Skin care is at over $100 billion in market opportunity, and there have been a few trends at the forefront of the industry’s momentum – the topic of sustainability and the notion of natural or clean, meaning better for people and the planet. Consumers have come to believe that natural ingredients don’t pollute the environment and have the added benefit of being less harmful or harsh to their skin and bodies. What is indisputable is that all industries are responsible for the impact they bear on the environment and the planet, and the beauty industry is not unique.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
According to the latest reports from Zero Waste Week, beauty packaging amounts to 120 billion units every year. That includes plastic, paper, glass, and metals, all of which end up in landfills year after year. Aside from packaging, there aremany botanical ingredients with incredible skin benefits whose high demand by brands and manufacturers has caused a strain on the supply. One example is bakuchiol, which comes from the Psoralea corylifolia plant originating in India. A2018 study showed it to be similarly efficacious to retinol for aging concerns and therefore, a safer alternative to retinol.
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While it’s not yet an endangered plant, there are reports of indiscriminate harvesting, and the increasing demand by larger beauty companies will introduce a strain on the supply. The strain is aggravated by the fact that the Psoralea corylifolia plant cannot be domesticated and grown outside of India with modern agricultural methods. The testimonials that shed light on potential indiscriminate collections of the Psoralea corylifolia seeds come from local communities and their indigenous populations where bakuchiol plays a very important antibacterial role and is used for treating diabetes for those indigenous populations.
Other ingredients not widely regarded as rare include sandalwood, rosewood, rosehip, and argan oils. Due to deforestation and fires associated with the clearing of land for palm plantations, consumers are much more aware of the impact on the environment due to its ubiquitous presence in many beauty products.
Cleaner and greener packaging, ingredients, and formulas are emerging quickly. What this really means is that consumers are doing more research into how brands source their products and packaging and will demand transparency, and brands will seek to elevate their consumer product offerings to align with the sustainability goals they have set for themselves and their customers.
CLEANICAL BEAUTY
Sustainability is not all customers demand from the products they purchase though. In addition, consumers also seek efficacy from their products. With the “cleanical” beauty movement emerging over the past few years, brands have started to innovate based on consumers’ perceptions that products with naturally derived ingredients may not be as efficacious and that there could be a balance between a product made of natural or naturally derived ingredients plus clinical efficacy. “The cleanical movement directly addresses this and offers a perfectly balanced alternative focused on plant-based ingredients that are consciously lab formulated. Cleanical beauty entered the industry in line with increasing consumer awareness of ingredients and product efficacy, and brands are recognizing that while consumers want to see real results. They also want to use ingredients they feel are safe and better for the environment.”1
SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS
What will enable the beauty industry to achieve the lofty goal of creating a truly sustainable product, inside the bottle and out? Aside from sourcing compostable packaging, post-consumer recycling, and truly recyclable components, there is the challenge of formulating with ingredients that pass the sustainability test, which is easier said than done if formulations rely on rare, hard-to-access botanical ingredients that deliver high potency to beauty products.
Fortunately, there are already promising startups and companies delivering the double promise of clinical efficacy and sustainability. Biotechnology and green chemistry are high-potential solutions to these challenges. Through various platforms using different types of fermentation, such as yeast, bacteria, and even algae, biotechnology is developing processes by which brands can source natural ingredients without touching this precious planet.
Consumer research validates that although brands tend to focus on packaging sustainability, consumers pay attention to the sourcing of ingredients themselves. “Beauty products with natural ingredients are not necessarily better than chemical-based products if the raw material production is unsustainable,”3 states a 2022 consumer study conducted by the Benchmarking Company. In the study, 64% of the surveyed consumers said “sustainability is very important when considering the purchase of a beauty product,” and 74% think that sustainability means a product is “made with ingredients that are renewable, replantable, sustainable.”
There is no area on the planet free from the impact of the destruction of nature. According to the UN Secretary General at the UN Biodiversity Conference – COP15 in December 2022, “Without nature, we have nothing. Without nature, we are nothing. Nature is our life-support system.” Also highlighted is the fact that “unsustainable production and consumption are sending emissions skyrocketing, and [are] degrading [the] land, sea, and air,” and “the loss of nature and biodiversity comes with a steep human cost.”4
Skin care as an industry is estimated to be worth $145 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%. It is imperative that sustainability and innovation in seeking alternative sources of natural ingredients is part of the mission ahead. It is optimistic to see that, aside from biotechnology startups, big beauty is paying attention to the impact that beauty has on the overall environment. With education comes action, and consumers voting with their voices and wallets will propel brands and the industry forward.
References
- What’s trending: Beauty ingredients. Global Cosmetic Industry. (2022, August 31). Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.gcimagazine.com/ingredients/launches-claims/article/22419011/whats-trending-beauty-ingredients
- Cumbers, J. (2022, December 5). How the skincare industry is turning to gene editing in a race against time. Forbes. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johncumbers/2022/11/26/how-the-skincare-industry-is-turning-to-gene-editing-in-a-race-against-time/?sh=6982f5723108
- Okafor, J. (2022, November 14). Environmental impact of cosmetics & beauty products. TRVST. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.trvst.world/sustainable-living/environmental-impact-of-cosmetics/.
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Karen Raghavan currently leads brand development, marketing, and public relations at Purissima, a leading, multi-patented health and wellness biotechnology company. She started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and New York before pivoting to the beauty and wellness industry. Raghavan brings decades of beauty sales, marketing, and international experience from her work in senior leadership roles at major brands, such as Biossance, Benefit Cosmetics, and Estée Lauder. Raghavan has a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College and master’s from Stanford University in East Asian Studies as a recipient of its Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) Fellowship.
