Pollution and purification have long been topics of discussion on fringe Reddit forums and at conspiracy theory dinner parties, but lately a broader group of consumers has begun to feel that something is off in their water. From incidents like the Flint River sewage spill in Michigan to new calls for UK lawmakers to address air pollution, public confidence in air and municipal water quality is hitting record lows. This is driven by growing awareness of forever chemicals and anxieties fueled by daily doomscrolling.
On TikTok, there are 513,000 posts on “how to purify tap water at home” to date. The beauty and wellness industries are starting to take notice, creating products and devices that promise purification for the skin, scalp, and hair.
“For us, it has never been about fearmongering,” says Adam Bedford, co-founder and CEO of purification brand Sans, whose sleek filtration systems are popular with wellness-conscious aesthetes. On track to hit $100 million in revenue this year, the brand’s product range has expanded to address all kinds of elemental concerns, starting with air purifiers (priced at $480+) and now including filters that remove contaminants from both drinking and bathing water. Sans profits have grown exponentially since 2020, when it did $1 million in its first year. “We’re not building a business around triggers or trends—we’re grounded in provable improvements to air and water quality and growing trust through transparent testing,” he says. “It certainly feels like the right space to be building in, because there are tailwinds and an increasing number of people who care about purification.”
Sans’s recent release is well positioned to capture consumers shopping online for renter-friendly countertop reverse osmosis devices. There were 292K searches for “best reverse osmosis water filter” on TikTok this month.
Water filtration white space
Hard water, found in the southwest and midwest of the US, the south of England, and large parts of Southern Europe, is a growing consumer concern. Limescale and build-up have been proven to increase the risk of skin conditions like eczema and reduce the efficacy of skin and hair products.
Founded in Liverpool, purification brand Curo aims to tackle the problem. Specializing in a stylish suite of KD55 showerhead filters, the brand has recently been picked up by leading UK retailer Boots. For founder Harry Bilby, filtration wasn’t just booming business—it was personal. “I suffered badly with dermatitis in my beard; I’d brush and be covered in flakes,” he explains. “On a holiday abroad, my symptoms strangely cleared up.”
Back home, Bilby went down a rabbit hole of research that revealed 52 contaminants in Liverpool tap water. “Chlorine, arsenic, and pesticides were just a few of the things I found. Water companies are obliged to tell customers, but they often bury it in misleading, hard-to-find reports in the backlinks of their websites,” Bilby says. Since then, he’s built an open-source report aggregating water quality data for postcodes across the UK, and expanded Curo’s offering to include filters that fit directly on consumer faucets.
Widely considered the gold standard for in-shower filters, KDF-55 sediment features alongside granules of activated carbon inside Curo’s showerhead cartridge.
Dermatologists and trichologists online have been legitimizing such devices as part of their social media prescriptions for alleviated eczema, improved hair growth, and clearer skin. The market is ripe for similar filtered showerheads and not yet saturated in the UK—though with new, luxe launches from Water2, HelloKlean, and Sans on the horizon, strong competitors are emerging in the space.
How, then, do you differentiate your product offer before the purification market hits saturation? Karlee Zhang, CMO and co-founder of water purification brand Hello Klean, has a pretty solid playbook to draw from. The brand, which specializes in filtering showerheads, is on track to double year-on-yeHello Klean aims to reach £20 million in revenue by the end of 2026. “Education has to be available, relatable and bite-sized: if we’re using niche plumbing terminology, it can overwhelm the consumer. We found success translating things into a context the beauty and wellness consumer already knows and understands,” Zhang explains. To further capitalize on demand, Hello Klean launched a supporting range of chelating hair and body care products, which chemically bind to and remove hard water build-up. The latest addition to Hello Klean’s product line is the Showerhead+, a smart filter that syncs with an app to let consumers monitor filter lifespan, as well as in-shower habits like using water at temperatures that damage skin and hair.
Photo: Courtesy of Hello Klean
These products, including its Anti Breakage Hard Water Shampoo (£12), work in tandem with the hero showerhead SKU (£120). But they also perform on their own, offering lower-cost, entry-level ways into the Hello Klean world. (With the shampoo, for example, customers can buy into the HK ecosystem at a tenth of the cost of the latest Showerhead+.)
Something in the air
Polluted water isn’t the only cause for concern among the wellness set. Post-pandemic, attention has turned to airborne contaminants, too.
Enter Matt Jennings, director of innovation at Dyson. Responsible for engineering many of the brand’s market-leading designs, he’s well-versed in what consumers across demographics want — and need — in the air purification space. “What we notice is people can be very reactive to large-scale or visible sources of pollution. For example, during events like the pandemic or wildfires, we see a spike in demand for air purifiers,” he explains. What’s less known is that indoor activity — cooking, keeping pets, burning candles and spraying perfumes — generates pollutants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Jennings adds. “The data shows that indoor air quality is generally worse than it is outdoors,” he says, “so educating the consumer with validated research has become a big part of our strategy.”
Instagram content
New for 2026, Dyson’s Find+Follow Purifier incorporates intelligent machine learning sensors to follow users around a room, directing cool, purified air where it’s needed most. Its distinctive, gilded design has proven popular with affluent customers, because it inspires trust through advanced engineering while possessing distinct experiential allure. In an era where consumers are seeking solutions for climate change, protection from airborne diseases and the cachet that comes with ‘no-tox’ lifestyles, such designs set Dyson apart from its competitors in the air treatment space.
The Find + Follow Air Purifier senses areas of high air pollutants in the home – such as where residents are cooking, smoking or burning candles – and adjusts its position to clean this air.
