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Once upon a time, skin care products and ingredients catered mainly to the broad categories of anti-aging, acne, sensitive and brightening. In recent years, these important categories have increasingly spawned new subset categories, including hybrid concepts like “aging plus acne,” and product trends such as “BB Creams.” New ingredients are also regularly introduced to target these new trends and concepts.
SENSITIVE SKIN
Demand is rapidly growing for ingredients and products that service a full spectrum of sensitive skin. This spectrum includes traditionally sensitive skin plus an increasing group of “ultra-sensitive” skin. The ultra-sensitive group also includes those dealing with health challenges such as cancer, diabetes, rosacea, allergies, dermatitis, shingles, and auto-immune disorders, such as celiac, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and lupus. It also includes skin particularly sensitive to chemical (including skin care products) and environmental toxins. Advanced-age skin can also be ultra-sensitive. What these conditions have in common is increased sensitivity from inflammation, extreme dryness, irritation, redness, itchiness, hyperpigmentation, as well as rashes, blisters and neuropathy. Demand for ingredients and products that can calm sensitivity and delicately repair and renew skin, will drive new ingredient development.
For years, the benchmark ingredients used to manage irritated and sensitive skin have been hydrocortisone and extracts such as chamomile and licorice root. While still beneficial, these extracts are increasingly being supplemented with, or replaced by, extracts of extracts—“super-extracts.” Think of them as the “heart” of the plant molecules that contain the key therapeutic actives. These super-extracts are almost pharmacological in their refinement and purity.
New ingredients that are particularly effective for sensitive and health-compromised skin include super-extracts of licorice root,
Centella asiatica, magnolia bark, oats, and many others. Some of
these ingredients mimic or rival hydrocortisone in anti-irritation ability. They also have gentle anti-aging ability. Equally
important to these ultra-sensitive skin are barrier protection ingredients that are comprised of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids.
MATURE SKIN
Mature skin (age 65+) is a growing market for ingredients and skin care products. People with this skin type need and want comfort first and wrinkle relief second. Mature skin can be extremely fragile and dry and have a loss of pliability. The issues with mature skin can be similar to the issues with health-challenged skin. Mature skin can benefit from ingredients that treat advanced glycation end products (AGEs), cellular water loss (osmoprotection), and damage from free radicals and UV light. Gentle collagen-building and exfoliating ingredients like peptides, enzymes, retinaldehyde, flower acids, and lactic acid are useful. Protection of the moisture barrier with critical lipids is of premier importance, along with ingredients that help the skin maintain firmness and elasticity, and especially provide a sense of calm and comfort. Wonderful new ingredients are appearing that provide skin suppleness and are sympathetic to fragile mature skin.
AGING AND ACNE
Something surprising that some people in their 40s, 50s and over are discovering is that age doesn’t necessarily bring a cessation of breakouts. Wrinkles and pimples—what can be better than that? Again, ingredient suppliers come to the rescue with new “adult” options to manage oily skin, minimize pores, and control occasional breakouts. Many of these ingredients also have
antioxidant and brightening ability to help even tone and fade spots that are frequently the aftermath of breakouts. Retinols and gentle peeling ingredients can be helpful. Mature skin with breakouts can also still be dry, so moisturizing ingredients that are not comedogenic are important.
The word “acne” on a product package mandates that the product be manufactured as a drug and gives the product the right to use drug-only ingredients like benzoyl peroxide (BPO). Unlike BPO, an ingredient like salicylic acid, known to be useful to problem skin, is not considered drug-only as long as no acne treatment claims appear on the package. These ingredients are still prevalent in many acne products, particularly those addressed to teenagers and young adults.
What 45-year-old woman wants a product labeled “treats acne” on her bathroom counter? Her 16-year-old daughter likely doesn’t want that stigma either. A market has opened for new ingredients that can successfully combat aging and blemish-prone skin for a wider range of ages, while steering clear of the word “acne.”
SUNSCREENS
We all know that UV radiation damages skin cells and is a leading cause of skin cancer and melanoma, but do you know that it also causes wrinkles and aging skin? Sunscreens contain “filter” ingredients to prevent the sun’s UV radiation from causing this cell damage. What is most critical to any sunscreen
ingredient combination is that it is broad-spectrum—in other words, able to absorb both UVB rays (those that cause sunburn) and UVA rays (those that do silent but lethal cellular damage). There are eight chemical UVB filters and two chemical UVA filters that are currently accepted worldwide. These chemical filters are known as “organic” filters because they are developed via organic chemistry in a lab. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are referred to as “inorganic filters” because they are natural mineral powders and not derived from organic chemistry. These minerals are full-spectrum, because they provide UVB and UVA protection (refer to chapter 2, “Ingredient Selection: Natural, Organic, or Synthetic,” for more discussion on the term “organic”). Titanium dioxide is accepted worldwide. Zinc oxide is used in many sunscreens but is accepted in Europe only as long as it’s not a nano-sized zinc, which has certain safety concerns. To achieve full-spectrum protection, chemical sunscreens must include mixtures of UVB and UVA ingredients and sometimes a blend of chemical and mineral filters.
Sunscreens must be manufactured as an OTC drug in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitored facility. A recent ruling from the FDA states that if a sunscreen has a minimum SPF15 and passes tests that show it protects against both UVA and UVB rays, it can claim “anti-aging” and “anti-cancer” on the label. These claims were not allowed previously. This is game changing for the sunscreen industry from a marketing perspective. Products that have predominantly been seen as something to apply mainly to prevent sunburn are now merging into the anti-aging product category. This is where they belonged all along; now they can claim it.
Mass market and prestige department store brands widely use chemical filters because they are less expensive and easily drop into a formula and “disappear.” The same cannot be said for zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Since they are white powders, they don’t disappear as easily. There are nano forms of zinc and titanium that, because of the small particle size, do go into formulas
transparently. There is an ongoing dialog about nano ingredients. There are new forms of zinc and titanium being developed in particle sizes that stop just short of being considered nano.
The FDA no longer allows products to claim “sun block,” “water proof,” and “sweat proof” properties. Products that pass an FDA test can be labeled “water resistant” up to 40 or 80 minutes. All sunscreens must warn users to reapply every two hours.
The new label claim of “anti-aging” and “anti-cancer” will give brands more incentive to include anti-aging ingredients, particularly antioxidants, which are strong UV damage protectors, in their sunscreen products. These ingredients can supplement the sunscreen filters and enhance the SPF by acting as a second layer of defense against UVA-induced free radicals. Pro skin care brands have been using this dual approach for some time with SPF aids, such as special algae extracts, avocado oil, white tea extract, Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), caffeine, thiotaine, and others. Several broad groups of antioxidant ingredients are aligned with sunscreens because of their uniquely innate self-protective abilities. These groups include anthocyanins, polyphenols, flavonoids, and antifreeze proteins.
BB CREAMS
Sunscreens with color and therapeutic ingredients are not new to the professional skin care arena. However, catchy concepts with marketing names like BB (Blemish Balm) or CC (Color Control) creams have caught the imagination of consumers. It appears the first designated BB product originated in Germany and spread to Asia and the US from there. The BB then morphed into “Beauty Balm” instead, which is now the prevalent term. BB creams have, as a bare minimum, SPF protection plus color to even skin tone and promote radiance. From that base, different BB creams contain varying combinations of ingredients that typically appear in any anti-aging, oily or blemished, brightening or sensitive skin product.
