The COVID-19 pandemic changed what and the way consumers purchase beauty products, how they work and how they travel. For conference and exhibition organizers, the crisis has been devastating, but most pivoted to online offerings, some more successful than others. One success story is the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) which held its virtual annual meeting last month which drew more than 400 registered attendees.

“I am very pleased with the virtual event overall. In moving to a live virtual environment in a short amount of time, we were still able to deliver quality scientific talks featuring more than 30 of the industry’s best subject matter experts,” explained SCC Executive Director/CEO Erica O’Grady. “Opportunities for things to go wrong, such as internet connections, or faulty cameras or microphones are always present, but our virtual production staff and event platform both performed exceptionally. Early feedback from participants has been extremely positive and we’re looking into doing more large-scale virtual or hybrid events like this one.”

Even in a crisis, the Society is growing, adding 585 new members to top 5,600 in the US, and continued to expand its offerings.

“Together, our 19 chapters and headquarters delivered dozens of free live webinars to the membership and made available more than 60 session recordings via the SCC Media Library & Resource Center; virtual happy hours, social events and multi‐day education webinars rounded out our offerings,” added O’Grady. “I applaud our staff and our chapters in their ability to quickly adapt and deliver member value in this new environment, especially when the SCC experience has traditionally been based on in-person events.”

Within the community, the Society had a strong response to the global health crisis. SCC members, their companies, chapters and headquarters responded to much‐needed resource and relief efforts both home and abroad, according to O’Grady.

“From changing manufacturing operations to produce hand sanitizer and making monetary grants or gifts‐in‐kind, to donating essential hygiene products and PPE, this industry contributed greatly to help those in need. I know that our founder, Maison G. deNavarre, would be very proud,” added O’Grady.

Last year, the Society created the Madam CJ Walker Scholarship to support under-represented minority students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in chemical, physical, medical, pharmaceutical, biological or related science and technology. Now, the SCC is in negotiations with an historically-Black college to develop a cosmetics program. In another move, the Society is partnering with the Independent Beauty Association to provide its members with a well-balanced view of the cosmetics industry.

“For 2021, the SCC is staying future‐focused and our members will continue to see additional education, products and services designed with them in mind,” said O’Grady.

Some of the things SCC is working on for 2021 are:

• Developing a new, user-friendly website;
• Launching the SCC Career Center;
• Converting in‐person 8-hour Continuing Education Program courses to a multi-day virtual format;
• Adding additional research and reference materials to the SCC Media Library & Resource Center, and
• Working toward achieving its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the SCC and the industry.

“Most of all, I’m looking forward to a time when we can all be together again,” O’Grady concluded. “While virtual events are a necessary norm right now, nothing compares to the in-person events where the social and business networking are such a critical part of the SCC experience.”

Epstein Receives de Navarre Award Howard A. Epstein, PhD, director of technical services at EMD Performance Materials, received the Maison G. deNavarre Medal Award. The medal is the Society’s highest honor, recognizing an individual for accomplishments and activities supporting the best interests of the cosmetics and personal care industry. During his career, Epstein authored chapters in various cosmetic technology textbooks, including Harry’s Cosmeticology, and holds eight patents and two patent applications. He served as editor of the SCC’s Journal of Cosmetic Science and is a member of the International Academy of Dermatology. He is on the editorial board of the dermatological journals, Clinics in Dermatology and SKINmed, representing the cosmetics industry to dermatologists. “I encourage everyone to find your passion and be a learner regardless of age,” said Epstein in accepting the award. “Find a mentor and be a mentor to others.” Nava Dayan, PhD, received the 2020 Florence Wall Women in Cosmetic Chemistry Award, which honors women’s scientific and leadership contributions to the cosmetics and personal care industry. In her 30 years of experience, Dayan has offered a wide range of services through her consulting company, Dr. Nava Dayan LLC. She has worked on inventions that resulted in many patent applications, delivered 100+ oral presentations, has 150 publication credits and served as educator and advisory board committee member at several professional organizations. “I came here 20 years ago from Israel,” recalled Dayan. “To quote King David, I became wiser through all of my teachers. Never underestimate the wisdom of your colleagues.” The Merit Award was presented to Martha Tate, PhD, founder and CEO of Tate Science. During her nearly 30-year membership, Tate has lectured at various education events and served on the education advisory committee. “I helped create the NextGen initiative because I wanted to give back,” explained Tate. “If the next scientist who joins the Society receives as warm a welcome as you gave me, then you will have another lifelong member.” The Robert A. Kramer Lifetime Service Award was presented posthumously to Gary Agisim. During his career, Agisim made many presentations during mid-year and annual meetings, and served on a variety of committees and as the Society’s president in 2009. Other awards and winners included: Young Scientist Award, sponsored by Surfatech: Lex Pelger, CV Sciences, for his paper, CBD, GRAS & The Largest Organ. Green Star Award, sponsored by Colonial Chemical: Samantha Guertin, Aveda, for her paper, Botanical Repair Strengthening Leave-In Treatment. Society of Cosmetic Chemists Award, sponsored by Hallstar: Juan Brito, BASF Corporation, for his paper, Formulating with Zinc Oxide. Hans A. Schaeffer Award, sponsored by Lonza: Philip Ludwig, BASF Corporation, for his paper, Quorum Quenching: The New Way to Keep Microbiome Under Control. Joseph P. Ciaudelli Award, sponsored by Croda: Manuel Gamez-Garcia, PhD, Ashland Specialty Ingredients, for his paper, Protein and Cellular Structures Stabilizing the Shape of Curly and Textured Hair: A Finite Element Analysis. Shaw Mudge Award, sponsored by the Mudge Family: Anna Langerveld, PhD, Genemarkers, for her paper, CBD: Next Big Thing in Skincare. Des Goddard Award, Hy Si Bui, PhD, L’Oréal USA, for his paper, Physical Chemistry of Long-Lasting Color Cosmetics.

