Is buying tech skincare a "IQ tax"?

"Technology skin care" is a hot topic in the cosmetics industry in recent years. The Internet celebrity skin care products that frequently appear on social platforms and online shopping platforms and advertise "black technology" have attracted the attention of consumers. This year is the first year of functional skin care products, consumers who are gradually rational in their demand for skin care products are more concerned about the technology and function of the product when choosing products. But are tech-savvy skincare products genuine, or are they just harvesting a wave of "IQ tax"?

Insights: What are technology skincare products?

Professor Tu Guihong, who has been engaged in biological fermentation for more than 50 years, said that the current scientific and technological skin care products mainly refer to the application of biotechnology based on fermentation and cell engineering in the skin care industry. Around 2000, international cosmetics giants began to use biotechnology, and in recent years, domestic brands have begun to promote the use.

Zhu Sinan, general manager of the Brand and Communication Strategy Center of a well-known biotechnology company in China, said that the development process of global skin care products is roughly divided into four stages: the period of pure physical protection, the period of chemical addition technology, the period of animal and plant extraction essence and the period of cell care. Microbial fermentation technology in the field of biotechnology is the production of active substances through cell factories, and the use of active ingredients in skin care products has a huge space for innovation, combining the preparation of active ingredients with dermatology and cytology, which can carry out systematic research and innovation, improve the stability and precise targeting of ingredients, and then develop a series of effective skin care products.

Zheng Yue, deputy chief physician of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, told reporters that biotechnology skin care products are the products of the continuous updating and iteration of functional skin care products, and are the application performance of new technologies and technologies in the development of skin care products, mainly reflected in raw material development, raw material ingredient updates, etc. Since this year, the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Production and Operation of Cosmetics" has been officially implemented, requiring that the efficacy claim should have sufficient scientific basis, and the cosmetics industry has officially ushered in the era of efficacy evaluation. "To make functional skin care products, there must be functional raw materials, and to really make cosmetic raw materials with outstanding functions, you need to use biotechnology." Tu Guihong said. In simple terms, biotech skin care products use biotechnology to extract active ingredients (i.e. raw materials) that are useful to the skin, compound or dilute them, and add them to skin care products to improve skin problems.

Duan Lixin, a researcher at Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that at present, the biotechnology of the domestic cosmetics industry still belongs to the stage of running, and there is a certain gap with the world. Most domestic enterprises in this area of investment is not enough, production, education and research has not been a good connection, it is recommended that enterprises consciously carry out the combination of production, education and research. Zhu Sinan said that the cell factory production mode in biotechnology is more environmentally friendly, and it is also a strong support for the implementation of carbon peak carbon neutrality, which is the trend of the times in the future.

Market research: "Technology skin care" makes people "Monchacha"

Hot spring technology skin care, space technology skin care, Yingfei wisdom with black technology skin care... The dazzling "black technology" in the field of cosmetics has made many consumers "Montchacha". He Lin, who is engaged in cultural work, told reporters that she hopes that the skin care effect can be more prominent, and the scientific and technological skin care products have attracted her attention, "I thought that there was a huge breakthrough in the field of skin care products, and the expectations for it were also very high." But after using it for a while, she thinks the effects of tech skincare aren't as magical as she thought, and seem more like "packaging products that have been around for a long time with tall nouns."

Ms. Xie, who works at a five-star hotel in Guangzhou, has been slow to buy related products despite being curious about the concept of "technological skin care". "There are too many products with "black technology" or some technical gimmicks to look very mysterious, no matter how professional the numbers and theories they give, but for me it is always difficult, unable to understand the science in it. So I'm more of a wait-and-see approach. Ms. Xie said.

The reporter conducted a survey and interview with a number of female consumers and found that the vast majority of respondents were confused about the concept of "scientific and technological skin care", and different skin care brands had very different descriptions of the scientific and technological attributes of their products, which was even more confusing for consumers. The "Tech Skincare" concept covers a wide range of skincare products including masks, toners, serums, creams and more. In terms of price, some skin care products that have been given the concept of technological skin care are more expensive than ordinary skin care products. The reporter saw in the Little Red Book that a 50g repair cream advertised as "space technology" sold for about 620 yuan, and another 50g diamond mask claiming "scientific and technological skin care anti-aging and anti-wrinkle" sold for 860 yuan.

