It seems every year one of the big cosmetic raw material companies
introduce a new ingredient that will “revolutionize” the cosmetic
industry. But in the last 20 years, I can't name a single ingredient
that actually has changed things significantly. In fact, with only a few
exceptions, cosmetics and personal care products haven't changed much
in the last 20 years at all.
This got me wondering...why?
Here are 5 reasons
1 - Wrong focus
Cosmetic raw material companies focus on solving the problems of cosmetic chemists.
They don't focus on solving the problems of consumers. There is a
disconnect here. Consumers do not care about new emulsifiers, new
thickening systems, or new delivery systems. They care about the end
results. If you don't change the end performance of the product, you
haven't really made a new product that a consumer will care about.
This reminds me of the same problem amateur magicians face. Good
magicians know innumerable ways to have someone pick a card, make it
disappear and make it reappear somewhere else. But while the way they do
it might be different to the person being entertained it is exactly the
same trick. People don't care how the trick is done. They just like the
trick. Similarly, people don't care how their cosmetics are made, they
just care about how the product performs.
2 - Money
Raw material suppliers do not like to speculate. No business really
does. They only want to make raw materials that are going to sell and
for the biggest companies, they want materials that are going to sell in
really big quantities. This means they do not look at the most novel
ingredients. They look at things that are already selling and try to
make minor improvements on them. It's a good strategy but one with
little chance of leading to breakthrough ingredients.
3 - Resistance to change
This is related to money. Since it costs lots of money to build
chemical factories, companies are more inclined to produce materials
similar to what they already have. They do not want to invest in new
reactors or safety measures if they don't have to. So, unless someone
can prove that an ingredient is going to work and going to get
widespread acceptance, chemical companies will not invest the money
required to make the new ingredient. It's easier to just take the
equipment they already have and make only ingredients that work with
their current equipment.
4 - Regulatory problems
Perhaps one of the biggest impediments to the creation of new, novel
cosmetic ingredients is the regulatory climate. It costs lots of money
(>$100,000) to do all the testing required to register a new raw
material. Gone are the days when a chemist could synthesize a material
in the lab, test it out on hair tresses, and launch to the waiting
cosmetic chemists. Now, companies have to register, do certification
testing, safety testing, have market research data, and be able to
provide claims support to finished goods manufacturers. It's little
wonder why new materials aren't launched.
5 - Animal testing
A related problem is that of animal testing. New raw materials require
animal testing. With so many companies in the cosmetic industry against
animal testing (and governments against it too) there is pressure
against introducing anything new. Companies like L'Oreal or P&G who
use new raw material are frequently bashed by consumer groups or other
marketers for supporting cruelty to animals. It's not fair and these
companies mostly brush it off however, raw material suppliers have to
consider the stigma of animal testing whenever they launch something
new.
What needs to change?
There are still lots of room for improvements in cosmetic raw
materials, particularly in the areas of polymers and silicones.
Unfortunately, established chemical companies are disinclined to take
the risks and small chemical companies will be hampered by legislation
and the incredible cost of introducing a new raw material to make any
significant improvements.
Don't look to the chemical companies for the significant new raw
materials. Instead, look to Universities and people studying the field
of Biomimicry. That's our best hope for truly innovative ingredients.