Introduction: Explore the hot spots of sunscreen raw materials and observe the latest developments in the industry.
Author|"Future Traces" Xue Changsen
The stocking season for sunscreen products in 2023 has arrived!
With the adjustment of the epidemic policy, consumers' "retaliatory travel" has accelerated the resurgence of the beauty market, coupled with the increasingly mature consumption habits, the entire market has higher expectations for the performance of the sunscreen category in 2023, and the sunscreen category is expected to become the best track for the recovery of the entire cosmetics consumption field.
L'Oreal, Shiseido, Maxtin, Meifebo, Innstin and other leaders in the domestic sunscreen market have begun to layout this year's new products early, just at the just-concluded PCHi, BASF, Coves, Dezhixin and other more than 150 sunscreen suppliers have shown the new sunscreen technology accumulated for nearly 3 years.
The "restlessness" in the upstream of the industrial chain and the brand end is a harbinger of the accelerated release of the entire sunscreen category in the consumer market this year. However, with the segmentation of consumer demand and the acceleration of research and development, the competition in the sunscreen market this year has a new direction.
If you want to seize the trend of sunscreen products in 2023, you must keep a close eye on the trends of the entire sunscreen market, core brands and upstream companies.
Leading the market
The expansion of the sunscreen category accelerated
"The scale of the sunscreen market will continue to expand and penetrate, the current market is slowly recovering, consumers' demand for sunscreen has always been there, and beauty companies have always attached great importance to the track of sunscreen." Lo Shuquan, China Director of Cosmetic Raw Materials Department, a world-renowned sunscreen supplier, told Future Beauty.
In fact, the growth rate of the sunscreen track has been leading the entire cosmetics industry.
According to Euromonitor data, the scale of the mainland sunscreen market is expected to grow to 24.4 billion yuan in 2025, with an average growth rate of 10.5% from 2021 to 2025.
Image source from Euromonitor, Soochow Securities Research Institute
From the perspective of consumers, the sunscreen category in 2023 heating trend is obvious, according to the user said "2023 China Cosmetics Industry Development Trend Report", consumers' attention and discussion of sunscreen is also increasing, sunscreen category has attracted much attention, the volume of heated discussions has achieved a 43.8% growth.
Image from the user said "2023 China Cosmetics Industry Development Trend Report"
The further rise of the sunscreen category comes from the upgrading of consumption concepts and the iteration of consumption scenarios.
1. According to Feigua Data's "2022 Beauty Short Video and Live E-commerce Report", the growth rate of sunscreen skin care products is leading, and the upgrading of consumption concepts is the main reason for promoting the growth of the "high temperature economy". Today, sunscreen cosmetics have become a daily item for many Chinese consumers.
In 2022, sunscreen products will be hot on Douyin, with an overall sales growth rate of 126%. Users are paying more and more attention to sunscreen products, and efficacy, demand and skin feel have become the top 3 concerns of users.
Image source from Feigua Data
2. Outdoor heat has spawned the iteration of consumption scenarios: This generation of young people are keen on camping, surfing, paddleboarding, frisbee, bicycle and other trendy outdoor sports. Waves of "outdoor fever" swept in, and also made the sunscreen category out of a kind of fire on the new consumption track.
3. The intensification of climate warming promotes the growth of sunscreen categories: The "hottest summer" in 2021 and 2022 allows consumers to see the power of global warming, and the "high temperature economy" driven by extreme weather has increased the attention of the entire sunscreen category, the sales cycle has been lengthened, and the coverage of user groups has been more comprehensive.
The growth prospect of sunscreen market demand has also further driven the research and development of sunscreens, providing soil for the segmentation of sunscreens, sunscreens and other products.
L'Oreal, Shiseido and other sunscreen players shine their swords
What are the new sunscreen products?
From the end of 2022 to February 2023, the sunscreen track ushered in the new product outbreak season of core brands.
A new change is that the demand for sunscreen products is gradually increasing, and the types and overlay functions of sunscreen products are also expanding, such as adding new functions such as anti-aging, acne suppression, and anti-sensitivity; There are also new categories, such as sunscreen cosmetics are a new trend, which will further drive the growth of the market.
On the other hand, the sun protection market competition under the trend of globalization has also become more intense, and some emerging brands and innovative sun protection products are gradually rising, challenging the market position and share of traditional brands. At the same time, consumers are increasingly demanding sunscreen products, and have higher expectations for quality, function, safety and environmental protection.
Future Beauty found that there are many innovative sunscreen products on the market, and the main development trends are as follows.
1. L'Oréal has gone one step further towards high-band sun protection.
High-band sun protection has always been a problem that sun protection brands and technology companies are trying to tackle.
In 2022, L'Oréal Group, a veteran player in the field of sun protection, officially launched its first major breakthrough innovation in the field of sun protection in the past 30 years - UVMune 400 sunscreen technology (wheat filter 400), which can effectively resist ultra-long-wave UVA radiation. Wheat Filter 400 has been called "the first sunscreen to cover the UVA400 band".
Image from La Roche-Posay Tmall flagship store
In L'Oréal's research, wavelengths between 320-370nm are called "shortwave/longwave UVA", and wavelengths of 370-400nm are called "ultra-longwave UVA". Among them, ultra-long-wave UVA accounts for 30% of solar radiation, and existing sunscreens cannot effectively block these radiation.
Image from the L'Oréal Group website
2. Shiseido converts ultraviolet light into "beneficial light".
Converting harmful light into beneficial light is also a new idea for sun protection.
In 2022, Shiseido launched Sun Dual Care™, which blocks ultraviolet rays through the reasonable combination of ingredients such as spirulina extract, fluorescent zinc oxide and PEG/PPG-14/7 dimethyl ether, and converts ultraviolet rays into green, yellow and red light with wavelengths between 500nm and 700nm through C-phycocyanin in spirulina extract. Converts harmful ultraviolet rays into "skin light" that is beneficial to the skin.
Following a number of sunscreen technologies such as "getting stronger in water", Shiseido has come to a trick in the field of sunscreen "turning harm into treasure", although the direction of each technological update is not so "traditional", but innovative and practical thinking, can always make Shiseido sunscreen products lead the market.
3. Photobiological sunscreen has become a new breakthrough.
In recent years, the concept of bioprotection has been proposed, looking at the traditional sunscreen field from a new perspective, so that the sunscreen track has been further extended.
Although most biocontainment ingredients do not have strong UV or visible light absorption by themselves, they play an important role in the protection or repair of damage after cells are exposed to UV and blue light radiation, and they become an important supplement to traditional sunscreens.
It is understood that whether it is ultraviolet or blue light radiation, it will cause oxidative stress of the skin, produce free radicals, and then cause a series of tissue damage, the most typical of which is the loss of external substrates such as collagen. The active substances contained in bioprotective raw materials can play a photoprotective role by removing or reducing the intermediate products of oxygen active groups (a type of free radicals), blocking or slowing tissue damage and promoting post-sun repair. This just makes up for the shortcomings of physical and chemical sun protection.
At present, there are not many products that apply photobiological sunscreen means, and the domestic head sunscreen brand Mistine disclosed new products on photobiological sunscreen at the "International Summit on Skin Photobiology" on February 18, which includes a core ingredient and four core technologies.
It is understood that Misitine uses a core additive Taremi, as well as quadruple black technology SOLARCUT sunscreen enhancement technology, Smart Activation intelligent light defense technology, Bio-Genesis anti-light aging technology and Ultra-Whitening brightening and anti-black technology, to achieve the whole link of sun protection from shallow to deep, external anti-internal repair, and resistance to light loss.
It is understood that the "photobiology" sunscreen system has been fully applied to Mistine's new sunscreen series in 2023, which undoubtedly brings new market highlights.
"Now it's time for photobiological sun protection." Mei Hexiang, founder of Furtu Medical, lamented that in the future, more emphasis will be placed on taking protective measures against the adverse biological effects of sunlight reaching the skin.