Frontiers of Science Lecture

Despite all of the changes, the focus remains on science at the Society. Last  month’s virtual annual meeting featured in-depth sessions on beauty personalization and technology; color and optical effects; cosmetic dermatology: skin microbiome and epigenetics; hair care innovations and market trends; natural/sustainable in cosmetics and personal care; sun care and beyond; technologies and trends in ingredients; and personal care/cosmetics impact and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scientific sessions got underway with the Frontiers of Science lecture by Scott A. Jackson of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In his presentation devoted to the human microbiome, Jackson noted that there is rapidly growing appreciation for the role of microbes in our lives but that the science needed to understand and exploit microbial systems is growing more slowly.

“There is a lot of hype, but a lot of good science, too,” observed Jackson. “My take home message is that the human microbiome is under-appreciated and under-utilized.”

He explained that the microbiome plays a role in a range of human ailments including acne, depression and autism, and that diet, environment and pets impact the microbiome—as does getting married and moving into a new house!

“Twenty years ago, we didn’t talk about microbiome science; now genome sequencing enables us to move from genomics to metagenomics,” Jackson said. “The new modality of drugs is live bacteria.”


Pandemic-Inspired Research

The pandemic was not be ignored by the SCC Committee on Scientific Affairs (COSA). A special session, Personal Care/Cosmetics Impact & the COVID-19 Pandemic, looked at how the pandemic impacted research and consumer perception of hygiene. Seren Frantz of Lubrizol opened the session with a presentation on maintaining active substantivity after rinsing from cleansing solutions. Using ampholytic and anionic polymers, Frantz and her colleagues created a stable system that delivered and enhanced substantivity of actives in a rinse off cleansing formulation. She noted that this technology delivers on two key benefits at the same time, stability and deposition. The ampholytic polymers in this system were critical to providing these benefits. Firstly, they enhanced stability in these cleansing systems and secondly, when the ampholytic polymer was used at a higher level than the anionic polymer there was enhanced deposition.

Consumer acceptance plays a role in product use compliance, and for oil-in-water emulsions, appearance, pick-up and rub-out (APR) aesthetic characteristics are all dictated by emulsifier selection, according to ACT Solutions’ Mark Chandler, who noted that in after-feel evaluations, there is an equal influence of emulsifier and emollient. Chandler presented evidence that invert (water-in-oil and water-in-silicone) emulsions made with PEG-free TMP lauryl dimethicone emulsifier had different aesthetic characteristics when compared to the same emulsions using very similar lauryl PEG-8 dimethicone, and after-feel stickiness was lower with the TMP lauryl dimethicone emulsifier. Chandler concluded that W/O emulsions have beneficial therapeutic and performance properties when compared to their O/W counterparts.

Jennifer Macary of Henkel detailed the advantages of handwashing with antibacterial soap.

“New data shows that, in certain situations, the use of antibacterial hand washes could make a significant difference in the health of the consumer,” she asserted.

Macary noted that while washing hands with soap and water can provide some reduction in bacteria, these new studies provide evidence that the reduction of bacteria on the hands following the use of soap containing an antibacterial ingredient can lead to a reduction in infection. Furthermore, by killing bacteria rather than simply removing it from hands, eliminates the risk of cross contamination. Neutralizing the bacteria prevents the possibility of it spreading to foods and surfaces.

