ROOTED IN COMPASSION
Our Formulation Standard
At Society Botanica, our philosophy starts with compassion—for people, for the planet, and for the idea that personal care can be both beautiful and responsible. Our formulation standard was shaped by my own ethos: a refusal to settle for easy answers or pretty labels. I prefer transparency to tidy catchphrases, and I’d rather hand you the full story than a marketing slogan. The work is never static; we refine, rework, and occasionally obsess—because good enough has never been enough.
The formulas themselves blend natural-origin, natural-analog, and select synthetic materials with care, weighing not only performance but their life after use—biodegradability included. As a plant-centric brand, more than 90% of every formula and fragrance is natural origin and biodegradable, designed with both beauty and responsibility in mind.
No animal testing
Always Cruelty-Free
Society Botanica does not test on animals. As much as possible, we also validate that our ingredient suppliers do not test on animals. Testing of cosmetic products on animals is banned in 10 states in the U.S., including New York State (where Society Botanica calls home). States that currently ban animal testing on cosmetic products: New York, California, Nevada, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Virginia and Louisiana.
The Humane Cosmetics Act, or H.R. 5399, introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives in September of 2023 and reintroduced in March of 2025 would ban animal testing on cosmetic products in all 50 states. Contact your representative to help support this critical change.
BOTANICALLY INSPIRED
Plant-Centric Formulations
Plant-origin materials form the core of our products and comprise 90% or more of the formula composition.
Society Botanica uses a lesser percentage of nature identical, natural analog and synthetic materials. We have found these materials to be essential to the performance, efficacy and safety of our products and cannot be replaced by naturally derived alternatives. We rigorously evaluate all of our ingredients and only use materials with a proven record of safety and efficacy which are aligned more broadly with our formulation philosophy.
Percentage of formula made with natural origin material can be found for all of our products on the product detail pages.
protecting biodiversity
Sustainable Palm
Society Botanica is committed to using either non-palm, palm alternatives, or RSPO/Mass Balance Palm as much as possible. The farming of palm oil and its derivatives is the source of deforestation, pollution, critical threats to biodiversity, and human rights abuses.
Our efforts to ensure our formulas are either palm-free or sourced from sustainable Palm (via RSPO/MB certification) reflect our commitment to mitigating the impact of these critical issues and bringing much needed compassion to our world partners that make these products possible. Learn more about RSPO here.
Made for the sensitive types
Gentle by Design
All of our formulas are the result of extensive ingredient research to understand risk of irritation. These standards are in addition to our processes around efficacy and safety described in a separate section below.
We review the following standards to ensure mildness:
- Comedogenic rating: We acknowledge that this system is problematic, but do believe it provides helpful indicators for formulating purposes and helps us include customer perception in our formula decision making
- EU SCCS safety guidelines (see also safety and efficacy) are reviewed in combination with sensitivity risk factors
- IFRA Fragrance Standards are used to guide all formulas that contain fragrance ingredients. We take a low fragrance approach to all of our scent formulations allowing for significant headroom between our fragrance percentages in formulas and overall IFRA dictated maximums. More detail on our fragrance philosophy can be found here.
protecting our land & waterways
Biodegradability Conscious
Our responsibility as formulators includes post-use footprints. Mitigating the impact of our formulas on local waterways is a critical part of our philosophy. This is particularly important for daily-use wash off products which are largely washed down drains. We rigorously review each and every ingredient and prioritize ingredients considered readily or inherently biodegradable within a 10 and 28 day window. We do use some materials that are degradable but do not meet OECD readily/inherently degradable criteria. These materials represent a very small portion of our formulas and are only used when essential to function and are unable to be replaced by a biodegradable alterative. We do not use materials that have a PBT classification per ECHA (persistant, bioaccumulative, toxic).
Biodegradability is determined using either OECD 301/302 data and ECHA registration dossier submissions for ready or inherent biodegradability for individual materials. Biodegradability detail is provided on our product detail pages. Percent (%) biodegradable metrics indicate the percentage of formula comprised of materials that meet the ready or inherent biodegradability standards.
limiting non-renewables
Petro-Chemical Limited
Petro-chemicals and their derivatives are a diverse, common, and often hidden force in cosmetic formulations. They can be present both as feedstocks (origin materials like petroleum hydrocarbons) and processing steps resulting in natural/synthetic hybrids.
The numbers vary and are difficult to pinpoint, but personal care industry is estimated to account for <5% of total fossil fuel consumption through the use of petrochemical feedstocks (crude oil) and by-products used in processing steps (such as ethane/ethylene largely from natural gas).
Society Botanica approaches petro-chemical ingredients with a great deal of caution and respect. As non-renewable materials, they are considered precious and to be used in limited, specific ways. We take into account their negative impact on the environment, particularly in their manufacturing bi-products. The degree of this impact varies greatly by material, a factor that is taken into account in our evaluations.
It is notable that no personal care ingredient can be considered truly 'petro-chemical free' as even our agriculture is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for crop management, pesticides, and more. Our goal is to mitigate harm and weigh options that best serve our fragile world.
Our Criteria:
- Only used if it cannot be replaced with a natural origin, non-petrochemical ingredient of equal or better function
- If used, only on a limited, low input basis in any given formula.
- Eliminate or significantly limit the use of ethoxylated surfactants and emulsifiers to limit the presence of 1,4 dioxane.
- Supplier documentation must provide a certificate of analysis confirming 1,4 dioxane levels for ethoxylated materials. We conform to safe levels as established by the State of New York in 2019 (effective 2023) setting the maximum level at 2ppm for personal care products.
a strict standard
Safety & Efficacy
Society Botanica formulates to the EU standard referencing guidelines for safe use as dictated by EU SCCS (Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety) and the FDA CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). We only use ingredients with a proven record of efficacy and safety.
