Earlier this summer, when wildfires in Canada blanketed much of the US East Coast in hazy orange skies, it wasn’t just the air pollution that skyrocketed. Brands that had products catering to anti-pollution protection saw their sales soar too.
For instance, sales of skincare brand Pour Moi’s Smoke Alarm Drops, which uses a formula derived from moss cells, pine and hemp seed to calm skin stress created by smoke, tripled. Increasingly frequent and intense wildfire seasons have also meant more people visiting their dermatologist’s office, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
The trend is only likely to get more pronounced. This year is on track to be the hottest on record and with higher temperatures comes worse pollution. Natural disasters like wildfires aside, warm air traps pollution particles closer to the ground and heavy usage of air conditioning worsens emissions.
Beauty firms from global cosmetics giants like L’Oréal to independent brands like Barbara Sturm, are increasingly catering to this reality. The global anti-pollution ingredients market is already worth $870 million and expected to reach $1.4 billion by the end of 2031, according to research firm Future Market Insights. Although the definition of what constitutes an anti-pollution ingredient is somewhat