Three Dermatologists Create The Brand Vetted Dermlab To Set A New Standard For Hypoallergenic Skincare

Over the last decade, Vetted Dermlab co-founders and dermatologists Carina Woodruff, Lindy Fox and Nina Botto, who collectively possess more than 30 years of medical experience, have treated countless patients with skin damaged by harsh skincare practices and allergies to skincare ingredients.

Some patients even dragged suitcases stuffed with thousands of dollars’ worth of skincare products into their offices, wondering which precise product was the culprit. “After skin tests, it always comes back that 95% of what makes their skin sick from a contact allergy, either allergic or irritant, is their skincare,” says Botto.

Given that there’s in excess of 4,000 known skin allergy-provoking sensitizers in skincare and haircare products, Botto, Woodruff and Fox conclude it makes sense they’re leading to patients’ skin struggles. Fox understands her patients’ struggles personally and professionally. A few years ago, she suffered from contact dermatitis and discovered she’s allergic to a number of skincare ingredients. When surveying the skincare landscape for products without them, she wasn’t satisfied.

“Most of the products are so medicinal and lack anti-aging and power-packed ingredients like vitamin C, yet are full of allergens and irritants,” says Fox. “There was nothing that we could find that was an elevated option that checked all the boxes—efficacious, safe, science-driven and hypoallergenic. So, that’s when we started talking about making Vetted Dermlab.”

People with sensitive, reactive skin often veer toward clean skincare products because they believe they’re safer choices, but clean skincare products aren’t necessarily safer. Especially because there’s no universal definition of clean, those people may have difficulty separating out the products that work for their skin from those that don’t. In fact, Botto, Woodruff and Fox point out that plant-based ingredients popular in clean beauty products can be triggering. Essential oils, for example, tend to instigate allergic reactions.

“All this causes a lot of confusion for patients and consumers,” says Woodruff. “There is so much noise in the marketplace, and consumers are constantly trying to find meaning in words and claims like ‘hypoallergenic,’ ‘clean,’ ‘natural’ and ‘dermatologist-approved,’ which all exist without concrete definition.”

“There was nothing that we could find that was an elevated option that checked all the boxes—efficacious, safe, science-driven and hypoallergenic.”

Although there’s no concrete definition of “clean,” Botto, Woodruff and Fox believe it can have merit in the beauty marketplace to guide consumers to better-for-you products. However, they argue most skincare products labeled as clean aren’t truly clean because they’re not hypoallergenic, thus likely to stoke allergies. They feel that hypoallergenic skincare is overlooked, in part because it also doesn’t have a clear definition.

At the heart of Vetted Dermlab is a commitment to redefining the industry standards for “clean beauty” and “hypoallergenic.” “That’s the message and the change we are looking to drive,” says Woodruff. “A lot of clean beauty brands focus on toxicity and sustainability. We want to build on that with an expanded definition that includes a scientific, evidence-based meaning of hypoallergenicity.”

At Vetted Dermlab, that definition encompasses safety testing that results in no reports of irritation or allergic reactions, ingredients with proven efficacy that don’t have irritation or allergenic potential (the brand has an extensive no-no list), and formulations designed for users with sensitive skin. Grounded in that criteria, the brand is kicking off with five products: $32 C Cleanser, $62 M1 Light Moisturizer, $86 M2 Rich Moisturizer, $78 Vc Vitamin C Complex Serum and $98 R Retinoid Serum.

“Vetted Dermlab is unique among dermatologist-created, dermatologist-recommended and leading hypoallergenic skincare brands because we inject our contact dermatitis and cosmetic ingredients expertise into each product,” says Woodruff. Fox chimes in that, by providing access to what dermatologists want—and don’t want—in skincare products, consumers can pick up Vetted Dermlab’s products without worrying they will negatively impact their skin health.

Vetted Dermlab joins a growing roster of doctor-founded skincare brands and brands concentrating on allergen-free skincare. Together with a friends and family round they describe as “small,” Botto, Woodruff and Fox funded Vetted Dermlab with an undisclosed amount of startup capital. The capital was largely allocated to perfecting and manufacturing the brand’s product formulas during a two-year development process. In addition to the formulas, Vetted Dermlab is careful about its packaging. The brand has recyclable glass bottles that its co-founders emphasize don’t leach phthalates.

With no beauty industry history prior to Vetted Dermlab, Botto says a lot of her, Woodruff’s and Fox’s time before the brand’s launch was spent trying to decipher the ins and outs of the industry to build a skincare brand from the ground up. None of Vetted Dermlab’s formulas are white-labeled or reverse-engineered, and the dermatologists scrutinized every ingredient in them for effectiveness and safety. They commissioned repeat insult patch testing and stability testing to ensure the products didn’t break down or prompt allergic responses. Vetted Dermlab went through 20 iterations to get its formulas right.

“We believe that dermatologists’ trusted voices should be the ones determining the standards for clean and hypoallergenic beauty.”

Common at indie brands, Botto, Fox and Woodruff wear several hats and take an all-hands-on-deck approach to balance pursuing their medical careers, running an indie skincare brand and being parents. They prioritize copying the group on emails and making mutual rather than unilateral decisions. So far, their juggling act has been auspicious.

Vetted Dermlab officially premiered in March at a skin allergy meeting with hundreds of dermatologists and allergists. The reception was overwhelming, and Botto says the brand’s value proposition was apparent. Vetted Dermlab wouldn’t disclose current sales or first-year projections, but divulged that orders started rolling in immediately.

“We are amazed at the volume of orders we have received. It’s pretty amazing for us since we started with no customer list or preexisting social presence,” says Fox. “That means, to us, that there is demand for what we are offering.”

Vetted Dermlab plans to disseminate its message via doctors, specifically dermatologists, allergists and OB/GYNs. The brand expects to stick to direct-to-consumer distribution for a bit, but a move into retail could be in its future. Its co-founders are open to casting a wide retail net to provide consumers access to Vetted Dermlab’s products. They’re particularly interested in clean beauty retailers.

At the end of the day, Vetted Dermlab is intent on staking a claim in the clean beauty segment as a disruptive, high-performance, science-backed hypoallergenic skincare brand respected for ingredient integrity based on scientific data that sets the benchmark for what clean beauty should be. Fox says, “We are dermatologists with expertise in skin, and we believe that dermatologists’ trusted voices should be the ones determining the standards for clean and hypoallergenic beauty.”