‘Skin Longevity’ Is the Latest Beauty Buzz Phrase—and This Sunscreen Maven Says It Starts With the Right Kind of Hydration
SuperGoop! founder Holly Thaggard says SPF is only part of the preventative-beauty equation—the other part is what you drink
Key Takeaways
- Skin longevity requires daily habits: pair morning SPF with clean internal hydration.
- Supergoop! founder Holly Thaggard launched WaterOuai! canned water for safe hydration.
- WaterOuai! uses film-laminated aluminum cans to eliminate microplastics and toxins.
If you’ve built your beauty routine around SPF, serums and supplements, you already understand that good skincare is a long game. Holly Thaggard, the woman who made daily sunscreen aspirational with Supergoop!, has been saying this for years. Her two biggest beauty secrets? SPF and H2O. She checked the first off her to-do list with Supergoop! when she founded it in 2007; now she’s turning that same prevention-first thinking toward what we drink—and what we drink it out of.
Enter WaterOuai!, Thaggard’s new on-the-go water brand co-founded with her 19-year-old son, Will. Sourced from the Edwards Aquifer, a 70-million-year-old limestone formation in the Texas Hill Country, the artesian water trades plastic bottles for infinitely recyclable metal cans. For Thaggard, that aluminum can isn’t just eco-conscious—it’s the secret to skin longevity.
What exactly is skin longevity?
In simple terms, skin longevity is about keeping skin healthy and strong for the long run—not just making wrinkles look smoother with a quick fix (though we’ll take that, too!). It means helping protect your skin’s natural barrier, keeping it hydrated, supporting collagen and shielding it from everyday damage like the sun. The goal is skin that stays resilient and healthy through every stage of life.
The next frontier of preventative beauty
Thaggard is on a mission with a simple idea: Small changes to everyday habits can make a big difference to long-term health. She started with sunscreen and is now moving on to how we package our water. “Hydration is one of the most consistent habits in our lives, yet the packaging hasn’t evolved at the same pace as the broader wellness conversation. With a prevention-first mindset that also shaped Supergoop!, we saw an opportunity to bring a more thoughtful, intentional approach to something people use every day.”
For Thaggard, hydration isn’t a trend to add on top of your routine. It’s the other half of the preventative-beauty equation she’s been preaching for two decades.
“To me, preventative beauty is about the habits you’re going to repeat without fail, because those are the ones that actually change how you age,” she says. “SPF earned its place in my philosophy because it’s the single most protective thing you can do for your skin, every single day. WaterOuai! fits into that same philosophy as the other half of the equation, which is taking care of the skin from the inside. When it comes to skin longevity and preventative beauty, you don’t see the effect of one day. You see the effect of ten thousand days.”
Why the container suddenly matters
The ingestible-beauty conversation has quickly expanded to include what might be ending up in our bodies alongside the good stuff. Plastic bottled water can contain roughly 26 microplastic particles per liter, while glass bottles with metal screw caps can carry two to three times more, largely from polyester paint on the caps. Thaggard sees this as the next natural chapter of a holistic longevity story.
“There’s growing research around microplastics, nanoplastics and chemicals associated with food and beverage packaging, and we’re still learning what repeated exposure means for our long-term health,” she says. “For us, that raises a simple question: If you can reduce unnecessary exposure through something as fundamental as your water, why wouldn’t you?”
She’s blunt about why the can itself is the main character. “The container matters more than most people realize. Traditional cans rely on a liner sprayed inside and cured with heat—a process that can require solvents and additives to make the coating stick, and it doesn’t always apply evenly. Over time, that can mean peeling, flaking or chemical transfer into the water. It’s easy to assume ‘BPA-free’ solves the problem, but a lot of alternative resins and coatings raise similar concerns—the issue just moves somewhere less visible.”
WaterOuai! takes a different approach: a solid PET film laminated onto aluminum before the can is formed, instead of a conventional spray-on liner. The result is made without BPA and other bisphenols, PFAS, phthalates or solvent-based coatings. It’s the first U.S. water brand to launch with this can technology.
“With roughly a third of Americans drinking bottled water daily, and around 22 million of those being kids, the container isn’t a small detail,” Thaggard says. “It’s the whole ballgame.”
Inside Holly Thaggard’s beauty routine
For those of us who love knowing exactly what a beauty founder actually does every morning, Thaggard’s routine is refreshingly repeatable.
“I start my mornings with sunlight and a quick check of my sleep score, then depending on the day, I’ll do weight training or Pilates, followed by the sauna and four minutes in the cold plunge,” she says. “I shower, put on my SPF, take my vitamins—currently Momentous Iron+ and Creatine—and drink a big glass of water before coffee or email.”
At night, she protects her wind-down the same way she proritizes her SPF. “I like to take a warm bath, read a little, make a list of what’s on my mind for tomorrow, take my evening vitamins and keep 32 ounces of WaterOuai! with crushed ice by my bed.”
Her takeaway is the kind of permission slip most of us need. “None of it is particularly complicated. That’s really my wellness philosophy: Make the healthy choice the easy choice, and then repeat it. SPF every day. Clean water every day. Protecting your sleep. Taking care of yourself in small ways that compound over time. That’s where I think real wellness lives.”
Smart habits for drinking water on the go
If you want to apply Thaggard’s thinking to your own routine, a few expert-backed habits make the biggest difference:
- Choose the right vessel. Food-grade stainless steel (18/8 or 304 grade) is the most durable, non-reactive choice. Borosilicate glass with a silicone sleeve is another non-reactive option. Avoid reusing single-use plastic bottles, which can break down and leach microplastics or phthalates, especially in heat or sun.
- Sip, don’t chug. Steady intake throughout the day supports absorption better than drinking large volumes at once.
- Clean your bottle daily. Wash the bottle and cap with warm water and dish soap, paying attention to rubber gaskets and spouts where mold can grow.
- Mind the source. Use filtered refills, and skip ice-cold water during intense exertion, which can occasionally trigger stomach cramps.
Hydration goals are personal—many experts recommend women aim for roughly 2.7 liters of fluids a day, including the water you get from produce. But as Thaggard’s philosophy makes clear, it’s not just how much. It’s what you’re drinking it from—and whether you’re willing to do it every single day.
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