and 100ml (perfect for travel) and comes in a paste-format that you activate with the water in your shower.
A small strip of Everist transforms into a rich, creamy lather and smells amazing with our signature blend of essential oils with no synthetic fragrance. Capturing that sensorial experience was key for us. Doing it without sulfates, silicones and with clean and biodegradable ingredients was quite the feat.
What did the process involve from conceptualization through to commercialization?
Lots of experimentation and research and development (R&D)! We were committed to high-performance beauty without single-use plastic from the outset, but the product itself evolved over time until we knew we had something with that mainstream appeal.
We have built the Everist business through a zero-waste lens. We know there is no perfect zero-waste, but our goal is to get as close to that as possible.
For us, that means:
- No single-use plastic packaging, using aluminum tubes and implementing a closed-loop program for the caps instead
- 100% recycled paper cartons and shipping materials
- A fully carbon neutral business model, offsetting through our partner Climate Neutral
- Biodegradable, plant based ingredients
- Concentrated formats
- A local supply chain
- A 1% for the Planet partnership
And the list goes on. We do the work on the back end to make it easier for the customer to go eco.
What were the greatest challenges to achieving your vision for these solutions?
Pre-launch it was getting the formulas to a place that could compete with premium hair care using waterless, clean and biodegradable ingredients. Post-launch it is communicating all of the work we have done (and continue to do) in a simple, comprehensive way. We have a lot to say.
What are your short and long-term hopes and goals for Everist and the wider BPC industry with regards to contributing positively to sustainability?
We believe that big change happens when small changes become easy. That is our goal; to make eco easier. We will continue to innovate and think 'blue-sky,' with patent-pending body care coming next to provide our Everist community solutions where they are challenged to make sustainable swaps. We say Everist is a brand for eco-optimists.
As an industry, let's celebrate progress and not perfection, and cultivate inclusive environmentalism. Everyone is welcome on this journey, wherever they are starting from. And let's think big - we have to, and customers are ready.
By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist