Salicylic acid is an important organic synthetic material, which is widely
used in medicine, pesticide, rubber, dye, food and spice industries. In the
pharmaceutical industry, salicylic acid is mainly used to produce sodium
salicylate, holly oil (methyl salicylate), aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid),
salicylic acid amine, phenyl salicylate, etc. In the dye industry, it is used to
produce mordant pure yellow, direct yellow 3GN, direct yellow GR, direct brown
3GN, acid mordant brown G, acid mordant yellow GG, acid complex yellow and other
dyes. In pesticide production, salicylic acid is used to synthesize isopropyl
salicylate, an intermediate of organophosphorus pesticides, isocarbophos and
methyl isocyanate, as well as 4-hydroxycoumarin, an intermediate of rodenticide
warfarin and warfarin. In the rubber industry, it is used as an anti coke agent
and a UV absorber and a foaming agent. Spice raw materials, preparing methyl
salicylate, ethyl salicylate, etc; Food preservatives are mostly sodium salts,
which have been banned in some countries; Methyl salicylate can be used as oral
cleaner, such as toothpaste perfume.
"Terrific ingredients"
No efficacy, no skincare. At the top of the wave of effective skincare, raw
material innovation is the focus of all brands, and a number of ingredients with
strong efficacy potential are surfacing, such as Dendrobium extract,
Glycyrrhizin, Arbutin, etc. The "Amazing Ingredients" article series will focus
on these ingredients and analyze their application status and development
trend.
The "golden oil" of the skin care industry.
"Salicylic acid is probably the most successful skin care ingredient in
history because of its long history, wide range of use, and excellent results."
The country's leading skin care experts, ice cold laboratory founder ice cold,
gave salicylic acid such a high evaluation.
As the "darling" of the beauty industry, salicylic acid has the reputation
of "universal oil", and "acne", "whitening "and other effects deeply bound, the
last two years also get more and more attention.
However, in August last year, the State Drug Administration (SDA) published
a scientific article "Scientific understanding of "acid brushing" beauty", which
threw a pot of cold water on acid-containing cosmetics, once triggering a
discussion on "acid brushing cosmetics to cool off" (see "Acid brushing
cosmetics to cool off?"). .
Now, Cosmetics Watch has found that salicylic acid has not been shaken, and
its use in cosmetics is still growing steadily. According to the "2022 Explosive
Efficacy Ingredients List and Trend Forecast" released by Beauty Fix BEBD Big
Data, salicylic acid ranks first in the number of brands associated with
potential ingredients.
Also according to user-said statistics, salicylic acid skincare products
topped the acid list in 2021, and in 2022 the fever is increasing instead of
decreasing, with related new products coming out all the time. For example, Rock
Zoo launched a new product "Rock Zoo Multi Acid Satin Body Essence Milk" in
March this year, and Bison's Research launched a new product "Salicylic Acid
Pore Clarifying Cleansing Honey" in July.
A number of industry insiders pointed out that the heat of the brush acid
beauty may be fading, but the application of salicylic acid in skin care has
taken deep roots, "Next, the application of salicylic acid in cosmetics will be
further expanded, that is, towards everyday".
01
High-quality efficacy products at the innovation exhibition 8 years of
precipitation, skin care technology into the "space 2.0 era" R & D strength
to support
The C position in "acid"
The number of records increased by nearly 70% year-on-year
The public's perception of salicylic acid is largely derived from the brush
acid beauty.
The above-mentioned science article "Scientific Understanding of "Acid
Brush" Beauty" clearly points out that the so-called "acid brush" is actually a
kind of chemical peeling, also known as chemical peeling, which is the
application of chemical agents on the skin surface, resulting in controlled skin
damage and then promoting new skin regeneration. It is worth noting that "acid
treatment" needs to be carried out by trained professionals in a medically
qualified hospital or beauty institute.
In other words, acid brushing was previously a skin treatment project in
the medical beauty market, but in recent years, with the boom in cosmetic market
efficacy skin care, the trend of "acid brushing" began to scrape stronger and
stronger in the cosmetics market, and the use of "acid" in daily skin care also
began to expand. The popular article, however, has put the "reins" on the
efficacy claims of some acid-containing cosmetics. The article clearly points
out that acid-containing cosmetics are fundamentally different from "acid
therapy" and should not be claimed as "peels" to mislead consumers. Only some
medical "acids" can be added to cosmetics, for example, salicylic acid and fruit
acids.
