"The coexistence of basic research and technology development is a common phenomenon among large-scale cosmetics companies in Japan."
The source | Poly beautiful
The author | Poetry Poetry
When we think of Japanese products, we subconsciously think of excellent quality and "craftsmanship". In the overall manufacturing industry, Japanese brands such as Panasonic, Hitachi, Toyota, Honda and others have become well-known around the world. In the field of cosmetics, many Japanese brands also have a high reputation.
Japan is one of the largest markets for cosmetics and personal care products in the world, with about 3,000 beauty care companies. Among them, Shiseido, Kose, Pola Orbis, and Kao are the leading companies in the Japanese cosmetics industry. Many people may think that Kao is mainly based on daily necessities, but in fact, the well-known Kanebo company is affiliated with Kao.
Japanese companies often conduct in-depth research on a specific field, as Yang Jianzhong, chairman of the Japan-China Cosmetics International Exchange Association, said: "Japanese companies are more specialized in technical research, and it can be said that there are many craftsmen. It is not uncommon for a R&D personnel to continue to cultivate in one field all their lives, so it has also produced many of the world's top experts. ”
With the long-term historical precipitation and accumulation of experience, the Japanese cosmetics industry has developed into a professional industry with a considerable level of science and technology. In the study of cosmetics, it can be deepened to the cellular level. The advanced technology it uses involves many professional disciplines such as medicine and biology.
Relying on a mature scientific and technological foundation, Japanese cosmetics companies prefer to adopt product customization and personalization technology in the application of beauty product technology. For example, Pola Orbis uses AI in personalized skincare development, Kao Group's fine fiber technology and its ultra-thin skin layer diffuser application, and Fancl's virtual AR makeup simulator. In addition, these companies are also very fond of researching new and unique raw material ingredients, and have achieved many effective results.
Optimize product development through AI and quantum computers
There is no shortage of innovative technologies in the Japanese cosmetics industry, and the research and application of intelligent technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) can be said to be the first to bear the brunt. Shiseido, Kao, Kosai, Pola Orbis and other companies have already set foot in the field of AI technology applications. "Although it is not mature enough at present, the application of AI to the cosmetics field is an inevitable trend." Yang Jianzhong said.
In recent years, there are many successful cases of international cosmetics companies using AI to assist product development, jumei's previous article "Artificial intelligence "calculated" formula, will lead the development of cosmetics? " has been described in detail.
Yang Jianzhong said that the application of AI in the field of cosmetics mainly has the following three aspects:
1) Through the evaluation and detection equipment connected to AI, the consumer's skin or hair is detected, and after forming big data, it is used to guide the development of enterprise products or help consumers choose customized products for their own situation;
2) Realize the intelligent factory controlled by AI, make a variety of subdivided products all the time, and deliver them to each consumer to achieve more difficult personal customization, rather than being limited to expanding the SKU;
3) Apply AI technology to cosmetics research and development.
The reporter learned that these 4 Japanese cosmetics companies also have different results in the application of new technologies, as shown in the table:
●Visualize the inside of the skin
In recent years, the Kao Group has been trying to develop technologies that do not harm the skin and visualize the interior.
Due to the complex structure of the skin, there are multiple recombinant components such as collagen, blood vessels, lymph, etc., how to dynamically observe the internal structure of the skin has become a major technical difficulty. By visualizing the inside of the skin, Kao establishes a more accurate "skin evaluation" and assists in the development of makeup and skin care products.
In January 2021, the Kao Makeup Research Institute developed "Skin Evaluation AI" using AI technology to visualize skin images to objectively and quantitatively evaluate the impression of skin appearance. By applying this technique, it is possible to assess the feel, the degree of makeup removal, and the age of the skin.
△Kao launched skin evaluation AI
Kao used JM-OCT (Jones Matrix Optical Coherence Tomography) technology to obtain 128 images of skin tomography in just 7 seconds, successfully visualizing the interior of the skin with two-dimensional images.
In December of the same year, Kao combined another original algorithm and three-dimensional (3D) technology based on JM-OCT to develop a new technology "CT-Skin" (coherent tomography of the skin), which allows to see the inside of the skin more realistically and see the changes in the skin without damaging the skin. CT-Skin is said to be able to reproduce the distribution of skin surfaces, blood vessels, lymph and collagen, and even visualize blood flow.
△ Kao CT-Skin
Using this technique, Kao studied the relationship between wrinkles and the optical properties of the skin. They believe that changes in the tissue density of the dermal reticulum layer and the degradation of collagen fiber structure in the papillary layer of the dermis are the main factors leading to wrinkle formation. Kao said further research with CT-Skin will help identify internal structural changes that lead to individual wrinkles and provide a customized approach to skin care for each individual.
Also applying digital imaging technology is Shiseido. In 2021, Shiseido used a 3D camera to photograph the shape of the entire face, using digital technology to transform the "change in the volume of the face caused by gravity" when changing postures, and developed a "relaxation index" that can evaluate the skin with high accuracy and objectivity. It is said to be the world's first quantitative, high-precision "relaxation" evaluation method.
