The 3 Barriers a Good Cosmetic Product Must Overcome｜Why Good Ingredients Alone Don’t Make a Good Cosmetic Product

Why Aren’t Good Ingredients Enough to Make a Good Cosmetic Product?

50 times stronger antioxidant power!

Have you ever seen a claim like that in an advertisement?

That’s an incredible number, isn’t it?

However, in cosmetic science, claims like these are sometimes understood as results obtained under laboratory conditions and not something that can fully explain the performance of an actual cosmetic product.

Even if testing confirms that an ingredient has 50 times greater antioxidant activity than an existing ingredient, if the product fails to properly overcome the three barriers I will discuss below, that number alone cannot explain what kind of results we can actually expect on the skin.

Even if you invented an engine that was 50 times faster,

if it couldn’t work properly with the drivetrain and wheels of the vehicle,

and therefore couldn’t actually become a functioning car,

it would simply be an unsafe piece of metal.

So what exactly are the three barriers that must be overcome for something to become a good cosmetic product?

When we look at cosmetics, it’s easy to find information about the ingredients themselves, such as the concentration of vitamin C or antioxidant activity.

But in actual cosmetic research, scientists also consider how well an ingredient can penetrate the skin,

whether it can remain stable over time,

and whether it can be used without irritating the skin.

For the various cosmetic products and ingredients I introduce from now on, how well they address these three issues will ultimately be an important criterion.

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The First Barrier: The Skin Penetration Barrier

First,

let’s say we discovered an ingredient that provides extremely powerful antioxidant activity.

But if that ingredient cannot reach the dermis and simply remains on the surface of the skin,

it may end up being nothing more than an ingredient sitting on the surface of the skin.

Naturally, there is also a possibility that unwanted skin irritation could occur.

So why does this problem happen?

The outer and inner layers of human skin are, quite literally, only a very thin layer apart.

Ironically,

the reason is precisely because our skin does its job so well.

From the moment we are born until the day we die, our skin acts as a natural protective barrier that keeps out external pollutants, bacteria, and other harmful substances.

And in cosmetic science, overcoming this barrier is one of the first challenges that needs to be addressed.

And when you manage to overcome it,

people often say:

“This stuff is really good.”

“My skin just absorbs it all.”

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The Second Barrier: Product Stability

Second,

some ingredients can begin to deteriorate after only brief exposure to UV light or oxygen.

Vitamin C is a good example.

If you cut an apple and leave it sitting for a while,

you’ll quickly notice the edges starting to turn brown, right?

In other words, some ingredients require extremely careful handling,

yet these very ingredients are often used as key ingredients in products designed to improve the skin.

Let’s say we use these ingredients to make a cosmetic product

and somehow manage to manufacture the finished product at a factory and deliver it to the consumer.

But if the consumer simply opens and closes the product several times after opening it,

and oxidation begins to occur, causing its performance to deteriorate significantly,

then it would be difficult to call that a properly designed product.

That’s why from the moment a product is manufactured at the factory,

through the point when the consumer opens and uses it,

and until the product is eventually finished, usually somewhere around six months to a year,

its performance needs to remain stable.

That is the stability barrier.

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The Third Barrier: Controlling Skin Irritation

Third,

a low pH may sometimes be used to overcome the first penetration barrier.

And some ingredients can be a double-edged sword all by themselves.

They may improve the user’s skin,

but at the same time, they can also place stress on the skin.

The skin may become red,

and in some cases, it may even become painful.

So the third challenge is:

How can we maintain the desired benefits while controlling the formulation gently enough to prevent those unwanted effects?

That is the irritation-control barrier.

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The Standard for a Good Product Is Ultimately These Three Barriers

Let’s summarize.

No matter how exceptional an ingredient may be,

if it cannot reach the dermis,

then ultimately it may do little more than remain on the surface of your face.

Even if a product is somehow successfully manufactured and released from the factory,

if oxidation begins as soon as the consumer opens it and its performance deteriorates,

that can also be a problem.

And no matter how good an ingredient is,

if it completely irritates and damages your face,

you obviously can’t keep using it.

That’s why these three issues are considered essential challenges that must be addressed in cosmetic science.

So what do you think?

Even if a laboratory test shows antioxidant activity 100 times stronger rather than 50 times stronger,

if the product cannot simultaneously overcome the three major barriers of penetration, stability, and irritation control,

it would still be difficult to judge the actual performance of the product based on that number alone.

For the cosmetic ingredients I introduce from now on,

I will ultimately examine each of them from these three perspectives.

In the end, you can think of a good product as not simply a product containing one incredible ingredient,

but rather a product that has achieved the right balance in overcoming all three of these barriers.