Although the science article "scientific understanding of "acid" beauty" to
the acid cosmetics cooled down, but salicylic acid has not been affected, still
among the acid in the C position.
According to the "2022 Beauty Ingredient Trend Insight Report" issued by
Macro Engine, salicylic acid was ranked among the TOP 6 of the "TOP 50
ingredients hot list" and the TOP 14 of the "TOP 50 ingredients potential list",
with a much higher attention rate than Centella asiatica, ceramide, fission
yeast and other star ingredients. The attention is much higher than the star
ingredients such as Centella asiatica, ceramide and bifidum. Salicylic acid was
also listed in the "Top 30 ingredients of 2022" and "Potential ingredients of
2022" released by BEBD, ranking 8th and 4th respectively.
On the record, cosmetics with salicylic acid are also growing at a high
rate. According to the BEBD data, in 2021, the use of salicylic acid in new
beauty products for the record grew by more than 20% year-on-year, second only
to Boswellin and Ectoine.
In the current filing of valid goods as of September 26, the total number
of goods containing salicylic acid ingredients is 18,831, with an annual ringgit
growth of 66.12%. The brands and factories using the ingredient also gained
double-digit growth, including 7475 brands and 2085 factories, with annual
year-over-year growth of 59.84% and 39.06%, respectively.
Feedback to the market side, more and more brands began to layout this
track. Cosmetics Watch searched for "salicylic acid" on the Tmall platform,
showing that there are nearly 20,000 related cosmetic products, including
national brands such as Winona, Perrier, HFP, Bollorda, and many international
brands such as L'Oreal Paris, Clinique, Lancôme, and Paula Jane.
Among them, many brands also with "salicylic acid" for a deep binding. For
example, the American skincare brand Paula Jane has launched a number of series
of salicylic acid products, covering toner, body lotion, serum and other
categories, its official Tmall flagship store shows that the star single product
"Paula Jane salicylic acid serum" listed two years a cumulative total of 1.25 +
million pieces sold, and selected as " The Tmall list - oil control essence hot
list" No. 1; Bollorda launched different concentrations of salicylic acid
product matrix, such as "Bollorda nourishing conditioning mask" claimed to
contain 2% salicylic acid, "Bollorda nourishing moisturizing care cream" The
"Boleda Nourishing & Toning Mask" claims to contain 0.5% salicylic acid to
meet the needs of consumers with different skin types.
The factory side also started to increase the R&D and production of
salicylic acid products. Beautiful repair BEBD big data show that Nosebel,
Cosmosis, Ba Wei and other well-known OEM giants, the past two years have been
intensively launched salicylic acid-related products, including Cosmosis of the
number of related products in the past three years compound growth rate nearly
doubled.
02
Quality efficacy products at the innovation exhibition 8 years of
precipitation, skin care technology into the "space 2.0 era" R & D strength
to support
Skincare industry "a million dollar oil"
Facing two major "roadblocks"
From the medical acid after layers of screening can be used in cosmetics
acid raw materials, why salicylic acid is the most widely used?
Public information shows that hundreds of years ago, people found that
willow bark boiled water has anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effect, and
finally in 1838 confirmed the active ingredient is salicylic acid. After further
research, scientists found that salicylic acid can both soften the stratum
corneum and loosen the corns to unclog the pores, as well as certain
antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, which have a significant
improvement on the skin.
"Salicylic acid efficacy comprehensive and high popularity, can effectively
improve a series of problems caused by skin keratin deposition", industry senior
product manager Guo Xiaofeng analysis, keratin exfoliation can promote epidermal
cell renewal, so that the skin dull yellowing problems caused by keratin
deposition, acne problems caused by follicular lipid oxidation, can be
effectively improved by salicylic acid Salicylic acid is an effective way to
improve the skin.
"Salicylic acid is known as the skin care industry's 'universal oil', a
very wide range of uses." A factory manager, salicylic acid can be used for as
many as eight purposes, both as a skin conditioning agent, antiseptic, but also
as a keratin exfoliator and anti-acne agent. Salicylic acid in the market end of
the application can also confirm this. Currently, there are a large number of
salicylic acid-based cosmetics on the market, both claiming to cleanse, control
oil, exfoliate and eliminate acne, and also claiming to whiten and
anti-wrinkle.
But what the cosmetics industry loves and hates is that although salicylic
acid is powerful, it is somewhat irritating and was once caught in a negative
whirlwind.