Shiseido has promoted innovation in anti-aging solutions using the newly developed "relaxation" evaluation method. At the same time, based on this skin evaluation method, we can conduct research on the mechanism of skin science, the measurement method and evaluation method of the interior of the skin, the exploration of active ingredients, the development of beauty methods, etc., and conduct side studies, so as to help achieve more efficient product development.
●Product customization, predict the skin feeling of product formulation
"Regarding customized products, at present, manufacturers can only prepare as many SKUs as possible, and then try to achieve subdivided choices through permutations and combinations." Yang Jianzhong said.
He said that in recent years, companies such as Kao and Shiseido have gradually introduced AI and robots into their factories and developed in the direction of intelligent factories to achieve more refined product customization services.
In 2022, Shiseido clarified the correlation between SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and skin status by combining years of skin science research insights and accumulated big data from 1,472 Japanese women with AI technologies such as mechanistic learning. In addition, through the construction of original algorithms based on the obtained results, a new DNA detection method has been successfully developed, which can accurately evaluate the different skin characteristics of each person.
The detection method contains 79 kinds of a wide range of single nucleotide polymorphisms, including not only factors that have a direct impact on the elements that make up the skin, but also factors that indirectly affect the skin in the body such as blood vessels, hormones, vitamin metabolism, etc. The algorithm constructed by the above SNP information and huge skin measurement data can analyze the skin of consumers with high precision and comprehensiveness.
Shiseido developed this technology to understand skin features based on SNP information to provide highly personalized beauty treatments.
△ Shiseido's DNA testing method
In addition to product customization, AI technology also occupies an important position in formula development. In 2021, Pola Orbis partnered with biomedical solutions provider SBX to develop and build a "tactile AI" that can predict skin sensation from cosmetic formulation information.
Pola Orbis believes that the development of a product needs to go through dozens, or even hundreds of formulation trials and iterations, through AI technology can instantly predict the use of the product texture with high accuracy. Not only does it reduce the number of trials, but it also makes cosmetics development more environmentally friendly.
△Tactile production type AI
In addition, some Japanese cosmetics companies also use cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computers and robots to assist in the development of cosmetic formulations, and quantum computers are even considered to be able to develop "cosmetics that are most suitable for personal use."
Previously, quantum computers have been used in drug development. Compared with ordinary computers, quantum computers are able to perform a large number of operations side by side, so that answers can be obtained in a very short time.
In 2019, Kosse Group partnered with Blueqat, a Japanese company that develops quantum computer software, to develop cosmetics using quantum computers. By using sensors, etc., the characteristics of raw materials are changed to numerical values, helping to quickly match the characteristics of raw materials required by formulations.
Currently, Kosse is using this technology to record the raw materials of the formulation and thus calculate the products with different senses of use. For example, the lotion launched by Gaosi's flagship brand Xuemujing uses various plants such as spin-covered flowers, angelica and coix kernels, and the number of ingredients reaches 39 kinds, and according to quantum calculations, it is easy to obtain product formulations and blending methods with different senses of use.
△ Snow muscle essence
Relying on basic research, we continue to explore new effects of raw materials
"The development of cosmetic raw materials is nothing more than two basic directions: First, on the basis of ensuring safety, we will continue to improve the pursuit of efficacy and function. The second is to achieve the sustainability of cosmetic raw materials from the source to the production process under the guidance of the 17 SDGs of the United Nations. Yang Jianzhong said.
Plant extracts, which are both safer and more environmentally friendly in the production process, are a popular research direction in the Japanese cosmetics industry. They have published many innovative studies of plant extracts from different functional directions and mechanisms.
In 2021, for example, Pola Orbis is studying blood vessels that are important for skin elasticity. The results showed that in vascular endothelial cells, when the RNA produced by junk DNA fragments (note: fragments that do not code protein sequences in DNA) - "GATA6-AS" decreased, cell damage caused by advanced glycosylation terminal products (AGEs) will accelerate, causing a glycation reaction.
In addition, they also found that peony extract increases the "GATA6-AS" of vascular endothelial cells, which can improve the tolerance of vascular endothelial cells to glycosylation damage.
△ Peony extract was added to vascular endothelial cells, and after 48 hours of culture, the expression of GATA6-AS gene increased to 196% (picture from Pola Orbis)
Also in 2021, Pola Orbis found that slender stork extract was able to inhibit neurosecretion activity by studying the effects of nerves within the skin on pigmentation spots, thereby inhibiting melanocyte activation. Pola Orbis officially said that the results of this research will be applied to the products and services of the Pola Group in the future.
Previously, Pola Orbis found that the nerve fibers in the upper dermis layer of the spot increased, and the nerves were one of the causes of the formation of the stain. The delicate old stork extract is based on this principle, which plays a role in improving nerve pigmentation.
In addition, some plant extracts have also been found to have the effect of alleviating "digital fatigue" and fighting "unpopular" such as particle pollution.
Digital fatigue refers to the many adverse reactions to the human body after long-term use of electronic devices, such as mental and visual aspects. Shiseido's research suggests that digital fatigue leads to an increase in oxidative damage factor porphyrin, which worsens skin barrier function and increases the proportion of abnormal keratinocytes.
