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Text reading "We want to change the way people think about skincare. Forever."

Ao – born from a wild New Zealand

The name ‘Ao’ comes from the indigenous New Zealand Maori word for ‘earth’. For us, it references our home from which we draw inspiration for our unique formulas and approach to skin health.

“The problem sits largely with people’s use of, and ultimately their skin’s addiction to skincare products. The biggest culprit? Moisturizers”.

Ao was born from the belief that most skincare does more harm than good. Dr. Gray sees the impact first-hand - products full of toxins, heavy emulsifiers and barrier-degrading ingredients.

Your skin barrier is rebuilt, then self-regulated

For us, it’s always been about restoring skin to where the skin’s barrier is performing to its optimum and moisture is self-controlled – restoring your skin’s own dynamic barrier to make it optimally adaptive to its environment. That’s why we think it’s important to change the way people think about skincare.

We believe equally in both transparency and efficacy

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After 25 years of clinical practice as a Dermatologist, Dr. Gray knew he could make a real difference – to make a range of skincare that allowed the skin to perform at its optimum.

Ao Skincare was born

He teamed up with the best in the business to help craft a revolutionary new set of skincare products like no other. It’s a new category of skincare inspired by the cleanest, most effective ingredients paired to ethical manufacturing processes – better for your skin, better for the planet.

Ao is skincare that’s independently clinically proven, yet totally safe, clean and non-toxic.

The journey to making the world’s healthiest skincare isn’t easy. Here are our proudest moments so far…

Box of Ao Skincare Peak Strength AM Serum Shot with New Zealand Actives and Manuka Honey on a concrete surface.

Recyclable Packaging

We’ve teamed up with TerraCycle to recycle our containers. Just mail back your used containers using the pre-paid label and we’ll take care of the rest.

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1% for the planet

As 1% For The Planet members, we donate 1% of our annual revenue to grassroots environmental nonprofits.

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“Green Innovator Brand of the Year”

We’re proud winners at the 2019 Indie Beauty Innovator Awards for our innovation in sustainability and what it means to be clean.

A new standard in clean standards

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Ao is EWG Verified

When you see the EWG VERIFIED™ mark on a product, you can be sure it's free from EWG's chemicals of concern and meets our strictest standards for your health.

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Ao meets the Credo Clean Standard

Ao products are formulated under the strict guidelines of the Credo Clean Standard and without any ingredients found on the Credo Dirty List, have ingredient authenticity and are cruelty free.