Photo: Courtesy of Dyson
Pure hearted
As efficient as air and water purifiers may be, some companies are pushing purification to the extreme, with blood purifying wellness procedures. At London’s Clarify Clinics, founder Yael Cohen has developed the controversial Clari Procedure, a patented two-hour IV treatment that claims to purify the blood plasma. “A lot of our patients are interested in removing microplastics and forever chemicals inside, essentially addressing the toxin burden in the body and the system-wide inflammation associated with it,” Yael says. “In simple terms, it’s subtractive medicine — aiming to remove things from your blood plasma that shouldn’t be there, while gently preserving the things that should like your blood cells.”
Apheresis (blood purifying) originated within the healthcare space, but the new wave of private clinic procedures like Clari is not arriving without scrutiny. Critics in the medical community highlight concerns over costs, risks, and a lack of peer-reviewed, long-term benefits, particularly of filtering plastics from the blood of otherwise healthy people outside of a standard hospital seInside Clarify Clinic’s proprietary centrifuge machine, which is designed to filter contaminants out of human blood.
Photo: Courtesy of Clarify Clinics
Aware of the skeptics, the founders say the Clari procedure is not a cure but should be seen as one tool within a broader set of lifestyle changes that can reduce exposure to contaminants. “Clari offers a first-of-its-kind, incremental benefit, but it is more of a turbocharging catalyst for lifestyle changes people still have to make,” says David Cohen, a chemical engineer and board member at Clarify Clinic. “We tell our patients there are many ways to lower your exposure without our procedure, like not drinking from plastic water bottles, choosing natural fibers instead of things like polyester underwear, and using fewer products that contain PFAS.”
Clean cosmetics — legitimate or language laundering?
Cosmetic brands that cater to these lifestyle shifts could see more uptake from discerning consumers. Some, like 14 Day Mani, have already benefited from building this into their offer from the start. “Hema-free wasn’t a trend for us — it was one of our founding principles,” says founder Susan Cummings, referring to her choice to leave Hema (a chemical commonly found to cause skin irritation in gel polishes) out of all 14 Day Mani products.
The brand also stocked TPO-free nail polishes well before the recent ban, following the gel polish ingredient’s link to reproductive risk. “I wanted to develop a professional-quality manicure system that delivered exceptional results while taking a more considered approach to ingredients,” Cummings says. “My philosophy has always been that beautiful nails should never come at the expense of health.”
Neal’s Yard Remedies CEO Anabel Kindersley echoes that sentiment. In 2016, she successfully lobbied the UK Parliament to ban the use of microplastic beads in rinse-off cosmetics. “The renewed conversation around PFAS is prompting many people to take a closer look at the ingredients in their beauty products, but we have always applied the precautionary principle: if there is reasonable doubt about an ingredient, we would rather leave it out. That has shaped our formulations.”
Authenticity is the watchword here. While there is demand, the clued-up beauty customer can spot virtue signaling from a mile away. Clean language alone no longer cuts it, according to findings from a 2026 WGSN report. Beauty brands positioning themselves around purity must present meaningful results to substantiate any claims — and to actually earn sales.
“Consumers are more discerning about ingredient language — ‘natural’ is not a synonym for effective, and ‘synthetic’ is not a synonym for unsafe,” agrees Rita El Khouri, research and innovation SVP at K18. The brand’s Peptide Detox shampoo, which adsorbs hard water deposits to thoroughly clean hair, has amassed 238,000 impressions on TikTok this month and can consistently be found topping the app’s popular searches section. “Our launches resonate when the consumer can connect the promise to evidence that the intervention creates meaningful improvements,” adds El Khouri.
With the purification industry on track to reach $35 billion in less than a decade, brands that capitalize on purification with prescient solutions have opportunity ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs Beauty Brands Pursuing Purity in a Polluted World
1 What does purity mean in beauty products
It usually means products made without questionable ingredients like parabens sulfates phthalates or synthetic fragrancesand made with clean traceable ingredients
2 Why are beauty brands focusing on purity now
Because of rising pollution consumer demand for safer products and growing awareness of how ingredients affect skin and health
3 Does clean beauty have an official definition
No Theres no legal standard so each brand defines clean differently Always check the ingredient list not just the label
4 Is pollution actually bad for my skin
Yes Pollutants like smog and particulate matter can clog pores cause dullness and speed up signs of aging by creating free radicals
5 How do antipollution products work
They typically form a protective barrier neutralize free radicals with antioxidants and help remove pollutants during cleansing
6 What ingredients should I look for in antipollution skincare
Antioxidants like vitamin C vitamin E green tea and niacinamide Cleansers with gentle surfactants also help remove buildup
7 Are pure or natural products always safer
Not necessarily Natural ingredients can still cause allergies and some pure labels are marketing Patchtest and read labels
8 Whats the difference between clean natural and organic beauty
Natural means derived from nature organic refers to farming standards clean is a vague marketing term None are strictly regulated in most places
9 Can pure products actually protect my skin from pollution
They can helpantioxidants and barriersupporting ingredients reduce damagebut no product blocks pollution completely Cleansing well matters just as much
10 What are common problems with pure beauty products
Shorter shelf life higher prices fewer proven preservatives and greenwashingbrands exaggerating how clean they really are
11 How can I spot greenwashing
Look for vague claims like chemicalfree missing full ingredient lists or fearbased marketing Check certifications and ingredient transparency
12 Do pure products expire faster
Often yes because they use fewer or