COSMETICS BUSINESS LIVE
IN TREND
THE MEDICALISATION OF SKIN CARE
Speaker Glendean Rehvan
Post-Covid, consumers are taking action in terms of their health and their skin. They are aspiring to longevity and skin care is part of this health ecosystem. One-third of UK facial skin care users
now research ingredients to check whether they have any efficacy. Consumers have learned to read and translate the meanings of all of those ingredients on the label, and the focus is on proven actives. It is also no surprise that the
nutricosmetics market is growing exponentially; 80% of US adults say they’ve used beauty from within – a 61% increase in beauty supplements sales over the last 12 months.
‘CLEANICAL’ SKIN CARE ‘Clean’ is a word that we’ve heard over the last few years, but what does that actually mean? Well, it doesn’t really mean anything anymore to the consumer. And actually, it never did, because we don’t have a definition for what that should actually mean. Today’s consumer wants safety. They
want safe skin care that is free of ingredients that are a potential source of skin allergies or irritation. This new ‘safe’ is better than ‘clean’: it’s safe for all. For example, Skin Safe Store is an online store in the US that’s been developed with the Mayo Clinic, so it’s backed by doctors and nurses. With all of the ‘clean’ beauty talk
there was a backlash against synthetics, saying they’re bad and we can only use things from nature. But that’s not correct and, over the last 12-18 months, accelerated by Covid, we have this new way of looking at skin care with no more fear of synthetics. It’s about merging lab-derived actives with nature. There’s also germ-free beauty, acknowledging that preservatives are needed to keep our beauty safe. Products are formulated without the philosophies of the ‘clean’ beauty movement. And there’s also this idea of anti-contamination. We’ve seen more hands-free packaging to make sure that the consumer is safe.
40 December 2022
MEDICAL INFLUENCERS & CREATORS Who are the new skin care influencers? They are medical influencers and creators. All of the wellness scaremongering that’s been going on for the last couple of years doesn’t work anymore. It’s not about ‘science washing’, it’s not about misinformation. It’s actually doctors, scientists, experts from multidisciplinary teams being able to substantiate these claims on social media. I wanted to summarise what a new
‘doctor’ skin care brand is, or actually what any skin care brand should be today: microbiome certified – that’s a certification that’s growing; derm-approved or doctor- approved; non-irritating; and then it has to have some green or sustainable markers, like EWG ‘green’. It also has to be minimalist. We don’t
want lots of ingredients just for the sake of it. They must be powerful, minimal, high performance and results orientated. Brands use words like ‘clinical strength’ to describe their offerings to the consumer.
TRANSPARENCY IS KEY In light of that, transparency is key, because how else are we going to communicate to the consumer how good this skin care is? A brand called Tiny Associates launched
last year with transparency being its mantra. So it actually shows the molecular weight of each ingredient, which is digging a little bit deeper into skin care. It’s really important, obviously, to
bypass ‘greenwashing’ and ‘wokewashing’. Two-in-five European consumers find third-party verified certifications an influential factor when shopping for beauty. So the consumer doesn’t just take things at face value.
ONLINE CONSULTATIONS Covid has propelled the idea of online consultations and bespoke programmes. But this demand for virtual consultations with doctors on Zoom has accelerated. Also, the future of skin care is all about this long term bespoke programme, it’s not about just quickly going into Boots and picking something off the shelf and hoping
for the best. It’s becoming a bit more specialised and personalised, just as it would be if you went to see a doctor.
AT-HOME SKIN LAB The consumer is now operating in the same way that a medical professional will with their own skin and that’s going to increase. We’re seeing hormone testing on the rise – this idea of being able to understand your own hormones from the comfort of your home and using the right skin care to address your needs. It’s no surprise that microbiome testing too is growing. Again, it’s about seeing what the state of your skin is, identifying your needs and giving you the right skin care. And it’s about identifying the changes over time, so tracking and tracing is really quite huge. The other thing that we are seeing is
this idea of daily, clinical-grade, fresh skin care. A skin care product’s active ingredients degrade once it’s opened, so emerging over the last five years have been at-home devices to make skin care. Another thing is ‘emotional toolkits’ as
part of your mental health. Brands are encapsulating all of the senses, which has accelerated over Covid.
AESTHETIC MEDICINE LANGUAGE ‘Tweakments’ are growing. The Zoom effect has pushed more people into wanting aesthetic treatments. But not all patients seeking consultation go on to have a treatment: they might be scared; they might not have the money. So for that portion of patients, they’re looking to their skin care to give them those results. So skin care brands are taking the words that aesthetic medicine uses for aesthetic-level results without needles. We’re seeing cheek and lip products talking about plumping, for example.
cosmeticsbusiness.com
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