What does 'Dermatologically Tested' really mean?
Although Dermatologically tested isn't tightly regulated as a claim, it usually means the product has been patch tested in some way. Although this sounds reassuring, the problem is there is...
"It dramatically improved the feel and appearance of my skin"
Radiant skin starts with a gentle cleanser
Who's been talking about us?
THE DIFFERENCE
As gentle as water
Beautiful textures and exciting ingredients can feel risky if your skin is sensitive. Yet using the most reliable pharmacy skincare can feel like being on a skincare diet.
Our promise is to give you the best of both worlds: formulas with feel-good textures and beautiful ingredients that are also radically gentle.
We ensure true gentleness by testing finished formulas with an extra sensitive testing technology. Our standard is to achieve the maximum mildness score – the same as pure water.
When your skin is un-stressed, it can work, feel and look better.
Environmental Moisture light and Moisture Restore Rich are being updated in the lab and will return later
Unique formulation
Designed from scratch by an independent chemist with personal experience of highly reactive skin.
Gentle as water
Verified non-irritating using an extra sensitive mildness test.
British made
Manufactured in the English countryside with third party certification of GMP ISO 22716 and ISO 9001 standards, to ensure the highest quality.
The library
Indie beauty, fast beauty and the machine behind the skincare boom
When Harborist started in 2017 (or 2015 if you count R&D) independent skincare brands were a bright speck on the landscape. Following this venture capital money began to flow into the beauty industry,...
Skincare vs. your microbiome
Your skin has 1 billion microorganisms per square centimetre. No two people’s microbiomes are the same, and yours will vary throughout your life, influenced by multiple factors including the environment, age, hormones, and...
All about the base - what the ingredient list won't tell you
The advice for choosing sensitive skin products is usually about what to avoid, like fragrance, or include, such as soothing actives. But this tick-list approach ignores one of the most...
Our Balm-Gel cleanser is 5 years old!
I started with one mission, to make the gentlest cleanser possible. And the tricky bit- it had to feel great and work too. When Harborist launched in 2017, the few...
How are your skincare ingredients made?
From plant, to lab, to bottle - does it matter how your skincare ingredients are made? You may have heard claims that natural extracts are more skin compatible, or lab-made ingredients...
A whole-plant extract vs. lab-made ingredient - which is best?
Often the difference between a lab-made ingredient and a plant extract or oil is that one is complex, and the other simple. In contrast to something like squalane, plant oils...
Should you double cleanse with sensitive skin?
Do you need to double cleanse, or is once enough? Your genes, the products you’re trying to remove and even the pH of your water can change the effect of a...
The misunderstanding of mild
Harborist was created to improve the experience of people with sensitive skin. Part of that poor experience is the difficulty in identifying which products are gentle enough. Claims like 'dermatologically...
Why an ingredient list won't tell you how irritating a products is, and what to look for instead.
Like a car can only get you from A to B when there's petrol in the tank and a driver behind the wheel, irritation happens when all the right conditions...
Hyaluronic acid - three myths you need to know.
Hyaluronic acid is everywhere because it's a great humectant. It holds onto water, helping to keep it in your skin. But some of the myths surrounding this ingredient can make choosing the...
Biotechnology, food waste and green chemistry - it's the future.
I know many of you care about sustainable sourcing. There's a growing awareness that naturally derived ingredients aren’t a magic bullet - they have an environmental and social impact too.I...
How a treatment for hayfever can also protect your skin.
The environment and your skin Part 2. You can find part 1 here. You can control what you put on your skin, but you can't control the environment. A...
Pollution and your skin
Anti-pollution started becoming 'buzzy' in skincare a few years ago leading people (me included!) to question if it's just another marketing claim.If you've ever moved from a polluted city to...
Can you replace what your skin is missing?
Skin-identical ingredients are those that are naturally present in our skin; we include some in future formulations. Things your body already makes have a compatibility advantage - in theory, you're...
Alpha Bisabolol - the skin-soothing ingredient with a sustainability problem.
Someone once asked how I went about sourcing ingredients, and the answer I gave was through an online database called UL prospector. I later wondered if they were disappointed with...
Skincare and allergies
With nutrition regularly stripped out of our food through industrial processing, we long for ingredients that resemble their natural state as closely as possible. It makes sense we want our...