The Future Of Clean Care: Building Brands Based On Integrity Not Hype

Forbes

5 days ago

The future is not just about finding a better deodorant. It's about finding a brand at the store ... More that you feel good and that who's mission you can get behind.
A decade ago, clean care was a niche. It was relegated to farmers' markets and indie apothecaries. Today, it's reshaping the personal care industry, and it's doing so quietly, sustainably, and with what some could call spirit.
The next generation of beauty will probably not be defined by celebrity launches or flashy VC rounds. It'll probably be led by founders who value radical simplicity, performance-first products, and environmentally friendly products that walk the walk and talk the talk. And increasingly, it's driven by consumer demand for more than just clean ingredients. More and more consumers, especially the younger generation who want clean intentions behind the brands they support.
Take Humble Brands, for example. It was founded by Google veteran Jeff Shardell in Taos, New Mexico. According to Humble, they didn't begin the brand with the intent to disrupt the $500 billion personal care space, they actually started it with a question: Why was it so hard to find a deodorant without chemicals you couldn't pronounce? From that question, their company and their brand was born. You might have come across Humble in your local Target or Walmart and the brand now boasts loyal customers, an expanding product line, high-profile collaboration with actor and environmentalist Jason Momoa (now of Minecraft movie fame), and a growing fan base with Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
But Humble's story is more than a case study in scaling a clean care brand. It's a window into where the category is heading next and what it takes to win consumer trust in a post-greenwashing world and a world where next-gen consumers can be demanding.
Consumers, especially younger ones, no longer equate more with better. They seek out brands that ... More lead with honesty.
So legacy brands are scrambling to retrofit sustainability into their product lines. Clean care upstarts, on the other hand, are building it into their DNA from their inception. That means formulating with fewer ingredients, rejecting unnecessary packaging, prioritizing transparency from the start, and focusing on simple, clear, and verifiable messaging.
Brands like By Humankind, Necessaire, and Fussy have leaned into minimalism and not just in design, but in formulation. Products are stripped down to what works. Consumers no longer equate more with better; they want efficacy and honesty, not endless SKUs, fillers, and empty marketing promises.
Humble, for instance, built its business around a four-ingredient deodorant. No preservatives. No greenwashing. Just performance. 'Do one thing well,' says Shardell, 'and don't move on until you've earned trust.'
Jeff Shardell, started Humble with a question: Why was it so hard to find a deodorant without ... More chemicals you couldn't pronounce?
Today's clean care consumers expect more than natural. They want brands that consider the full lifecycle of a product, all the way from how ingredients are sourced to the impact the product has in the world.
That's where things like innovations in packaging come into sharp focus.
In the case of Humble's collaboration with Jason Momoa, the brand prioritized biodegradable, paper-based tubes, which marked a shift. According to the brand, this seems to now be driving 15 percent of deodorant sales and growing fast. It's not just a celebrity vanity line, it's a functional experiment in sustainable delivery, inspired by a customer-turned-partner who deeply cares about ocean health.
Across the category, others are following suit. Everist has pioneered waterless, concentrated formulas in aluminum tubes. Plus launched body wash sheets that dissolve in the shower. Packaging is no longer an afterthought, the packaging becomes part of the product.
Next-gen consumers are going for brands like Pipette, Attitude, Blueland, Humankind, Necessaire, ... More Humble and Fussy, who focus on integrity, rather than hype.
Clean care brands are proving that scale doesn't have to mean dilution. In fact, the most promising companies are those that resist the urge to expand too quickly or chase shelf space for ego's sake.
Instead, they're choosing conscious growth, refusing to launch new SKUs until sustainability standards are met, producing more and more products in-house to maintain quality, and hiring teams aligned with their mission rather than just for industry pedigree.
Brands like Pipette, Attitude, and Blueland are forging new models of operational excellence leveraging vertical integration, direct-to-consumer agility, and AI-powered forecasting to stay nimble while growing responsibly.
Packaging is no longer an afterthought, the packaging becomes part of the product.
As the clean care category matures, we're entering a new phase: one defined by bioinnovation, AI-driven product development, and consumer intimacy at scale.
Humble is already exploring bioplastics, which are plant-based materials that replicate plastic's functionality while remaining compostable. At the same time, the company is experimenting with generative AI models to map emerging ingredient preferences, track real-time sentiment shifts, and test new scent profiles before they're even formulated.
It's a far cry from the old-school focus group. This is next-gen R&D, and it's giving clean care startups a serious edge over their legacy competitors.
In the past, luxury was about scarcity and sophistication. In the future, it will partly be about ... More integrity, sustainability, and design simplicity.
In the past, luxury was about scarcity and sophistication. In the future, it will partly be about integrity, sustainability, and design simplicity.
That's why clean care brands are well positioned for this shift in consumer behaviour. They aren't trying to emulate traditional prestige playbooks, they're rewriting them. They're premium not because of celebrity hype, but because of trust, craftsmanship, and values-led growth.
As new technologies unlock better materials and more responsive formulations, and as consumers grow more ingredient-savvy, the bar will only rise. Brands that cut corners, fake green credentials, or chase shortcuts will love marketshare. The clean care revolution isn't a fleeting trend. It's a permanent shift in consumer values and brand behavior, especially as it pertains to younger demographics making choices with their disposable income.
And while companies like Humble may not be chasing unicorn valuations or glossy ad campaigns, they're doing something far more impactful. They are reshaping personal care into something that's actually personal.
The future is not just about finding a better deodorant. It's about finding a brand at the store that you feel good and that who's mission you can get behind.