The Science Behind Skin Care

Hands up if you’re crazy about beauty products? All of you? Thought so. Which is why I thought you might find it pretty interesting to know what actually goes on behind-the-scenes to get that moisturiser from a science lab into your bathroom cabinet.

According to David Khoo, Olay Skincare Scientist, it can take, on average, two to three years for a product to go from conception to the final variant that lands on shelves. Sometimes, though, it can take decades, depending on the technology being developed and the dedication it needs to make an exciting new discovery. Plus, research and development doesn’t always happen in a nice, easy and linear fashion, which can cause setbacks.

Take the Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Pre-Essence for instance. While it’s only hitting our shelves now, P&G have actually been working on it for over 10 years – and that involves over 50,000 hours of clinical testing across four continents.

And while you may think ‘research’ is just formulating and testing, reformulating and testing and so on, there’s a bit more to it. Especially over at the P&G Singapore Innovation Centre, which I was lucky enough to visit earlier on in the year.

So the very first step for Olay isn’t, “Let’s make a moisturiser!”, or “I feel like women probably need some kind of serum”. They actually bring in consumers to determine what women are concerned about and what their routines are missing – there’s no guesswork about it. And instead of putting these women in a cold, impersonal room, they bring them into an area that looks like a typical apartment to make them feel more comfortable and at ease. There, they tap into a whole variety of issues – different types of consumers, skin care regimes, frustrations with skin care, what works, what doesn’t, what they really want.

They gather tons of consumer research and then spend hours translating that insight into technical measures to create a prototype formulation.

Then there’s the skin measurement lab, where very fancy, very scientific equipment works to measure different aspects of skin, including moisturisation levels, skin elasticity and skin barrier function, and that helps the skin care gurus to really drill down on what consumers skin issues are and what can be helped.

That info is then taken to the formulations lab, where the scientists work with a whole bunch of ingredients to create the first prototype. Then, there are hours of testing (it took three hours for one batch of the Olay Regenerist Microsculpting Cream) and playing around with ingredient combinations. And just FYI, the ingredients Olay uses are top-notch. The final products are friendly to your bank balance, but it doesn’t mean they’ve skimped on ingredients (or the research, for that matter).

Once the formulation is perfected, it’s time to work on the fragrance. Whether you realise it or not, fragrance plays a huge part in how women choose their products, which is why Olay has an in-house million-dollar ‘nose’ (who knows about 7000 notes off the top of her head) to create the scents for each product. She tried over 100 combinations of scents before settling on juicy citrus, apple and pineapple for the Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Pre-Essence. Oh, and there are also thorough checks to test if the fragrance combos will cause reactions (but Olay have also developed fragrance-free variants for sensitive skin).

Then there’s the packaging design, where complicated computer programs can create a 3D prototype that’s chopped and changed a million times before the final version is decided upon and a physical version is made.

And because consumers are at the heart of what Olay does, they’re constantly involved in the process and giving feedback – on everything from how the formulation feels and smells, to what they do and don’t like about the packaging.

All of this happens – a few times over, even – before any clinical testing, so you can see why a skin care product isn’t always just a quick creation that happens in the blink of the eye.

Did you realise there was so much involved in creating a skin care product? Are you interested in the science behind your beauty products?

50 Member Comments

Shop A Everyday 27 Jan 2018 1:06 AM

Thoroughly interesting article on skincare

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Kimmo 13 Dec 2016 10:56 PM

So glad to be informed about what is actually going onto my skin and glad it's not tested on ANIMALS.

Chicklet 6 Dec 2016 2:50 PM

It's very interesting, wish I knew more about it!

banka87 30 Oct 2016 2:03 PM

wow, incredible insight to the product making process

Pixie96 20 Oct 2016 1:35 AM

Very interesting.

thelifeoflaura 13 Jul 2016 3:48 AM

So interesting! I never knew so much when into making one product....

talk-a-lot 26 Feb 2016 9:43 PM

I would rather animal testing be a thing of the past. I am pleased that the research behind skincare takes awhile.

Linda_Vesinger 14 Jan 2016 12:46 AM

Lots of time, effort & $$$ into that eye product!

AndreaJW 4 Oct 2015 10:33 PM

Very interesting but testing on animals is not necessary.

Shop A Everyday 28 Sep 2015 8:49 PM

Great to know

josella432 25 Sep 2015 6:42 PM

I figured it was probably a long behind the scenes process but it's exhausting all laid out like that. But yes, the animal testing is a sticking point for me.

Elefante 25 Sep 2015 9:44 AM

That is amazing, but it is still extremely overwhelming how many products are available!

Petal 23 Sep 2015 9:51 AM

I don't buy Olay products because they probably contain lots of chemicals, but it's good to know that they have fragrance-free products for people with sensitive skin.

Sydneyswans910 22 Sep 2015 5:04 PM

Wow, great article! Such an interesting insight into the beauty industry.

Marza 22 Sep 2015 1:58 PM

olay is favourite of my Mum and myself

Pandr134 22 Sep 2015 12:53 PM

I have never really thought about the process only the results. It's good that they do their research and testing, like others I wish it was cruelty free.

MelissaFay89 22 Sep 2015 11:45 AM

That's fascinating! I'd absolutely believe that amount of effort though, I guess its the same of most industries. It sure is for arch/design :|

Gilded 22 Sep 2015 11:38 AM

The behind the scenes stuff sounds fascinating but hope they stop testing on animals. :(

Rose_P 21 Sep 2015 11:10 PM

Wow! Very interesting!

Jlgaddes 21 Sep 2015 5:14 PM

How very interesting.........I never knew so much effort went into this.

IndieAna 21 Sep 2015 2:35 PM

What a lengthy process! It's great to see so much research being done, but I agree with earlier comments about animal testing. It's time that this barbaric act of cruelty is stopped

MoonlightSak16 21 Sep 2015 9:34 AM

I am interested in trialling out the Miracle Boost essence after reading the rave reviews of the product.

MoonlightSak16 21 Sep 2015 9:33 AM

Wow interesting article. Thanks Carli for sharing an insight of how Olay develops their products.

freaky 21 Sep 2015 1:17 AM

Wow so much work put in. There would have to be though. Theres so many companies and products out there all vying for our beauty dollar

Jessica712 20 Sep 2015 9:28 PM

Very interesting to read out the whole process.

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