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IN THIS ARTICLE:
Common Heir is Sustainable Skincare
To Founders Cary Lin and Angela Ubias, plastic skincare packaging is a thing of the past. The female entrepreneurs are the Founders of Common Heir, a sustainable, plastic-free skincare company. Common Heir recently launched their very first product: a Vitamin C Serum Capsule.
Common Heir is an uncommon approach to skincare. Their vegan and certified cruelty-free Vitamin C capsules contain no plastic whatsoever. Even the packaging is made of all paper materials, with inks that do not compromise the ability to recycle them. Each capsule is OECD 301F-certified, meaning that it is “readily biodegradable”. [1] Capsules will also naturally biodegrade overtime, should a user choose that exit route to their beauty product.
The Importance of Plastic Free Skincare
When creating their company, Cary Lin and Angela Ubias knew that being plastic-free was the way to go. As Lin explained, “we were frankly tired with creating products that weren’t solving the crisis and were adding to the 120 billion units of packaging a year that the industry creates annually.” Lin and Ubias found a unique window of opportunity when presented with such a distressing situation. “There weren’t any plastic-free options for the prestige skincare formulas we loved, that didn’t require a ton of excess plastic packaging. This is why we are so passionate about this issue. There really isn’t a great reason to start a company unless you’re obsessed with the problem you’re solving,” says Lin.
At Common Heir, we believe that we inherit our skin as we inherit the earth, and that ethos flows through our core — from our formulation to packaging, how we give back, and ways we’re challenging innovation in the beauty industry.
Lin says that they were “fed up” with brands claiming how recyclable their products were. While often times product packaging can be recycled, only 9% of plastics ever created have actually been processed for recycling. Which means even if you think you’re doing your part, it’s likely the packaging you recycle will never truly be recycled at all. This is because recycling is still seen as a business in the US, rather than an initiative to save the planet. If a recycling facility doesn’t deem your recycled plastic monetarily worth it, they’ll toss it into a landfill instead.
Why More Companies Aren't Plastic Free (Yet)
Plastic packaging has become a bit of an eyesore in the industry. Even with heightened awareness on the issue, it’s surprising that more companies haven’t taken the leap like Lin and Ubias have with Common Heir. Lin explains: “Many times, brands adopt wasteful packaging because retailers require them to ‘pop’ on the shelves – leading to the creation of double-walled jars just to appear bigger at a place like Target or Sephora.”
Vitamin C Serum Capsules
Common Heir is on a mission to creating sustainable luxury beauty products that deliver results. Their waterless and silicone-free Vitamin C formula is both powerful and gentle on the skin. Not only that, but their vegan and plastic-free capsules dissolve in hot water. “We want to be known for creating high-performance products that are low impact on the environment. We’d like to think of ourselves as being a gateway for more sustainable beauty swaps that still feel incredibly luxurious.” says Lin.
Types of Vitamin C in Skincare
Common Heir is formulated with Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (THD), a form of Vitamin C that has many proven benefits over L-ascorbic Acid, the most widely used form of Vitamin C in skincare products. L-ascorbic Acid tends to be more irritating for sensitive skin, less penetrating, and also more likely to turn (AKA go bad) faster. Therefore, Common Heir opted for Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate due to it’s ability to cater to sensitive skin while maintaining a stable, more penetrating formula.
Benefits of Vitamin C in Your Skincare
Long gone are the days where Vitamin C was best acquired through your morning glass of OJ. There are a multitude of benefits to adding Vitamin C to your daily skincare routine. [2] While the below points are not an all encompassing list of the benefits of Vitamin C skincare, it’s a solid start.
- Reduces inflammation & redness: Our skin can oftentimes become red due to various underlying conditions. Namely, inflammation is the general term for what ultimately causes redness in the skin. Vitamin C skincare has been proven to help ease redness and soothe inflammation of the skin.
- Fades hyperpigmentation: Hyperpigmentation includes a wide range of skincare concerns. Sun spots, age spots, melasma, and skin conditions such as rosacea or acne spots can cause such an issue. Vitamin C can fade hyperpigmentation and even impede melanin production as well.
- Promotes collagen production: Believe it or not, Vitamin C skincare can help promote collagen production, visibly backtracking signs of aging such as fine lines and wrinkles. For another collagen-boosting ingredient, check out our article here.
- Fights free radicals: Free radicals are something you likely have heard a lot about, but may not entirely understand what they are. Free radicals are unstable cells (often from pollution) that can damage the skin. [3] This can lead to skincare concerns such as premature aging. Vitamin C skincare helps fight free radicals and protects the skin from aging and illness.
Cruelty-Free & Vegan Status
Common Heir is Certified Cruelty-Free
In order for any company to be featured on Mind Over Mango, they must be 100% cruelty-free. Common Heir is certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny, meaning that they do not test their products or ingredients on animals. Furthermore, the have a 100% cruelty-free supply chain: none of their suppliers test ingredients on animals, and they do not sell they products in mainland China, where animal testing is still legalized.
Common Heir is Vegan
Common Heir is also 100% vegan. Regarding their vegan products, Lin says, “this was never in question when we designed our formulas. Like so much of the thought process behind our formulations, [being vegan] was just obvious to us.” The capsules are made using plant-based ingredients and not gelatin, an animal-derived ingredient commonly used to make capsules. As far as the Vitamin C serum inside the capsules, those are also free of any animal by-products too.
Forward Looking: Upcoming Products
Does Common Heir plan to be release new products in the future? “Absolutely!” says Lin, “We love to let our community tell us what they want to see from us next. It definitely will continue the theme of having great skincare loaded with benefits that are clinically proven, without any plastic.” If you like the idea of creating a sustainable beauty routine, give Common Heir Vitamin C capsules a shot.
