Sustainable formulation
From the outset the team at Saltee has been obsessive with formulating sustainable products.
At Saltee we truly understand the importance of environmentally friendly products and for us sustainability in formulation refers to a safer, non-toxic approach and responsibly sourced ingredients.
All Saltee formulations are therefore:
Vegan
Cruelty Free
Paraben Free
Ocean Friendly
Organic and natural
The team at Saltee are very aware that true sustainability can be hard to find and too many businesses still ‘greenwash’ rather than truly assess and improve their business to be more sustainable. We don’t always shout about it but sustainability runs through the entire Saltee formulation journey.
Kind ingredients
We have always advised our formulation chemists to work to a strict protocol. That protocol has been guided by a commitment to the kindest possible ingredients.
Palm oil and oxybenzone are absolutely off-limits for Saltee. In approving only “kind ingredients” we have remained passionate about sun safety whilst creating products that are approved for all ages, skin types and for daily use.
Saltee uses safe non-toxic chemical filters to provide SPF protection. We favour chemical UV filters in our formulation as these filters include the characteristic of allowing your skin to breath whilst having high level protection from the sun’s rays.
End-to-end supply chain
Our judgement at Saltee is that ethical standards in our Supply chain means:
- - Fairtrade products;
- - Organic and natural ingredients wherever possible;
- - Cruelty-free formulations produced without testing on animals;
- - Clear sustainability standards;
- - Limiting our overall environmental impact, measured in carbon terms;
- - Fair workers’ rights, and clear and just supply chain management.
In creating the Saltee collection we have worked to these principles in our whole supply chain.
Indeed, we have registered on the industry leading SEDEX Programme that reviews and audits the standards of consumer businesses. Ethical as well as sustainable underpins the Saltee business.
UVA and UVB protection
High factor SPF is critical to protecting our skin from the damage caused by UVA and UVB rays. That is why the minimum SPF protection that Saltee provides is SPF30 in our body products SPF50 protection in our face products.
The purpose of all SPFs is to block and/or absorb UV rays through a combination of physical and chemical particles. The current Saltee range uses chemical UV filters to protect our customers skin.
The ingredients within Saltee work by reacting with radiation before it penetrates the skin, absorbing the rays and releasing the energy as heat.
Sunlight is composed of packets of energy called photons, it’s particularly the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light photons that can cause skin damage.
UVA light penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB, destroying a structural protein called collagen. As collagen degrades, our skin loses its elasticity and smoothness, leading to wrinkles. UVA is responsible for many of the visible signs of aging, while UVB light is considered the primary source of sunburn.
DNA itself can absorb both UVA and UVB rays, causing mutations which, if unrepaired, can lead to non-melanoma (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma) or melanoma skin cancers. Other skin molecules pass absorbed UV energy on to those highly reactive ROS and free radicals.
The resulting oxidative stress can overload the skin’s built-in antioxidant network and cause cellular damage. ROS can react with DNA, forming mutations, and with collagen, leading to wrinkles. They can also interrupt cell signalling pathways and gene expression.
The end result of all of these photoreactions is photodamage that accumulates over the course of a lifetime from repeated exposure.
It is for these fundamental reasons that the Saltee collection has been created. Saltee has been designed to protect you at the highest standard while remaining sustainable to protect our planet.