Robert Lochhead closed the COVID-19-inspired session with look at regulations surrounding soaps, syndets and hand sanitizers. In acknowledging that it has never been more important to practice good hand hygiene, and the fact that the US FDA recommends thorough hand washing with soap and water, Lochhead noted that soap is not included in the legal definition of cosmetic under the US FD&C Act. True “soap” is regulated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). But soap-type products may be regulated by FDA as ‘cosmetic’ or ‘drug’, based on composition or labeling claims.

“As soon as you add anything to the formula, such as vitamins or pumice, it is no longer a soap, it is a cosmetic,” explained Lochhead.

FDA recently published temporary Guidance for Industry, articulating Agency policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic for alcohol-based hand sanitizers. FDA and CDC have reported increased adverse event reports (AER), including acute oral poisonings and deaths, from “economically adulterated” alcohol-based hand sanitizers, most of them imports.


Natural/Sustainable Chemistry

Demand for natural formulas continues with or without a pandemic. In a session on natural/sustainable personal care chemistry, DuPont’s Natnael Behabtu described an enzymatic polymerization process that yields a new class of polymers for the personal care industry. He explained that alpha 1,3 linked glucan homopolymers can be routinely manufactured with high purity, precision and consistency to enable the most stringent formulation needs. This enzymatically polymerized polysaccharide has the ability to yield defined, hierarchical colloidal microstructure with unique particle morphology, according to Behabtu, who concluded that enzymatic polymerization represents a new wave in natural polymers design that combines the benefit, purity and performance of synthetic polymers with the sustainability of natural polymers.

Fengqiu Fan of Tate & Lyle explained how the next phase for natural materials in the cosmetics industry already occurred in the food industry. He noted that natural food additives can be used to create a wide range of textural properties and that the power and concentration of a thickening ingredient are the main parameters for predicting the textural attributes of a final product. Furthermore, the texture of a product is determined by starch structure and composition.

“Phase volume is critical to how starches thicken,” explained Fan. “For starch-thickened formulations, particle phase volume determines texture.”

Tate & Lyle’s future work will focus on cosmetic applications charts utilizing thickeners, process tolerance, dispersion and stability maps.

The benefits of alternative preservation formulas were detailed by Michael Fevola of Inolex. He called methylheptylglycerin (MHG), the first bio-based preservative system that contains 100% USDA certified biobased content. It is derived from sustainably sources castor and RSPO Mass Balance certified palm feedstocks. The preservative protects formulas from microbial growth with strong efficacy against bacteria and yeast in emulsions, cleansers and wipes.

“In addition to providing microbiostatic effects, MHG also functions to reduce or eliminate soaping/whitening effects in oil-in-water emulsions,” said Fevola.

However, he noted that MHG does not provide protection against mold, so Inolex chemists added caprylhydroxamic acid (CHA), a naturally-derived chelating agent, to sequester nutrients for microorganisms.


Personalization & Technology

In explaining a gene profiling study and potential application to develop personalized skin care products, EMD’s Howard Epstein, the 2020 Maison deNavarre Medal winner (see sidebar), noted that everyone has some genetic variation known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). While SNP gene profiling is used to develop more effective medical treatments, EMD researchers conducted a gene profiling study on 44 human volunteers to evaluate the feasibility of developing personalized skin care products based on genetic profiling, and evaluation of each volunteer’s phonotype by an expert grader.

“Although we had 84,000 SNPs on our array, our customized gene chip did not have all the potential genes for pigmentation reported in the literature,” said Epstein, who noted that the study only involved Fitzpatrick skin types II and III. “Beyond the pigmentation genes, we now have obtained data to explore technologies for wrinkles, inflammation and other possibilities for skin/care product development.”

Steven Tolboe of NuSkin told attendees that personalized skin care has arrived, with more consumers researching products. In fact, 40% of consumers are willing to spend more for personalized formulas. NuSkin’s ageLOC Me device delivers customized products in precise doses twice a day—making it easier for users to follow a skin care regimen. His company also developed VERA, a digital consultation tool that involves a state of the art questionnaire, scanning technology and intelligent product recommendations. In order to create an effective personalization strategy, companies must know their consumers, establish an objective and develop a strategy, according to Tolboe.

“Personalization is a valuable tool that can help build revenue and brand trust, but is a daunting challenge,” said Tolboe. “Understanding your consumer and your goal is key to successfully leveraging personalization within the personal care industry.”