In 2021, Shiseido research found that Shikuwasa extract can enhance the expression of Caspase-14 (Note: an enzyme that is essential for skin barrier and moisturizing function), helping to strengthen the skin barrier and moisturizing function, thus improving skin roughness and barrier damage caused by "digital fatigue".
From the raw material research, it can be seen that Japanese cosmetics companies are indeed very good at delving into a field and constantly innovating. In the study of ingredients in a specific direction of efficacy, such as Pola Orbis, the whitening ingredient has followed up for many years.
In 2018, Pola Orbis developed a new whitening ingredient, PCE-DP (development number MKS-518), a patented combination of panthenol and other auxiliary enhancement ingredients, which is said to have the effect of "inhibiting the accumulation of melanin and preventing pigmentation and freckles". It is understood that this is the new whitening active ingredient that Pola has once again obtained the certification of foreign products from the Ministry of Medicine after about 10 years.
Studies have found that PCE-DP can activate the "citric acid cycle", making the proliferation of epidermal cells active, promoting epidermal metabolism, thereby reducing the content of melanin in epidermal cells. In addition, PCE-DP also has functions such as enhancing the skin's original anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions.
PCE-DP is one of the active ingredients in Pola brand White Shot whitening care products, which are also combined with 4-butylresorcinol, dipotassium glycyrrhizinate and other moisturizing, brightening and anti-glycation effects, and the whitening effect of the product is very popular among consumers.
△ Pola White Shot whitening series
In addition to whitening, Pola Orbis has also made many achievements in the research of anti-wrinkle ingredients. Yang Jianzhong said: "For Japan, where the population is seriously aging, in the field of personal care such as skin care and hair care, anti-aging can be said to be the most important direction for technical research in the Japanese cosmetics industry. In recent years, the japanese market has seen a rapid increase in anti-wrinkle and whitening dual-effect pharmaceutical products, and this trend is led by the NEI-L1 anti-wrinkle technology developed by Pola Orbis. ”
It is understood that the "NEI-L1" component consists of 4 amino acid inducers, which are combined with "neutrophil glomerular elastinase" (which can be decomposed by bone collagen and elastin), which can inhibit the decomposition of the dermis layer and thus reduce wrinkle production. The ingredient is applied to Pola brand's Wrinkle shot anti-wrinkle serum.
△ Pola Wrinkle shot anti-wrinkle serum
In addition, head companies such as Kao and Shiseido are also innovating in a certain segment.
"Although the technology needs to be further improved, Kao and Shiseido have recently launched innovative technology products that spray the skin with a 'second layer of skin' to make the skin look more perfect. In addition, microneedling technology has also begun to emerge in skin care and scalp care and anti-hair loss, and companies such as Shiseido have successively launched such products. Yang Jianzhong said.
△ Kao's fine fiber technology
Attaching importance to scientific research seems to be an inertial thinking for Japanese cosmetics companies. So, what is the significance of their research and development model for domestic enterprises?
In this regard, Yang Jianzhong said: "The coexistence of basic research and technology development is a common phenomenon among Large-scale cosmetics companies in Japan, while there are only a few companies in China that really have basic research departments. The basic research mentioned here should be called applied basic research strictly speaking, including the study of the physiological characteristics of the skin and hair of the cosmetic object and the aging mechanism, and also includes the in-depth excavation of a chemical, physical or biological principle. ”
The efficacy mechanism initiated by Japanese companies to support whitening, wrinkle resistance, anti-shedding and other technologies is basically studied in this way. According to the results of basic research, if new ideas are mastered from the source, it is possible to develop technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights. New ideas from basic research can help improve corporate and brand image.
"I have always strongly recommended domestic enterprises to strengthen their investment in basic research. The good news is that we have recently seen some signs, and I feel that the consciousness of some enterprises has awakened. But the problem is that there are very few experienced leaders in this area, and accumulating experience requires a considerable process of exploration. For example, more than a year ago, our association promoted the joint research cooperation between Yunnan Baiyao and Pola Orbis. Yang Jianzhong said.
Judging from the research and development dynamics of Japan's four major cosmetics companies in recent years, Shiseido, Pola Orbis, GaoSi and Kao, whether it is the use of high-tech products to develop products or the innovation of new raw materials, they have always put basic research in the first place. Some companies spend decades to realize the terminal application of a technology or raw material.
These years of research investment have made the image of Japanese cosmetics "high-tech" and high quality more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Such a research and development model has great reference value for most domestic enterprises that have not yet formed a complete research and development link.
Sources丨Investments, Japan-China Cosmetics International Exchange Association, Frontiers of Personal Care
Image source丨the official website and network of each company
Visual design: Shinobu
WeChat typography: high
Editor-in-Charge: Xiaoyi
——— Appointments for Research Trends Conference———
On May 10-11, Jumei will hold the "2022 China Cosmetics Research Trend Conference" online, where it will comprehensively interpret the latest scientific research technology trends and share innovative solutions such as anti-aging, barrier repair, whitening sunscreen, scalp care and so on!
· END·
After reading it, you may wish to give it a look