The beauty industry loves a good story. It thrives on clever marketing, shiny packaging and the constant pursuit of ‘breakthrough’ ingredients.
While many brands – particularly in the niche and indie sector – are happy to be fully transparent about the science behind their products, others still have a long way to go.
Why? Because beauty consumers are still being duped by smoke and mirrors tactics.
One of the most offensive practices is marketing dosages – where brands add just enough of an ingredient to be able to mention it on the label, but not enough for it to actually do anything useful in the product.
But somehow, it is legal.
For example, a 'ginger shampoo' might work for dandruff, but, in fact, the ginger in the name does very little whatsoever.
If an ingredient does not meaningfully contribute to a product’s performance then it should not be on the label – full stop
Instead it is an anti-fungal chemical specifically designed for this purpose, but I guess 'zinc pyrithione shampoo' does not have quite the same ring to it.
Telling fantasy ingredient stories does not educate the consumer about anything.
It fetishises natural ingredients and gives the impression that ‘natural’ is far superior to science, whereas thanks to the rise of green chemistry, there are many more synthetic ingredients on the market that are safe, efficacious and sustainable – and could make for a far more honest and interesting brand story.
But rather than explore this, some companies would rather use buzzwords and ‘dummy ingredients’ which have about as much credibility behind them as those 1950s adverts telling housewives that drinking wine during the day will calm their nerves.
The minute a customer realises they have been duped by a marketing dosage, trust in the brand, and the entire industry, takes a massive hit.
It is not just misleading; it is flat out damaging.
The uncomfortable truth
Every active ingredient has a scientifically established effective concentration.
Vitamin C, for example, needs to be at least 5% to pack an antioxidant punch, while niacinamide works best at 2% to 5%.
When brands use these ingredients at the less than effective levels purely for marketing purposes then they are
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