Jayme Jenkins and Jessica Stevenson, the co-founders of Everist, image source: Provided by Everist

When something does not exist, go ahead and create it yourself.

This is the arduous task that Jayme Jenkins and Jessica Stevenson assumed when former beauty executives asked this question in 2019: "What would a beauty company without disposable plastic look like?"

They don't know the answer (for now), but after two years of research and development, testing, testing, and retesting—even in difficult situations and maintaining an optimistic attitude—they got the answer: Everist.

Everist is a beauty brand focusing on the first patent-pending water-free concentrate for hair and body. It uses a triple concentrated cream, rich in ingredients that are good for hair and skin, and is activated by water in the shower. The brand puts a whole bottle into a 100ml travel-friendly aluminum tube-and it is very impactful.

Why is a waterless key? Because traditional shampoo contains more than 70% water.

By completely removing the moisture in the formula, the co-founders of Everist no longer need to add preservatives (because water promotes bacterial growth), creating an ultra-clean, plant-based cutting-edge formula that keeps hair and skin happy and healthy.

As Jenkins explained: "We have more and more awareness of plastic waste in the industry. Our initial question was, how can we beautify without disposable plastic? We don’t have a brand name, and we have no plans for the product. But this is what we want to understand. Therefore, we spent nearly two years exploring different business opportunities and keeping this question in mind."

The "adding water" technology they created won Jenkins and Stevenson the title of "Time" magazine's "2021 Best Inventions" list. Everist's patent-pending water-free hair care concentrate has only made it to the famous list in the beauty category among the other three brands-an admirable feat.

This recognition proves that the founders are committed to revolutionizing the beauty industry and have a positive impact on the environment, while providing their growing community of "ecological optimists" with the opportunity to make sustainable choices.

In addition to other awards and honors from the co-founders, who can now add "female inventors" to their resumes?

The titles that Jenkins and Stevenson have won include: ELLE "Green Beauty Star Award", Popsugar "Awareness Beauty Award", one of Vogue Magazine's 2021 "Best New Sustainable Beauty Products", Cosmopolitan "Holy Grail Beauty Award" , "Men's Health" Beauty Award" and Kit Beauty Disruptor Award.

Everist has just started.

In April, the brand became a climate-neutral certified carbon-neutral brand. In May, they were listed on Credo Beauty (the first appearance as the second largest hair care brand) — Credo is Everist’s success as a brand that speaks for itself. The ultimate proof of the commitment to continuous development, because it sets clean and beauty standards-and was launched on Well.ca in July and sold out during the launch.

When it comes to Everist's formula, the evidence is very simple. Everist's CBO Jenkins and CEO Stevenson were inspired by the emerging trend of water-activated tablets in home care products and decided to start applying this concept to hair care. This is how it works: Everist's shampoo and conditioner are paste-like, and will become foamy foam and essence-like conditioner after being activated with water.

 Its pasty formula is moisturized with aloe vera and vegetable glycerin, while emblica oil is used to strengthen strands, and peppermint oil is used to increase scalp circulation. Due to the positive evaluation of its influence, performance and fragrance, Everist added a patent-pending anhydrous shower gel and a compostable konjac sponge to its product line in October.

Everist waterless shampoo and conditioner, image source: provided by Everist

Jenkins and Stevenson first met during the Ivey Business School program at Western University and kept in touch-they both work in the beauty industry and have more than 20 years of experience in different CPG brands.

(Jenkins received his sustainability certificate at Oxford University in 2013.)

For Jenkins, when she became a mother for the first time, her footprints and environmental impact began to spread. "My entire exploration started when I was on maternity leave with my daughter. I was at home and I started paying very serious attention to what I was doing and how they affected the world."

Although Everist is making an impact, the co-founder of the brand does not claim to be perfect. This is why they call themselves and the communities they create "imperfect environmentalists."

Optimism is one of Everist's main brand values: it can be seen in its approachable, friendly copywriting and brand information, as well as the yellow highlights on the website and packaging.

But in terms of clean aesthetics, sustainability and ecological drive, there is always a lot of work to do-so Jenkins and Stevenson have been working hard to make the mission the core of their business and brand.

Everist's products do not contain disposable plastics (its tubes are 99.7% pure aluminum and can be recycled indefinitely). It also uses biodegradable ingredients in its formulations and produces it with the smallest possible carbon footprint (and then offsets it to achieve carbon neutrality). Its products are carefully designed from the inside out, just like the way they do business.

As Stevenson explained, “There are some very key benefits. When it comes to this product, its concentration is three times that of the original, so it’s very compact. So it’s already smaller, which means a smaller carbon footprint. . It requires less packaging, so you have less waste at the end of the day. In our case, we make sure it is disposable and free of plastic."

(In the United States, it is estimated that more than 552 million shampoo bottles end up in landfills each year, which is enough to fill 1,164 football fields. Once in the landfill, these bottles take an average of 450 years to decompose.)

After many trial and error, when they finally managed to get the paste out of the tube, they knew they were doing something.

"We really let this paste last a long time, but the day we took it out of the tube, it was a real celebration!" Jenkins shared. "There are a lot of different moving parts-making the paste the right texture, making it stable, making the performance right, and getting it to work with the aluminum tube components is very tricky. So there are many different challenges along the way. That's why The reason why the development process takes several years to bring it to market."

As for solving this difficult task, here are the ideas behind the Everist brand:

"How do you come up with a name that is neither green nor necessarily ecological, that sounds very open? Everist is the name of our customers-they will consider their permanent impact when making a purchase decision," Jenkins explained . "So this is what the'eternalists' mean to us. There is too much doom and gloom in the climate space now, so we want to provide that feel-good element. This is about taking people to their ecological journey Anywhere in the world."

Stevenson added: "There must be a meaning of mountain, but it is also about customers who want to make small changes in their daily lives to accumulate a big impact."

This is about motivating the public to make changes to the ecology, not whether they are doing it perfectly. It feels like a difficult task and demands. It is also about never preaching, but approaching sustainability and action from a place of truth and transparency.

Although the impact of our purchases on the planet is serious, Everist has taken a more relaxed approach in terms of tone and information delivery.

"We don't need a hundred people to achieve zero waste perfectly — we need millions of people to work hard to get better, no matter how they are," Jenkins asserted.

Every element of the brand’s packaging is intentional: the color and the brand are gender-inclusive (Everist has been listed as an excellent fitness shampoo in men’s magazines), and the tube is equipped with a metal key, which can be The paste is taken out of the tube. There is also a "cover back" procedure where the user can send the cover back in the cotton bag provided in the package, once it is full. Although technically recyclable PET plastic, the co-founders of Everist knew that plastic would usually end up in the trash. To ensure they get a second life, the brand brings them back to upgrade to future Everist products.

This is about opening people to the ecology through dialogue, rather than closing people to take more action. "We need everyone to move in that direction. Therefore, we really want to welcome as many people into the ecological space as possible," Jenkins added.  

Stevenson asserted: "We want to build the company of the future. Obviously, we will not be perfect. We know. But as long as we accept this and keep an open mind and grow-we are excited about the future."

As far as Everist is concerned: the future of cleansing and beauty is bright.