16 INTERVIEW Richard Scott – Editor, Personal Care Magazine


We are all well aware of how important silicones are to our industry and for a wide range of reasons. But few people have helped more in the development of use and the understanding of these products than Tony O’Lenick. He has been instrumental in the


teaching of new methods and formulation techniques through publications, volunteer efforts for the SCC and IFSCC and many speaking engagements. Tony was the President of


Siltech for 32 years and is now Principal Consultant at Nascent Technologies. Recently, Tony agreed to be part of Personal Care Global’s Editorial Board, so we look forward to benefiting from his wealth of knowledge in our new magazine.


PERSONAL CARE: Thank you for joining us, Tony. I think it’s fair to say you are regarded as a leading expert in our industry. But who have been your go-to experts throughout your career? Who has really influenced and directed your progression in the industry? TONY O’LENICK: Well, I have been fortunate to have a number of great mentors who were very important career wise. From people like Tony Dweck, and John Woodruff that were both very important people and were good mentors. Just hanging around them was an education. Dr. Lochhead is major mentor for


me. His passion for our industry is contagious. Amy Wyatt at Chanel was a


mentor as well. She has been not only a good formulation and technology mentor but also an outstanding leader. Normally you think that people who are your mentors are supposed to be older than you, but in this case not even close. I still meet mentors at IFSCC, SCC and the American Oil Chemist Society. Today technical societies are far more important for finding mentors than companies. You know we used to have a lot more mentors in the office years ago because there were more associates and people were more stable in their jobs than they are now.


PC: So people didn’t move around so much, they really got under the skin of their part of the industry?


PERSONAL CARE April 2021


TOL: Things were easier 40 years ago, there were more employees in companies with more time to teach. There really was no concern about being laid off or being prematurely retired and this resulted in more openness. So, people would teach more. Today there are fewer people and we tend to be a little bit more secretive.


PC: Do you think that keeping education and mentoring at the front of people’s objectives is something that we need to focus on more? TOL: I think we need to put together programmes to replace or at least augment the mentors that just aren’t around anymore. Mentoring can be done in a continuing education programme, a company presentation, books and articles having a written aspect, or more recently have a video aspect of email. Regardless of the type, they all need a passionate leader sharing with others. People could go back and say, “Hey I really need to know about this or that,” and know where to get the information. This is what has happened since Covid. There are a lot more webinars. People are still keenly interested in them, not just in their own area, but in expanding their technical reach.


PC: And it’s democratised access to education a little bit do you think? TOL: Yes. Education is something in which everybody has an interest. Everybody is sharing information that they might not have shared before. And people are particularly interested in them if they’re locked down, they can get an opportunity to learn something while the lockdowns are going on.


PC: With Nascent Technologies are you continuing your focus on educating people and getting people to use ingredients more effectively? TOL: Yes, in fact you have done


INTERVIEW


Tony O’Lenick, Nascent Technologies


a number of articles on our efforts. Our program on Minimally Disruptive Formulation (MDF) and Functional Formulation have been tremendously well received. They really give us a systematic approach to replace or add raw materials to get new feels and textures. Because the market always is saying “Hey, this is out today, we are going to go back and do something different”, “We have another regulation we want to bring in,” and that kind of approach allows people to get a lot of information quickly.


PC: What are you finding are the key challenges that people are coming to you with at the moment. Is it increasing natural content, or improving texture? TOL: I think improving texture is always something that the consumer wants. The best product in the world will not succeed if the consumer does not enjoy the aesthetics it provides. However, natural is an extremely important thing and one of the reasons why


we are developing a line of natural polymers that replace raw materials that are not natural. Raw materials need to be bio-degradable and renewable. One of the problems I see is many times when people want to remove something from a formula, but they really don’t know why. For example take silicones. If it’s because of the fact that they’re non-biodegradable, that can be adjusted. They’re tremendously versatile materials if we know what we’re trying to change. And many times, we go into the lab and start doing something based on an idea of what marketing wants, that’s really not completely defined: If we are told “Go and develop me something new” I can go everywhere but probably the result of my work will go nowhere!


PC: Do you think when people want to say reduce or remove silicones from a formulation that is based on consumer research or are they just assuming that consumers don’t want these


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