About CertClean

North America’s leading certification for safer beauty.

CertClean helps shoppers discover safer beauty products — and gives the brands making them the distinction they deserve.

The conundrum

Shoppers struggle to recognise safer beauty products on store shelves because they’re practically indistinguishable.

There’s a growing awareness that large companies use questionable ingredients such as talc and parabens. So shoppers turn to brands that use marketing buzzwords like “natural” and “organic” — and rightfully assume they’re protecting themselves from harm.

But in Canada, if just one chemical in a cosmetic is natural or organic, the product is legally allowed to be marketed as entirely natural or organic. So how can shoppers avoid questionable chemicals? And how can brands that don’t use harmful chemicals get recognised for their superior formulations?

The solution

CertClean: the certification shoppers trust. The distinction brands need.

With clean beauty products proudly bearing the CertClean logo, shoppers can confidently and easily discover safer beauty and personal care products. At the same time, clean beauty brands get the authentication and distinction they deserve.

CertClean vets products formulated without the use of potentially harmful ingredients — carcinogens, chemicals that may affect our hormonal system, reproductive system, neurological system, and more.

We are not a certification for products with a certain quantity of natural or organic ingredients. We are a certification for products free from ingredients that may pose risk to human health. CertClean prioritises human health over the use of organic and natural ingredients.

The journey

To date, we have certified over 800 products from 50+ brands across North America.

CertClean was born from the perverse irony that most of the products people use to look better on the outside may cause long-term harm internally. For over two years, we developed rigorous certification standards and eligibility criteria that take into consideration the latest science. And through our Clean Beauty Awards, we’ve been showcasing the best of the bunch by awarding — and consequently promoting — the best performing clean beauty products.

The vision

CertClean certified products found in every bathroom.

A good day is when we certify new clean beauty products so these changemakers can get the distinction they deserve. A great day is when we simplify shoppers’ experience to discover good clean cosmetics and personal care products.

Help us get there by staying in touch via social and our newsletter, passing this info along to your family and friends, and directing clean beauty brands our way. Together, we can create a better beauty standard and change the status quo.

Message from the founder

Founder portrait

Growing up as an environmentalist with severe nut allergies, reading labels and avoiding questionable chemicals has always been an integral part of my life.

With more and more of our everyday beauty products claiming to be “all-natural” or “organic,” many people are being tricked into buying products that aren’t what they claim to be. Currently, in Canada, if just one ingredient is natural, the entire product can be labelled “natural.” The idea for CertClean was born out of this distraught reality.

Armed with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, seven years as a board member for an environmental health charity, and over ten years of experience within the environmental sector, I set out to make it easy for friends and family to discover safer skincare — while helping the underdog making safer products not only survive, but thrive.

Together, we will make safer skincare the new norm.

Ready to get certified?

Start your CertClean assessment today.

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