18 INTERVIEW
a project is trying to get the SCC, NYSCC and IFSCC together with the AOCS, the American Oil Chemist Society. Because they’re experts on the raw materials, whereas the SCC is an expert on using them in cosmetics. And those are the two societies that I’ve been members for 40 plus years. So there’s a lot we can learn from each other.
PC: And the NYSCC I know has been very active throughout the pandemic keeping those webinars going and that’s been a bit of a revelation I think for them as a Society. TOL: Yes, they do an incredible job, and what’s amazing is the different orientation that each of them have. You know New York has a group of people that are interested in one kind of thing or another. They actually probably do more webinars than IFSCC does, so those kind of Societies are tremendously important to keep things going.
PC: Through the pandemic, we’re starting to see real impacts on some sections of the industry, particularly makeup. How do you see it’s going to impact the industry as a whole over the next few years? TOL: I think it will change what people consider important. Obviously lip products covered by masks will see a decrease in usage, but mascaras and hair products may well grow. I think there is a basic desire in human beings to want to improve their appearance. I’ve learned over the years I think that the act of applying makeup is an enjoyable thing. Not only for the positive effect at the end of the process of using makeup, but in the enjoyable effect of applying makeup. It appears that make up is still being used in lockdown for the latter effect.
PC: Also, we’re starting to study more about the actual endorphins and hormones that release when people are caring for themselves, which adds another level in there? TOL: Absolutely, I think one of the things that we’re going to find out is that there are certain types of products that are more enjoyable for people to use than others. And some of them are not enjoyable at all, and this idea of neuro-science applied to not just how it looks at the end but to look at the entire experience is becoming more and more important. John Jimenez and his group in Columbia are scientists that are involved in leading that kind of project from BellCorp. So these things are actually starting to
PERSONAL CARE April 2021
“I think there’s a basic desire in human beings to want to improve their appearance”
happen and I’m happy say it’s many of the younger people that are starting to run with the ball.
PC: I can imagine that silicones have a very important part in that scenery, endorphin rush process. TOL: I go back and I actually looked at the terminology we like to use is “powdery”. The more powdery, the more luxurious. But you can go in other directions with things for example, fragrances. I did some work as a polymer chemist making rubber gloves years ago and fragrance when you opened it, they wanted you to get a burst of fragrance. Well one of the things we did, was a herbal, flowery kind of thing. And it was either loved or hated by the people. People were either reminded of a pleasant summer day or of a funeral. Fragrance is very important, but touch and visual appeal, and spreadability are also vital in giving an enjoyable experience to consumers.
PC: You mentioned a few things that you think could be improved in the industry but if you could change one aspect of how the industry is either structured or operates now, what would you change? TOL: I would go back to the old days, before there was so much regulation and that was not necessarily a good thing, but it moved more quickly. One area is to try to come up with a uniform global system so there’s not so many different regulatory groups. These days new chemistry is not
able to be looked at globally because of regulations. The scientific community is always developing better products and better technology that could help with environmental impact but these materials may not be available for use because they are not established materials. If we got to a point where we
say okay, these are the rules, you can’t do this, you can do that and if you provide this data and everything’s fine, then you can do it on a worldwide basis, that would be wonderful. Many times, the start of a project comes by what country it’s going to be sold in and what names have to be there to make them approved and appropriate. So I think that prevents companies from enhancing their technologies.
PC: So, yes there’re too many compromises in order to make something universally acceptable. TOL: Right if we are limited to a limited number of raw materials that are around long enough to be globally accepted we limit our ability to innovate. Safety comes first, but the ability to innovate is also very important.
PC: In terms of technology in the industry, what aspects particularly excite you? TOL: I think natural products will become more and more important, but natural products we have not fully explored before. Oleosomes for
example is one kind of area where you’ve got delivery systems that are natural. Using partition coefficient to separate things from each other and put them in different places. Within the skin, within the hair,
there’s a lot of new science coming into our industry. When I started years ago, everybody was a chemist. That just doesn’t do it anymore, we have needs for microbiologists for sanitizers, we have needs for psychology people, we have needs for analytical people and some of them are not necessarily chemistry people.
PC: But they’re bringing in expertise from different areas? TOL: The new areas that have become important include microbiome (microbiology), extracts from yeast or from bacteria, enzymatic synthesis methods for making raw materials and new bio-made (fermentation methods). All of this requires an expanded technical understanding beyond classical organic chemistry. The challenge is to get the rules right and the technology right and the regulatory. But it’s a really exciting time. It’s amazingly exciting the
stuff that we have going on. We’ve sort of come out of the early days where we were out on the frontier and we were trying to find our way through the trees. Now we’ve got a clearer view of where we’re going and we find the world is bigger than we thought.
PC: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, Tony. TOL: You’re very welcome.
PC
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