Top 3 Controversial Ingredients of 2008

This year, three cosmetics ingredients were main topics of consumer and policy-oriented discussion, Cosmetic Design reports.

Phthalates were found to be linked to baby care products and the discussion began about how the buildup of such compounds have an effect on the human body. The EPA jumped into the argument, positing that personal care and pharmaceutical products may be leaking the chemical into US waterways.

Parabens, the preservative found in many cosmetics products, were highly criticized in the European arena - France in particular.

And triclosan, the antimicrobial used in personal care products, was linked to endocrine system disruption, cancer, and increased dermal sensitization in addition to noting its ability to persist in aquatic environments.

Ethics On Par with Price When It Comes to Purchase Decisions

Despite growing concerns about prices, consumers are still putting placing importance on the ethics of the company they are buying from: 34% said that they consider ethics, while 35% used a product's price and value as their main consideration.

The survey was conducted by The Body Shop - for whom it probably makes sense to publish results that lean towards ethical choices - and it is lacking one major statistic: what consumer actually decide. As we all know, it is much easier to say than it is to do.

When asked how often they actually made purchasing decisions based on ethical values, 40% said they did so weekly. Okay, we'll take it.

California Files Lawsuit Against Avalon, Whole Foods Brand

The Great State of California (i.e., the Attorney General) has filed a major lawsuit against body care household-cleaning product companies whose products recently tested highest for the carcinogenic contaminant 1,4-Dioxane, according to the Organic Consumers Association, a "watchdog" organization that released a report in March about the issue.

Their main target? Avalon Natural Products. However, it includes other companies that "have sold products (e.g., body washes, gels, liquid dish soaps) that tested close to or in excess of 20 parts per million for 1,4-Dioxane in the OCA study," which were:

• Whole Foods Market California (365 brand)
• Beaumont Products (Citrus Magic)
• Nutribiotic (See all products tested in the study.)
  

What does this mean for the consumer? Not much - not right now. The complaint is not that this chemical was in the products, but that they were not labeled as products that "may cause cancer."

The lesson here? California is definitely leading the movement towards correct labeling and regulation of personal care and home products...but in the meantime, know your ingredients and READ LABELS. Here's what to look out for (from the OCA press release):

To avoid 1,4-Dioxane, the OCA urges consumers to search ingredient lists for indications of ethoxylation including: "myreth," "oleth," "laureth," "ceteareth," any other "eth," "PEG," "polyethylene," "polyethylene glycol," "polyoxyethylene," or "oxynol," in ingredient names.

Power to the People: Consumers Demand Sustainably Sourced Goods

From Cosmetics Design:

The consumer quest for truly natural and organic personal care products is having a knock- on effect on manufacturers, pushing the boundaries involved in ethical and sustainable production.

What does this mean exactly?

1. That the processes behind the manufacturing of the products are "green" (i.e., made using power from renewable energy, creating minimal waste) ultimately ensuring that the carbon footprint is kept to a minimum. --Example: British retailer Boots is working to develop natural ingredients from algae grown from the waste and heat of its power station in Nottingham. (Wait...is this ironic?)
2. That the farming techniques for the ingredients are monitored so that there is no threat to the plant or the environment. --About a month ago, a new way to produce solvent-free scented chemicals by using reducing agent sodium borohydride was discovered by scientists at the University of Genova. (Love those Italians!)

The customer is always right, they say, and in this case, it is consumer demands that are driving changes in the industry. Don't stop...demanding. It's a long Journey.

Consumer Choices: More than Meets the Eye

Or it it? Why do consumers make the choices they make? Is it really based on all the reasons that we think it is? People say that they only order "healthy" when they eat out or that they only want to put organic beauty products on their face or that they will only drink the wine made with the very best grapes. But are these the things that ultimately guide our spontaneous purchasing decisions? Or does it have a lot more to do with what we don't consciously think about?

Take product packaging for example. I'm no wine connoisseur myself, but I frequently purchase a bottle to drink with dinner. (Yes, I'm 21.) How do I chose which bottle to buy when the entire aisle 5 at Safeway is filled from top to bottom with various wines with names written in French, Italian, Portuguese and more?

Ultimately, I will be the first to admit, it comes down to aesthetics. Hey, that bottle has a picture of a crazy chicken on it - that seems appealing, or at least entertaining. Or hey, that bottle is shaped differently than the others-it looks kind of short and stubby - let's take pity on it and buy that one. What makes one bottle look classy and another look cheap? Is there any real basis for these distinctions? You decide...

Beauty Goes Green Webinar Explores Topics of (Consumer) Interest

Yesterday the Global Cosmetic Industry Beauty Union hosted another session of their Beauty Goes Green webinar to talk about Retailing and Point of Sale. With a stated purpose of finding "what consumers [are] really thinking right now about natural and organic beauty products," we found that there was, in fact, an emphasis on market research.

Several polls were taken ahead of time in an attempt to identify current consumer trends. For example, they asked, "In which category is natural/organic the most important?" The results showed a large number of people who thought that both skincare and baby/maternity products were rather important. However, when the poll was given to the webinar audience, skincare outshone all categories by more than 50 percentage points. Why is this?

It may be that the participants in the survey were mostly people who are in the industry, not your average consumer. Those of us who are immersed in this world are already aware of current (high) standards for baby products. Put simply, you cannot put many harsh chemicals in these; mothers are protective. Ever try to approach a baby bear when the mother is around? Don't do it.

Yet when it comes to their own skin, women are a little slow to adopt to natural and organic products. Perhaps it is a process - first baby, then me. It's going to take education, they concluded, both from the companies and at the point of sale. But are retailers really going to make space for product literature on their shelves?

We doubt it.