4. Safety needs promote the heat of macromolecular sunscreens.
Contrary to skin care's pursuit of transdermal absorption, sunscreens that are not easy to absorb transdermally are safer and more effective, and macromolecular sunscreens with a molecular weight of more than 500 daltons cannot easily penetrate into the skin and can effectively reduce product sensitization. In recent years, new sunscreens have been favored by the market for macromolecular and isomerization to achieve less transdermal absorption, which is safer and more effective.
"For the sake of gentleness and safety, large molecules of organic sunscreens will receive more attention from R&D personnel." Lao Shuquan said.
In recent years, some brands have begun to apply macromolecular sunscreens, such as the pioneer of the "medical research co-creation" model, Yuze under Shanghai Jahwa launched its first sunscreen product - macromolecular platinum shield, using 3 kinds of pure macromolecular sunscreens to achieve the effect of anti-penetrating skin, while improving safety, it also has excellent light stability, long-term sun protection, and helps resist ultraviolet rays; At the same time, it adds ECTION, Maidong and other soothing and repair ingredients, which can achieve external prevention and internal repair while protecting the sun, soothing and maintaining stability, and is also friendly to sensitive skin.
Image from Yuze Tmall flagship store
5. Broad-spectrum sun protection and skin feel are still the main play.
While many core brands are launching new technologies in the field of sun protection, broad-spectrum sunscreen and skin tone adjustment of sunscreen products are still the core goals of brands such as professional sunscreen brand ESTIN.
In 2022, Insting launched a Synergistic Forse Sunscreen Golden Triangle, which uses multiple sunscreens to cooperate with each other, covering the full band of UVA and UVB, the addition of sunscreens in water and oil carriers can ensure super protection without loopholes, and the unique natural polymer helps to form a uniform and rapid film, avoiding UV damage caused by uneven application, and effectively improving the skin feel.
The "6+2+1 Light Energy Stabilization Technology" launched by Plant Doctor claims to use 6 chemical sunscreens, 2 physical sunscreens and 1 biological sunscreen to form a "6+2+1 gold three-dimensional sunscreen system" to achieve the purpose of spectral sun protection.
BASF and Covestro
Launch these black technologies
On the brand side, we can see the current hot spots in the sunscreen market, but the actions of raw material companies can represent the future competition direction of the sunscreen market. In the past, the unreasonable technical "pursuit" such as "high SPF" in the sunscreen industry has been eliminated, and the entire upstream research and development end is moving in a more efficient, safer and more comfortable practical direction.
1. There is still room for further development of broad-spectrum sunscreens.
Although companies cannot make breakthroughs in the types of sunscreens in the short term, the performance of broad-spectrum sunscreens has been further improved.
BASF's Z-COTE® Sheer, launched this year, is a natural inorganic sunscreen with 100% natural origin ingredients with broad-spectrum sunscreen benefits. It has excellent light stability, fresh and non-sticky skin feeling, good transparency and no false white, which can greatly enhance the skin feel of the product.
Covestro recently launched Sunobel®️PA (ethyl diethylaminohydroxybenzoate) and Sunobelzh®️NT-15TV, two sunscreens (titanium dioxide), which have absorption wavelengths in the range of 320-400nm and 280-350nm. While having wider band coverage, it also has stability advantages among many UVA full-band sunscreens.
2. Sunscreen wrapping technology is innovating.
If you want to improve the performance and stability of the sunscreen, you can improve the performance of the raw materials from the inside, or you can start from the outside and wear a "vest" for the sunscreen.
It is understood that some sunscreens have a high transdermal absorption rate, which may cause allergic reactions and skin irritation, and some chemical sunscreens do not have good stability, will react with ultraviolet rays, produce free radicals, increase the risk of skin aging, or easily decompose in the sun, affecting the sunscreen effect.
Wrapping the chemical sunscreen by other substances can greatly improve the stability of the chemical sunscreen, thereby improving the sunscreen efficiency of the sunscreen; At the same time, the wrapped chemical sunscreen does not directly contact the skin, and can also reduce the transdermal absorption of small molecule sunscreen and sunscreen products after photodecomposition, so as to better protect human skin.
