Key queries and claims in 2020

The singularity of the concept and the volume of data processed, relative to the queries that are carried out on these platforms, legitimises Skinobs to extract the main tests’ market trends. The most researched topics into the clinical testing platform are:

• hydration: the first of the top ten claims over the last three months of 2020
• the ten most researched claims on the clinical testing platform are in order of importance: hydration (45.76%), skin barrier (10.23%), slimming (6.36%), radiance (5.23%), anti-wrinkle (3.71%), smoothing (2.80%), antipollution and antiblue light (2.73%), antioxidant (2.50%).

For the products types: face and hair are in the first row. Among the types of products sought, facial care comes first by a little over a third, followed closely by hair care (a little less than a third), then, in appreciably similar proportions: sun care, body care and make-up.

Focus on the microbiota claims

The interest of microbiota in skin care remains an important trend. The bacteria ecosystem (microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeasts) synthetises a myriad of elements which have an important metabolic activity for skin health. It could be necessary to protect, to rebalance and activate it on the cosmetics side.

Simply said, the aim for personal care could be to reduce the “bad” bacteria and protect the “good” ones. But the notion of “bad” or “good” is relative depending on the physiological state of the skin. Now things are not so simple.

The balance of cutaneous microflora (500 bacteria species) is dependent on the several conditions of its ecosystem: temperature, pH, hormones, light, UV, lipids, proteins, water… It is mainly influenced by the genetic, the lifestyle, the age, the hygiene, and the diet. Each person has their own skin flora composition, distributed from the epidermis until the dermis, which is lifelong qualitatively stable, like a personal microbial footprint.

This skin microflora is fundamental for the skin homeostasis and participates in the immune and barrier functions. Situations where pathogenic bacteria overwhelm commensal bacteria are often associated with drier and sensitive skin conditions. And various bacteria disorders might be considered as a source of cutaneous dysfunctions like acne, eczema or atopic dermatitis modifying this precious balance. Currently, the approach of supporting the microbiota activity of cosmetics is still in its early stages. Many testing laboratories are studying these new claims looking in the direction of the metagenomic field. The study of the cutaneous flora is complex, and it is not always easy to understand its functionalities and interactions with the skin metabolism.

The first way is to analyse the genome of the bacteria of the skin flora. It is a living layer of the skin to be discovered like a new continent of the body.

The goal: healthy skin

Personal care and toiletries must be designed to make the skin healthy. Healthy skin is frequently described as beautiful, flawless, glowing, and young. Healthy skin care maintains the skin in good state, protects it from the external aggression and helps to regulate the bad influences of the internal stresses. This is a question of aspect and perceived comfort; it generates a globally positive impression of good health. Skin treatments must correct any abnormality in skin health that deviates from the definition so that it attains the desirable attributes. Globally, these personal care products could help to decrease the imperfections of the skin (acne), the redness, the hyperpigmentation, optimise the skin structure and relieve, improve the complexion radiance and the oxygenation, increase the tonicity and the elasticity, maintain a good level of hydration and the skin barrier, respect the pH, the epidermis renewal, and the microbiota, normalise the sebum, improve the skin softnessvand comfort.

It is recommended for investigators to take time with the CROs to design each protocol and define precisely, the inclusion criteria, the time measurements, treatment conditions and the optimal device.

New perspectives of evaluation

The era of connected devices for skin diagnosis or DNA analysis combined with the personalisation treatment sounds great for healthy skin care. These digital tools enable the development of new products to answer the new request of the consumers. Is it the selfie generation, theatre of the daily life of the millennial’s who need to have instagramable images of themselves? Moreover, the healthy skin could be mentally associated to clean and natural beauty. It seems evident that “healthy skin care” will be formulated with specific attention to the texture and the actives and ingredients sourcing. Now, the imaging of the skin from the centimetre to the nanoscale is more and more crucial. When measuring the various elements and structures of the skin, water, lipids, the skin-epidermal junction, extracellular matrix, and fibres, among other things, are analysed. The various hightech bio metrological measurements give the opportunity to connect the technology with the new digital use of personalisation from the shop to the bathroom.

This connection between objectivation and the digital way of choosing and buying may bring the cosmeticians closer to the reality of marketing. Whether for ageing, radiance, biomechanical properties, or moisturising, the several techniques look for higher resolution, larger measurement area, non-invasive, no contact, and direct methods. The algorithms and the statistics are the principal future contribution of the success of these new technologies. The combinations of classical biometric measurements with more high-tech devices and specific biomarkers can provide a better understanding of the organisation of the skin structure and its functions at this specific period of the women and men life.