Everist’s Groundbreaking Waterless Shampoo and Body Wash

Your average bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash contain over 70 percent water, which means that each year, companies expend tons of resources shipping bottles of (primarily) water around the world. Frustrated with the wasteful and water-heavy contents of traditional personal care products, Toronto-based Jessica Stevenson and Jayme Jenkins — alumni of Revlon and L’Oreal, respectively — did what any entrepreneurial, eco-minded millennials would: They went the DIY route.

The result is Everist, a line of vegan hair and body products rolled out in early 2021, all of which are completely waterless on the inside and waste-free on the outside. “To really get mainstream appeal, Everist needs to be better than the status quo,” says Jenkins. “In beauty, you need to make products that smell better, look better, and feel better, yes, but you can also really make a big change.”

What it is: The first-ever waterless concentrate for hair and body (patent pending).

Why it’s worth considering: From both an environmental and a health perspective, shampoos and body products are among our sneakier household hazards. In addition to the water content, many formulas are bottled using single-use plastics and filled to the cap with unpronounceable synthetic ingredients. Everist’s suite of products, on the other hand, consist of a 100-percent plant-based paste that works with all hair types, travels in a 100mL aluminum tube (that’s infinitely recyclable), and contains a blend of delightful smelling essential oils that leave hair feeling healthy and soft. Bonus: They’re entirely free of the usual beauty-product nasties, like parabens, sulfates, silicones, dyes, and, happily, cruelty.

How Everist works: With wet hair and hands, Everist users can use a provided metal tube key to roll out a one-inch strip of concentrate from the container. The formula activates (read: gets really sudsy) on contact with water. A full wash or condition should take about 30 seconds.

Why it’s unique: In addition to taking water (mostly) out of the equation, Stevenson and Jenkins also committed to innovating where Everist’s packaging was concerned. They scrapped traditional single-use plastics in favour of recyclable aluminum tubes, which are a third of the size of typical shampoo and conditioner vessels, with a third of the usual carbon impact. “In beauty, you’re basically shipping plastic bottles, filled with mostly water, around the world,” Jenkins says. “We didn’t initially have a plan for what the product would be, but we were guided by the problem of doing beauty without single-use plastic — so we explored all the options.”

The bottom line: Jenkins says Everist’s mandate really boils down to a bona fide obsession with “making eco easier.” They concede that while “few brands are 100% waste-free” — whether due to supply-chain requirements or other manufacturing realities — Jenkins and Stevenson are doing their darndest to get as close as possible to zero. Everist’s product tubes are 99.7 percent aluminum (hello, blue bin!), its shipping paper is recycled craft, its ingredients are biodegradable, and Everist’s Cap Back program allows users to send back their concentrate caps, free of charge, to be upcycled by the brand. They’ve also partnered with Climate Neutral, as a commitment to becoming a totally carbon-neutral operation, and 1% for the Planet, to remove plastics from the world’s oceans. “We’re really thinking about the full 360 of the product,” says Jenkins. “And for the customer, it’s just a really easy, upgraded eco experience.”

Where to buy it: $28, at Helloeverist.com and Well.ca.