Are all “personal care products” regulated as cosmetics?
People often use the term "personal care products" to refer to a wide variety of items that we commonly find in the health and beauty sections of drug and department stores. The term “personal care product," however, is not defined by law.
Under the law, some of the products commonly referred to as "personal care products" are cosmetics. These include, for example, skin moisturizers, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, eye and facial makeup preparations, shampoos, permanent waves, hair colors, toothpastes, and deodorants. Some, however, are regulated as drugs. Among these are skin protectants (such as lip balms and diaper ointments), mouthwashes marketed with therapeutic claims, antiperspirants, and treatments for dandruff or acne. Some "personal care products" meet the definitions of both cosmetics and drugs. This may happen when a product has two intended uses. For example, a shampoo is a cosmetic because its intended use is to cleanse the hair. An antidandruff treatment is a drug because its intended use is to treat dandruff. Consequently, an antidandruff shampoo is both a cosmetic and a drug, because it is intended to cleanse the hair and treat dandruff. Among other cosmetic/drug combinations are toothpastes that contain fluoride, deodorants that are also antiperspirants, and moisturizers and makeup marketed with sun-protection claims. Such products must comply with the requirements for both cosmetics and drugs.
Generally, drugs must either receive premarket approval by FDA or conform to final regulations specifying conditions whereby they are generally recognized as safe and effective, and not misbranded. Cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to FDA premarket approval authority, with the exception of color additives. Cosmetic firms are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients before marketing.
n addition, some "personal care products" may belong to other regulatory categories, including medical devices (such as certain hair removal and microdermabrasion devices), dietary supplements (such as vitamin or mineral tablets or capsules), or other consumer products (such as manicure sets). Source: fda.gov
How are lotions and creams made?
For making body lotions, make-up and creams, formulation is very important as often emulsion of oil and water are used which can contain various ingredients including pigments and surfactants. There are various methods adopted by industry to make these products. One of the methods is Formulation Technologies developed by a Sweden based company called SP Chemistry. Examples of products developed from formulation technology are detergents, paints, lotions, lubrication oils, etc. Formulated Chemical Products are ubiquitous and used in everyday life just as in industrial applications.
There are several challenges in developing emulsions products. They should have controlled droplet size, sufficient shelf life, limited total surfactant concentration and other regulatory requirements. Applied colloid and interface science along with formulation technology is one challenge to meet. Getting the formulation done from experienced players will make a big ddifference in your final output.
Rough Insights:
The personal care industry boasts roughly 750 companies that product combined annual revenue of more than $40 billion. The 50 largest companies generate almost 70% of the entire revenue. Still, the market will bear competition from small companies that can offer a specialized product or cater to a particular niche market. Industry leaders include companies like Kimberly Clark, Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Alberto-Culver, Avon, Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oreal, Parlux
Fragrances, Proctor & Gamble and Revlon. Companies within the industry formulate, manufacture, market and sell a huge array of beauty and personal care products.
“The 50 largest companies generate almost 70% of the entire revenue.”
What’s Evolving and Dynamically Changing?
Today, specialty retail and online is gaining traction as traditional formats of selling (mostly through retail stores) fights back. Beauty brands like Ulta, Sally Beauty, Sephora, Nyka, and online global shopping site brands like Amazon are giving a tough competition to retail stores like Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Kohl’s etc. New ways of selling are emerging which can be termed as “Social Selling 3.0” where social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter are enabling payment options to buy and sell items from small startup companies who make the cosmetics in house using organic ingredients or sourcing the best from around the world. (SVAA is one such example which sources organic cosmetics products from several places around the world)
We can thus conclude that Beauty M&A are at historically high levels. The bigger companies will eat up the smaller fish in the market eventually if the smaller ones don’t play their cards right.
According to one report from Applied Market Research, the cosmetics market is expected to grow $429.8 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period of 2016-2022. There is a considerable rise in disposable incomes over the past decade among the growing middle and the upper middle class. The growth in global economies, changing lifestyles, rising demand of skin and sun care products due to varying climatic conditions encourages the growth of the market for cosmetics. A shift of preference towards natural and organic beauty products, particularly in the US and European countries, fosters the growth of cosmetics market. Rising demand for natural, herbal and organic beauty products creates potential opportunities for manufacturers to innovate and develop new products in accordance to consumer preferences.
Top factors affecting this change?
Changing Lifestyles: There has been a major shift in lifestyles of people in urban and rural areas. As people are getting more exposed to the global news, studies due to the use of internet, consumers are becoming more cautious about the kind of products they use on a day to day basis. Cosmetics enhance their style quotient and overall personality. Men are now more concerned with the color of their hair than ever before. Men search Google for “hair care”, 6% more than women throughout 2015. Men are now more worried about the perfume they wear due to the availability of several options which are quite affordable.
Rising GDPs of all the regions:
After the Lehman Brother’s crash of the stock market, the overall GDP and economies across the world are improving. The US stock market has risen to record levels which in turn is affecting the world economy. This in turn has raised the spending capacity of the people. Rising income thus has fostered the growth of the cosmetics industry which usually is considered a luxury industry more than the basic needs industry.
Use of Natural Ingredients: As people are becoming more knowledgeable about the use of chemicals and raw materials used in cosmetics industries, many companies are manufacturing their products which will have low or zero impact on the body as side effects and also make sure that it has less environmental degradation due to the use of the raw materials used to manufacture them. Source: Allied Market Research
