Skin protection is a must everyday even if it’s not summer

Skin safety requirements were redefined during lockdown as a result of increased screen time and decreased sun and pollution exposure. Alex Fisher, Associate Director of Beauty & Personal Care at Mintel, recently published a report that explores emerging customer demands and opportunities for brands.

As the year progressed, it became unavoidable to use screens to work, shop, and even socialize. However, prolonged exposure to blue light damages the skin and eyes. According to a study conducted by Unilever, 30 hours of exposure to blue light from smartphone or laptop screens will increase the level of inflammation in skin cells by 40%. Since screen-related behaviors have become too common, this danger should be considered.

After social distancing ceases, 67% of customers in the United States believe community video chats will continue to be a common way to socialize. This information further encourages beauty experimentation.

Protection against potential threats

When customers deal with the sanitary crisis, they want extra protection from bacteria and external particles. This presumption could last and become commonplace until sanitary precautions are relaxed.

The thought of security against contamination additionally stays significant in spite of the short lockdown alleviation.

As per Mintel, in the UK, 42% of grown-ups are stressed over the degree of air contamination they are presented to. But then, in 2020, 56% of dispatches containing assurance against contamination were face care items; 11% were body care items, and 8% sunscreens – two sections for which customers anticipate similar cases as a feature of a comprehensive vision.

Sunscreens with added benefits

The UV security added to skincare items is useful in numerous locales. It represents a huge piece of dispatches – 46% between October 2019 and September 2020. All things considered, for customers who since a long time ago remained secured inside, Mintel suggests developments zeroed in on sun items with skincare or corrective benefits, while keeping a similar fundamental insurance message.

Giving skin the insurance it needs against the contamination

The soundness of the planet and our own are in peril due, in addition to other things, to the large issue of contamination. Regardless of the expanding familiarity with its importance and the endeavors made to battle it, somewhat recently there has been a remarkable deterioration because of human movement.

Using the right ingredients to embrace skin protection

According to researchers, octocrylene, an organic UV filter often used in sunscreens and anti-aging creams, degrades into benzophenone, a drug accused of being carcinogenic and endocrine damaging, and should be banned from personal care items. The fact that octocrylene can be polluted with benzophenone is well known, and producers take all appropriate precautions to ensure product safety, according to the French industry body FEBEA.

The chemical, which can be used in a number of beauty and personal care items such as sunscreens and anti-aging skincare creams, degrades into benzophenone, which accumulates quickly as the substance ages. A team of French and American researchers illustrated this in a thesis published recently in the journal Chemical Studies in Toxicology

Benzophenone builds up over time.

Researchers from the Oceanological Observatory of Banyuls-sur-Mer (Sorbonne University, CNRS) worked with colleagues from the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Clifford, Virginia, to research fifteen sunscreen and anti-aging drugs bought in France and the United States.

The materials were subjected to a 6-week rapid stability aging regimen, which is equal to one year at room temperature. They were then analyzed using a high-performance mass spectrometer.

Benzophenone has been linked to a number of toxicities, including genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and endocrine disruption. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization has listed the drug as “perhaps carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B).”

Octocrylene is also thought to be harmful to marine life, including corals. According to the study’s authors, octocrylene can act as a metabolic toxicant in corals, potentially reducing coral reef resilience to climate change. According to Prof. Lebaron, “some manufacturers have removed it from their sunscreens for environmental reasons.”