TL;DR: "Founder-formulated" means the people whose names are on the brand were actually in the room deciding what goes into the product — not just licensing a stock formula from a supplier and slapping a label on it. At Kindred Naturals, that meant Carly and Mike worked directly with a formulating chemist, set their own ingredient rules before a single batch was mixed, and said no to common shortcuts (synthetic fragrance, sulfates, some preservative classes) because of what they'd already learned the hard way. It doesn't automatically make a product better — but it does mean someone with real skin in the game is accountable for what's on the label.
If you've spent any time scrolling clean beauty Instagram, you've probably seen the phrase "founder-formulated" more times than you can count. It shows up on everything from six-figure skincare startups to brands that launched last month. And if you're anything like Emma — the label-reading, ingredient-checking mom we think about with every product we make — you've probably wondered whether it actually means anything, or if it's just another marketing phrase like "clean" or "natural" that's been stretched thin.
It's a fair thing to be skeptical about. So we wanted to pull back the curtain on what "founder-formulated" meant for us specifically, and give you a framework for evaluating that claim wherever you see it.
What Does "Founder-Formulated" Actually Mean?
Founder-formulated means the founders of the brand were directly involved in deciding what ingredients go into the product, rather than purchasing an existing "white label" formula from a manufacturer and putting their own branding on it. It's the difference between building a recipe from scratch and picking one off a menu.
Neither approach is inherently dishonest — plenty of white-label products are well-made and safe. But there's a meaningful difference in accountability. When a founder sets the formula, they're the one who has to answer for every ingredient on that list, because they chose it.
How Did Carly and Mike Approach Formulating Kindred Naturals' Products?
We didn't start with a product. We started with a list of things we'd already decided we didn't want in our house, after reading the label on a baby wash that was sitting in our own bathroom and realizing we didn't recognize — or trust — half of what was in it. That list became our starting brief when we sat down with a formulating chemist.
From there, the process looked less like picking from a catalog and more like a series of trade-off conversations: what plant-based surfactant could actually clean a toddler after a day at the beach without stripping their skin? What could we use instead of synthetic fragrance that still felt pleasant, not clinical? How do we preserve a water-based product safely without reaching for a preservative class we weren't comfortable with?
What Ingredients Did They Rule Out From the Start?
Before we ever tested a sample, we ruled out sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), synthetic fragrance, and any preservatives from the formaldehyde-releasing family. Those weren't decisions we made after seeing a study — they came first, and then we worked backward to find ingredients that actually performed. That's why our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash uses soapwort, a plant-derived cleanser, instead of SLS, and why nothing in our lineup carries an unlisted "fragrance" blend.
Why Does It Matter Whether a Brand Formulates In-House or Uses a Stock Formula?
It matters because it changes who's actually accountable for the ingredient list. A brand using a stock formula from a contract manufacturer is often choosing from a pre-approved menu of options, which can be a perfectly reasonable way to launch quickly. But it also means the brand may not fully control — or even know the full reasoning behind — every ingredient decision.
When you're founder-formulated, there's no one else to point to. If a parent emails asking why we use kokum butter instead of mineral oil, we're the ones who have to explain it, because we're the ones who chose it.
Does Founder-Formulated Automatically Mean Better?
No — and we want to be honest about that. A founder can formulate a product with the best intentions and still get it wrong, or a large company's in-house lab can produce something excellent. "Founder-formulated" isn't a safety certification; it's a description of process, not a guarantee of quality. The real test is still the same one we'd encourage Emma to apply to any brand, including ours: read the actual ingredient list, understand what each thing is doing there, and decide for yourself whether it lines up with what you want in your family's routine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is "founder-formulated" a regulated term?
No. There's no legal definition or third-party verification behind the phrase, which means it can be used loosely. The best way to verify it is to ask the brand directly how their formulation process worked, or look for founders who are transparent about that process publicly.
Does founder-formulated mean the product was made in someone's kitchen?
Not necessarily. For us, it meant working with a professional formulating chemist to bring our ingredient standards to life safely and at scale — not mixing batches at home. The "founder" part refers to who made the ingredient decisions, not who physically manufactured the product.
How can I tell if a brand actually formulated its own products?
Look for specifics. Brands that genuinely formulated their own products can usually tell you why a particular ingredient was chosen over an alternative, and what they ruled out along the way. Vague answers or a lack of detail are worth noticing.
Why does Kindred Naturals only have two products if you formulated everything yourselves?
Formulating in-house takes real time per product, so we chose to go deep on two — our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash and our Magnesium Lotion — rather than launch a wide line quickly using stock formulas.
Are founder-formulated products more expensive?
Sometimes, since sourcing specific ingredients and working with a chemist on a custom formula can cost more than licensing an existing one. But price alone isn't a reliable signal of formulation quality in either direction.
If you're curious what that process actually produced, you can see it for yourself in our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash and Magnesium Lotion at shopkindrednaturals.com — every ingredient decision behind them, we're happy to explain.
Written by Mike & Carly Pronsky, founders of Kindred Naturals.