In 1998 or so, the application of salicylic acid was just introduced to
China, and the wide range of applications and non-compliant operations led to a
large number of adverse reactions, and the saying "salicylic acid disfigures the
face" spread, and foreign cosmetic companies had no choice but to give salicylic
acid the nickname "BHA This was the reason why foreign cosmetic companies had no
choice but to give salicylic acid the nickname "BHA" to avoid the products being
rejected by the market for containing "salicylic acid".
Based on this, the application of salicylic acid in cosmetics has strict
use restrictions and technical requirements. According to the "Technical
Specification for Cosmetic Safety (2015 Edition)", salicylic acid is listed as a
"cosmetic restricted component", with a maximum allowable concentration of 2.0%
for residual products and drenching skin products, and 3.0% for drenching hair
products. In addition to shampoos, salicylic acid should not be used in products
for children under the age of three; products containing salicylic acid should
be labeled "Contains salicylic acid, do not use by children under the age of
three" and other tips.
Cut from "Safety Technical Specification for Cosmetics (2015 Edition)
The harsh application conditions have become another shortcoming of
salicylic acid that cannot be ignored. Ice cold analysis, on the one hand,
salicylic acid is relatively strong irritation, and the pH value is particularly
low, making it difficult to match with other substances; on the other hand,
salicylic acid is difficult to dissolve, insoluble in water and only slightly
soluble in oil, "the application conditions are more demanding, limiting its
application in cosmetics.
"In short, it is the balance of efficacy and irritation problem." Ltd.
formulator Du Xingwei pointed out that how to make salicylic acid become mild,
but also to ensure that the efficacy is not compromised, is the main problem
faced by companies in the development of salicylic acid-related products.
03
High-quality efficacy products at the innovation exhibition 8 years of
precipitation, skin care technology into the "space 2.0 era" R & D strength
to support
Exclusive technology is the key
It is entering the "application expansion period"
Although there are still safety risks and technical difficulties in the
application of salicylic acid, many industry players are still optimistic about
its future development.
"The use of salicylic acid cosmetics, not to achieve the effect of medical
cosmetic brush acid, but in the softening of the skin, acne prevention, etc.,
has a consumer-friendly effect," in Du Xingwei's view, effective, safe and
affordable products, will continue to maintain growth.
Guo Xiaofeng also holds the same view, "medical brush acid is not going to
be a high frequency daily choice, both in terms of audience, risk, and cost, and
for some consumers with oily acne skin, skin care products containing salicylic
acid are just what is needed".
"The acne problem of consumers is always present and serious, salicylic
acid is a good choice, but how to do it safely and effectively is the core
problem that needs to be solved." Beautiful repair partner Xu Hong admits,
salicylic acid if you want to further expand the market application, but also
need to make efforts in scientific research.
"Due to the strong irritation of salicylic acid, its application
breakthrough lies in the technology, who has mastered the exclusive technology,
will be able to grasp the first opportunity", Guo Xiaofeng also said. Cosmetics
Watch found that many well-known brands do rely on exclusive patented technology
in salicylic acid skin care products to make a name for themselves.
According to reports, with the development of technology, salicylic acid in
cosmetics application technology after alcohol-based salicylic acid, water-oil
mixture of salicylic acid, is now widely used is wrapped salicylic acid, 3D
three-dimensional salicylic acid technology, the ultimate goal is to be gentle
and effective.
"For the salicylic acid market, it has reached a relatively mature cycle,
but the penetration rate of the product has not yet reached the peak, so there
is still a little space", in Guo Xiaofeng's view, objective, rational and
scientific market promotion and consumer education is the key, "neither
exaggerate its effectiveness, nor talk about acid ".
According to personal push big data, consumers' cognitive level of
ingredients is gradually rising, and the percentage of ingredient party among
consumers in 2022 is as high as 52%, compared to the brand, the product's
ingredient formula and actual efficacy become their focus. The "2022 Ingredient
Life Cycle Curve" released by Beauty Fix also shows that salicylic acid has
passed the "concept popularization period" and is moving towards the
"application expansion period".
"With the development of technology, salicylic acid products can be seen
more and more widely used in daily care, the fierce marketing of acid is greatly
reduced, which is also the recent trend of acid cosmetics, that is, towards
daily use. A senior R&D engineer said so.
2022-10-08
Shanghai, China