Aprinnova paving the way for microbiome-friendly cosmetics around the globe

Today we would like to introduce you to another combatant on our mission to a microbiome-friendly world. We are talking about the team of Aprinnova and we had the pleasure to certify their emollient Neossance™ Squalane microbiome-friendly.

What is Squalane?

Squalane is a colorless oil and derived by hydrogenation of squalene. It is used as a softener in cosmetics. Squalene is found in the livers of sharks and this was the traditional basis for winning squalene (precursor of squalene). For economic and ethical concerns, the extraction focused on alternative sources like olive oil, rice and sugarcane in the past years. The company of Aprinnova relies on extracts from sugarcane as basis for their products and is supplier to the world market for high quality squalene and hemisqualane, which are the number one alternative softeners to liquid silicone.

From fighting malaria to making cosmetics less toxic

The history of the company is quite impressive. Aprinnova is a joint venture between Amyris Inc. and Nikkol Group, Amyris being derived from a project of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation with the goal of producing anti-malaria drugs and looking back on more than 1 million successful treatments. The existing platform of Amyris Inc. is today used for Aprinnova to deliver non-toxic alternatives to silicones in cosmetics to a growing world market.

Also, the parent company Amyris is venturing along with the new trend of integrating cannabinoids in cosmetic formulations – a trend that came up in the US beauty market and proved to work out well for the skin. The concept is as simple as convincing: instead of imposing more stress on the skin with toxic chemicals, the idea is to leave the skin as unharmed as possible.

Aprinnova and its parent company follow a very science-based approach and focus on R&D a lot. They strike a chord with us in seeking to keep the natural microbiome unharmed and supporting the skin in its self-healing capability, making the skin naturally beautiful. All of the companies’ lab runs are designed to provide the cosmetic industry with ingredients that do not harm the precious ecosystem on us and our very high MyMicrobiome standard could be achieved, as our tests confirmed.  

Sugarcane as the raw material with many advantages

And as usually in our reports on newly tested products we come to the conclusion that supporting your microbiome by using high-end products comes with many nice side effects. Aprinnova is proud to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases with its products compared to products gained in petrochemical processes. The raw material of sugarcane is a fast-growing, renewable source and requires less irrigation than comparable plants. And, last but not least, refraining from extracting squalene from shark livers and preferring sugarcane as source instead equals the saving of an incredible 4 millions shark lives a year.

Neossance™ Squalane officially microbiome-friendly

Conclusively, we are happy to approve Neossance™ Squalane to be microbiome-friendly and encourage all cosmetic brands for opt for microbiome-friendly emollients and other microbiome-friendly ingredients to contribute to a healthy skin microbiome and a healthy planet.