China Beauty Trends: How do Efficacy Cosmetics do Science Communication?
- Chaileedo Press
- Oct 2, 2022
- 6 min read
Winning in Efficacy, Welcome the Future. On September 22, the 5th Conference on China’s Cosmetics Trends, hosted by CHAILEEDO, was held in Hangzhou with the theme of "Winning in Efficacy". In the Round Table Talk, CHAILEEDO founding partner Li Huihua acted as the moderator and discussed with Dr. Jeff, former Harvard dermatologist and acne director/dermatologist of the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, on the theme of "Efficacy Skin Care and Scientific Communication".
The following is the transcript of the speech：
Moderator: The theme of this conference is "Winning in Efficacy", and efficacy skin care is a key category for "Winning in Efficacy". The era of efficacy has not only raised the professional threshold of cosmetics but also improved the overall level of scientific research in the industry. However, cosmetics are ultimately a mass consumer product, so how to convert the professional and obscure scientific language into a popular and compliant product language that consumers can understand depends on the combined efforts of scientists, marketing, and media to do a good job of scientific communication.
First of all, please say hello to everyone and introduce yourself briefly.
Dr. Jeff: Hello, my name is Jeff, I am a dermatologist. I have been a doctor for ten years, for the last five years I was the director of the acne at Harvard, and returned to China last year. Now I'm a dermatologist, and I'm happy to be here with you to discuss the efficacy of skin care.
Moderator: First question: What are the characteristics of efficacy skin care in brand marketing?
Dr. Jeff: I have always felt that skincare products are inherently efficacious, such as cleansers for cleansing and sunscreens for sun protection. As consumers become smarter and more knowledgeable, they will want to understand why the star product can achieve such a good effect, is it a certain ingredient, a certain combination, or a certain soothing technology?
As consumers become more knowledgeable, they are forcing skincare brands to start promoting more scientific stuff.
Ten years ago, a brand might have needed a star product, but now more and more consumers want to know why they should buy this product and why it can be sold at such a high price.
Moderator: What Dr. Jeff shared is the main contradiction of the moment, that is, the contradiction between consumers' growing product knowledge and the unchanging product promotion.
Then the second question, what are the key links in the science communication chain of efficacy skincare? What is the role of the scientist in it?
Dr. Jeff: The idea as a doctor is that this disease needs to be solved with this medicine. When efficacy skincare came out before, brands were going in that direction. It was more about promoting the efficacy of the ingredient.
After I returned to China, I found that the "ingredient-centric group" had emerged, but of course, it started abroad first. Many experts started to communicate some very complicated ingredients, raw materials, and principles to more consumers. I found that Chinese consumers are smarter than foreign consumers because they are in an involution environment. Chinese consumers must know a lot to not be so easily cheated.
How to spread the word? No matter on TikTok China or Xiaohongshu, these experts will talk more about technology-related content, that is, this ingredient is through which method to solve the problem. Now more "ingredient-centric groups" will talk about technology, such as soothing technology, wrapping technology, in addition to ingredients. Through new media, bloggers and fans can interact and learn more. I think we can go towards the field.
Moderator: That is to say, scientists play a role in further spreading knowledge to every ordinary person.
Dr. Jeff also mentioned what are the specific differences between American and Chinese consumers in terms of efficacy skincare claims, and what are the biggest differences in scientific communication for Chinese consumers, as well as for American consumers.
Dr. Jeff: Chinese skin is different from American skin in many ways. When the Chinese skin barrier was not as thick and strong, the efficacy skin care we used, whether it was Vitamin A or fruit acids, had a higher flop rate. In China, it has more sensitive skin, so there will be a lot of sensitive skin brands out there.
Repairing and moisturizing are big in the Chinese skincare system, Americans also do moisturize, but the Chinese will have 7 steps to moisturize, Americans may just use cream and call it a day. The skin barrier is different and so are the products used. Repairing products are a bit hotter in China than in foreign countries.
In addition, there are cultural differences. Chinese people pursue whitening and have the saying "white covers all the ugly", but Americans pursue the darker the skin seems to be the healthier it is, so whitening essence will be hotter in China. In foreign countries, we emphasize some brightening, and the demand for whitening is not that big.
In terms of sun protection, when I was abroad, 1 in 5 people would get skin cancer, so before each patient left, I would give him sunscreen to take home. But instead, many people in China already have a lot of sunscreens, and they ask me more about how to wash them off. So I think the knowledge they know is a little bit different, too, and Chinese consumers are smarter and know a lot more. Many people in the U.S. would question whether applying sunscreen would cause cancer, whereas the Chinese know that they must protect themselves from the sun and wear hats in addition to sunscreen. The two have different needs and different points of knowledge.
I find that Chinese skin problems are more likely to be acne, while Americans are more likely to be peeling and red, and the symptoms are different between the two groups. Many people in China get acne not because of puberty or hormonal factors, but because they have been using the wrong products. Giving them acidic products will instead aggravate the skin symptoms, instead should give them some repairing products.
As for scientific communication, brands have to figure out to who they are communicating. In China, we care more about repairing, moisturizing, and whitening. When doing science communication abroad, more emphasis is placed on sun protection because they don't do it well enough. Also, many people in China have seborrheic dermatitis and rosacea, in greater numbers than people abroad. Science communication is more about Chinese problems, which are somewhat different from foreign countries. Therefore, you have to know who the users are first, and then give some scientific advice to them.
Moderator: In the category of efficacy skin care, American brands do not have an advantage over Chinese brands, rather our Chinese efficacy skin care is more suitable for Chinese people with their skin characteristics.
Dr. Jeff: About the ingredient-centric group, they started to focus on higher concentrations, before it was 10% niacinamide, and then came out with 12% niacinamide, or even 15%. In foreign countries, this is OK, because their skin barrier is more tolerant, and with a high concentration of acid is OK. But once the Chinese use it, they do not adapt.
I found that many Chinese people will not buy European and American brands when they go to the US because they think the efficacy is too strong, they will prefer to buy some Asian brands, especially Japanese and South Korean brands.
Now there are also more European and American brands that are optimistic about the Chinese market and are starting to experiment in China and in South Korea, which is also quite a good phenomenon. Chinese brands have been doing research in China for a long time, no matter in terms of skin feeling, or efficacy, each has its own benefits.
Moderator: Last question, please Dr. Jeff shares a case study to summarize the importance of scientific communication for efficacy skin care.
Dr. Jeff: I returned to China in 2018, and at that time, I asked many friends around me why I didn't see Vitamin A products in the market, and they said that Chinese skin is not suitable for Vitamin A and that is only suitable for Americans. As a doctor, I had seen multiple patients, including Chinese, Americans, and black people who have all used Vitamin A, all of them are OK, but of course, need to adjust the concentration to use.
At that time I had a colleague who specialized in studying Chinese skin. Why some people do not adapt to Vitamin A and some people do? After using different vitamin A derivatives together, they found that could achieve the same effect and reduce irritation. I think that more and more science concentrate on different ingredients and how to match, and a large number of KOL to spread knowledge will make the whole field forward.
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