In this field, Guangzhou Yangrun has successfully developed physical sunscreens wrapped with submicron polymer grafting: high-transparency cloud-soft titanium dioxide, soft-skinned silky cerium oxide, soft silky zinc oxide. The use of innovative wrapping technology to improve the problem that traditional physical sunscreens are astringent and cannot be added in large proportions.
In addition, since children's skin is more delicate, sensitive and vulnerable to ultraviolet rays than adults, the demand for children's sunscreen market is more focused on safety, low irritation, high sun protection and other effects. Therefore, this technology can also make traditional sunscreens safer in children's sunscreen products.
Image from Guangzhou Yangrun Industrial Co., Ltd
3. Environmentally friendly sun protection has received widespread attention.
As people's awareness of environmental protection increases, natural sustainable and environmentally friendly sunscreens are also hot in the future. In overseas markets, consumers are increasingly concerned about the impact of sunscreen products on ecosystems, especially coral reefs in the marine environment. Science has also published papers on the harm of sunscreens to marine life such as corals and sea anemones.
In this context, many traditional companies have continuously upgraded their formulations to reduce damage to the ocean by using ocean-friendly sunscreen ingredients.
BASF's EcoSun Pass® assessment methodology, BASF's flagship sunscreen this year, evaluates various parameters of sunscreens (such as acute, chronic aquatic toxicity and endocrine disruption), determines the ecological impact of sunscreen products, and helps the industry develop more eco-compatible sunscreen formulations.
In terms of environmental protection, there are also sunscreen products that have made technological breakthroughs, such as Celavive's mineral sunscreen, which can achieve a very good sun protection effect without adding any chemicals that may damage the ocean; Italian cosmetics manufacturer Pink-Frogs Cosmetics has launched Smart Rolling Sun Oil SPF 50+ sunscreen, which is mainly coral-friendly and free of endocrine disruptors, sunscreens and potential allergens.
There are not many brands that have launched this type of product in domestic products, but they have begun to try in recent years. For example, Yuze launched an environmentally friendly sunscreen product last year: Yuze Refreshing Sunscreen Lotion, which abandons sunscreen ingredients that are harmful to marine life (such as corals, shells, etc.) and chooses a formula that is more friendly to the environment and the ocean.
4. In the post-epidemic era, domestic raw material manufacturers have turned their attention to physical sunscreens.
Due to the impact of the epidemic on the supply chain of sunscreens, physical sunscreens have received more and more attention.
According to Chen Chujie, general manager of Guangzhou Yangrun Industrial Co., Ltd., introduced to Future Beauty, due to the impact of the epidemic, some chemical sunscreens have poor supply and cost problems, coupled with consumers' increased focus on health and environmental protection, so physical sunscreens are regaining attention in the field of raw materials in recent years.
Compared with chemical sunscreens, physical sunscreens do not contain chemical components and additives, and the sun protection effect is more stable and long-lasting. Chen Chujie said: "In general, the rise of physical sunscreens is closely related to consumers' needs for health, environmental protection, convenience and comfort. ”
"Gentle, natural, safe, synergistic, and skin feel will be several keywords in the upstream research and development of sun protection." Lao Shuquan concluded.
5. Sunscreen development tools are also essential.
There are companies doing sunscreen technology, and there are also companies doing technology platforms.
DSM launched a sunscreen tool Sunscreen Optimizer Sunscreen Simulator 2.0 ecological version this year, it is understood that version 1.0 Sunscreen Optimizer™™ can help formulators develop sunscreen formulas more efficiently, optimize existing formulas as much as possible before human SPF testing, improve efficiency and save test costs.
Based on 1.0, Sunscreen Optimizer™2.0 can help formulators evaluate formulation-related attributes such as formulation eco-friendliness index, formulation cost, and oil-phase composition ratio in one step at the beginning of formulation development, further improving tool performance and improving the development efficiency of sunscreen products.
The rising demand for sun protection market has promoted the competition between upstream and brand ends into a white-hot stage in advance, and more new sunscreen products and new technologies are expected to bring a more "hot" sunscreen season.
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