EU standards are more restrictive and also rigorous in their banning or restriction of ingredients available in the market compared to the United States. To date, the EU has banned over 1,700 cosmetic materials compared to 11 in the U.S. While the EU has been more prescriptive in its banning or limitation of cosmetic ingredients, US law still requires that all cosmetics produced to be safe. Safety substantiation from credible sources like the CIR and the EU SCCS are essential documentation for any formulator including Society Botanica.
We also utilize IFRA and IOFI Standards for fragrance and flavor materials respectively. Our use of fragrance is conservative and generally provides for ample headroom before reaching maximum allowable values. This helps us mitigate sensitization potential and ensure mild formulations.
Regarding Dirty Lists & Free From Claims
We do not believe in 'Dirty' lists and find free-from claims to be misleading and confusing for the customer. Many free-from claims include ingredients that are already banned and illegal for use (and surreptitiously imply they may be found in competitor products) or, alternatively, they imply ingredients are unsafe despite proven levels of safety when formulating using EU SCCS and CIR guidelines.
Some free-from claims are unecessarily broad and demonize entire categories of ingredients when only specific entries are banned or restricted. We believe in wariness, not fear when discussing which ingredients we choose not to formulate with.
We do not formulate with the ingredients detailed below. We view this as a personal formulation choice and it is not intended to demonize these ingredients more broadly except in instances where bans are already in place. Incidentally, customer perception plays a key role in our exclusion of ingredients in some cases. We are always here to answer questions about any ingredients found in our formulas.
Parabens
Ingredient Category: Preservatives
We do not use any parabens in our products including those approved for use in the EU. Parabens are long studied, highly effective, and gentle preservatives that are particularly good at providing fungicidal action when formulated safely. Our choice to not use them is largely due to consumer reaction and not a supposed safety risk. Some key facts:
- As of January 2022, the European Union (EU) has banned the use of five parabens in cosmetic products: Isopropylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Phenylparaben, Benzylparaben, Pentylparaben.
- Isopropylparaben is been banned in California (Prop65)
- Butylparaben or Propylparaben are still allowed, but restricted in the EU.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES):
Ingredient Category: Surfactants (Cleaning Agents)
Sulfates are a category of surfactants that have been broadly stigmatized as 'harsh' or 'unclean' (per Sephora's Clean Beauty standard). As formulators, we feel this broad-strokes approach to Sulfates is unreasonable and is unrepresentative of their value or role in surfactant (wash/cleanser) systems. Some sulfates, such as Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS), which appears in our hand and body cleanser, are not harsh when formulated correctly and responsibly at low levels.
We currently do not formulate with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) is believed to be comparatively milder on skin and have a reduced environmental footprint due to its structure and natural origins. This is an area of ongoing study that we continue to monitor.
Read more about Sulfates here.
Formaldehyde Releasers:
Ingredient Category: Preservatives
We do not formulate with this class of preservative due to it potential risks as a carcinogen even at low levels.
- Formaldehyde is not permitted in cosmetic products in either the U.S. or EU
- Formaldehyde is a bi-product of formaldehyde releasing preservatives is restricted to 0.001% in the EU - a threshold that was recently reduced from 0.05% in 2022 (a reduction of 50x)
- These represent a very long studied and long used category of preservatives, they are approved for restricted use in cosmetics but we have chosen not to use them given the shifting, emerging information regarding their restriction (particularly in the EU). This is not intended to imply they are unsafe.
Phthalates:
Ingredient Category: Fragrance Solvents
Phthalates are another category/class of materials that have generated animosity and confusion in equal measure. A handful of phthalates (but not all) have been found to be harmful to reproduction when tested with high levels of exposure in rodents. Society Botanica does not currently use approved pthalates in any of our fragrances largely due to perception rather than the true risk factors associated with materials that are most commonly used (and determined as safe). CosmeticsInfo.org provides an excellent summary of pthalates here.
Commonly Used 'Safe' Phthalates:
- Diethyl Phthalate is the most common phthalate associated with fragrances and perfumes and is used as a solvent for thick / resinous fragrance materials. The EU SCCS has found this material to be safe in current use levels. SCCS opinion on DEP can be found here.
- Dimethyl Phthalate (DMP) and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) have been similarly found to be generally safe when formulated safely.
Prohibited & Restricted Phthalates:
- The EU has prohibited Diisopentyl phthalate (DiPeP), Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DnPP), Isopentyl pentyl phthalate (PIPP), Di(methoxyethyl) phthalate (DMEP), Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in cosmetics
- The EU has also restricted the use of Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) in cosmetics
Other Reading on Phthalates:
- The EU SCCS opinion on Phthalates can be found here.
- FDA summary on the three most common Phthalates found in cosmetics can be found here
Nitro Musks & Polycyclic Musks:
Ingredient Category: Fragrance Materials
There are four categories of musks, most of which are synthetic aroma chemicals but a small handful are naturally derived, generally from Abelmoschus moschatus (a member of the hibscus family).
- Nitro Musks
- Polycyclic Musks
- Macrocyclic Musks
- Linear Musks (Alicyclic)
The nitro musk and polycyclic musk categories contain highly problematic materials that have been found to accumulate in adipose tissue (and breast milk) and have highly troubling environmental profiles (not biodegradable). Some of these materials have been banned (Musk Xylene) or heavily restricted (Galaxolide).
Society Botanica heavily restricts use of synthetic fragrance materials as a rule, but within the musk category we only use macrocyclic or linear musks which have been found to be safe when used in accordance to IFRA/EU guidelines and represent a more respectful environmental footprint.