Focus 1: Better efficacy of technological skin care products?

Product efficacy and price are the two key issues that are the most concerned by consumers in scientific and technological skin care products.

"Chemical synthesis has great limitations, and bio-fermentation products use biological models to solve biological problems. Unlike the chemical industry, the biotechnology approach is milder. Duan Lixin said.

"In terms of efficacy, skin care products containing scientific and technological ingredients or technology have a significant effect than ordinary skin care products." Taking moisturizing as an example, ordinary hydrating products can only achieve immediate hydration, while the use of patented technology in scientific and technological skin care products has a higher hydration duration, and the effect is more obvious in the long run. The person in charge of a skin care brand said, but no matter what kind of technology or ingredients are added to the product, skin care needs a gradual process. Starting from the renewal law of the body's own cells, at least 28 days of continuous use of a product, the skin without moisture can be improved, at least 45 days can see a more significant whitening and rejuvenation effect, and for anti-aging skin care products, use for at least 2 months, in order to have an effect.

Focus 2 Technology skincare products are more expensive?

Many experts and industry insiders pointed out that technological skin care products are not equal to high prices. Tu Guihong said that in the future, with the improvement of technology, the production level of raw materials can be improved, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing production costs. For example, epidermal growth factor, if isolated and extracted from pure natural materials, the cost should go to 2 million US dollars / g, but if it is produced by the synthetic cell factory method, the production cost can be sharply reduced. This is also an important reason for the current giants to lay out cutting-edge biotechnology "synthetic biology": to improve quality and quantity.

Zhu Sinan also holds the same view, his company is currently focusing on the layout of "synthetic biology", basic research and applied basic research investment is a long-term, continuous expenditure, in 2021 R & D investment of up to 280 million yuan, but the use of end product price embodiment, but also the integration of supply chain, market size and other multiple factors. Therefore, technological skin care products and "high prices" are not equal.

Recommendation: Technological skincare products are not a substitute for medical treatment for problematic skin

In essence, "scientific and technological skin care" is actually the technological innovation of cosmetics companies in research and development, representing the industry's pursuit of innovation and progress. But the true value of their respective innovative technologies is rarely officially certified. Therefore, "technology skin care" has been used as a kind of marketing propaganda to convey to consumers. Du Hong, secretary general of the Guangdong Cosmetics Quality Management Association, suggested that consumers rationally view the concept of "scientific and technological skin care", put safety and compliance in the first place when choosing skin care products, and pursue corresponding efficacy on the basis of safety.

Zheng Yue told reporters that functional skin care products belong to the category of cosmetics, and they need to talk about efficacy on the basis of ensuring product safety. Biotechnology skin care products are functional skin care products. "Although the quality of such skin care products on the market is uneven, biotechnology skin care products are not exactly hype concepts. Its credibility can be identified from three aspects, first, safety; second, whether it is really effective. Whether the efficacy of the product has passed the verification of clinical and experimental results, whether the data and reports have passed the certification of authoritative institutions such as the Food and Drug Administration to support its effectiveness; third, there are many links in the process of research and development, production and marketing of cosmetics. Raw material selection, extraction and product formulation are developed and produced by trusted manufacturers. ”

"If the merchant takes anti-aging as the effect, then it is not excluded that there is a suspicion of speculation." Zheng Yue said that in the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics", in the classification of the efficacy catalogue of functional skin care products, there are anti-wrinkle and firming functions, but there is no classification of "anti-aging"; the "anti-aging" effect is evaluated from multiple dimensions. Judging from the cases received by the dermatology clinic, sensitive skin and acne are the two major skin problems currently concentrated, and anti-aging belongs to the category of rejuvenation treatment.

She reminded that if the public has skin problems, the disease should be cured first, and skin care products with "repair" effects only play a partial role, but cannot replace medical treatment.

Learning to read the ingredient list in order to identify skin care products produced by biotechnology is the advice given by Tu Guihong. He said that the ingredients of skin care products that are truly produced using biotechnology are extremely simple, usually only 3-4 kinds, unlike ordinary skin care products with as many as dozens of ingredients. The reporter saw on Tmall that a multi-effect repair mask produced by biotechnology has only 4 kinds of water, white fungus extract, glycerin and hydrolyzed collagen on the composition list. (Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Zeng Fanying)