Beyond Skin Deep: The Top 3 Skin Care Health Trends Driving Our Innovation
If you’ve found yourself living anywhere but under a rock in the past few years, you’ll know that long gone are the days of “wash-and-go.” And here to stay are the three, five, and seven-step skincare routines that include cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing, and everything in-between.
The goal? Put our best face forward by bettering the health and appearance of our body's largest organ—our skin.
The problem? In reality, no one skincare routine or product works for us all.
At Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, we believe there's power in numbers. That's why our team of scientists are dedicated to creating a variety of products to address a wide range of skin concerns—including aging, sensitive, and hyperpigmented skin. This helps us provide potential solutions for our consumers that not only work best for their skin but are also fitting for their lifestyles.
With so many products out there, it's hard for most people to keep track of what's new in skin health. To help, see below for the top 3 skin care trends we're seeing that are driving our current skin innovations.
Trend #1: Personalized Skincare
Scientific advancements in recent years have allowed us to provide customized healthcare based on an individual's genetics, environment, and lifestyle. Known as "precision medicine," a growing trend involves using this concept to deliver personalized healthcare for our skin.
Following the science, our researchers partnered with other innovators to look at the skin microbiome—which is the invisible layer on our skin that is home to millions of microorganisms like bacteria that help protect us from the external world—in order to understand and personalize skincare of the future.
We know that many internal and external factors can affect our skin microbiome. So we're exploring an at-home microbiome testing kit that evaluates the impact of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health skin formulations on important bacteria found on our skin's surface that can serve as indicators of our overall skin health.
We're also seeing an increase in the use of skin product subscription boxes to customize skincare based on skin concerns and needs. This has inspired our researchers to study the use of topical (applied on top of skin) and ingestible (feeding the skin from within) skin health treatments based on an individual's skin concerns.
Did You Know?
Our team is working with a subscription platform delivering personalized over-the-counter treatments and skincare products to consumers with chronic skin conditions.
Trend #2: Inclusive Skin Innovation
For many years, skincare available to consumers has only represented some of the faces we see in our communities, often leaving members of communities of color without products that are tailored to their specific skin health needs. But given we live in a world of diverse skin states, tones, and types, it’s important to ensure that all steps in the skin-innovation process—from consumer insights to clinical research to delivery of the final product in stores—are inclusive of solutions that reflect the diverse communities we serve.
And while we continue to advance our commitment to diversity and inclusion in our new skin health innovation efforts, we’re also partnering with external innovators to see how we can further maximize skin inclusivity—together.
In 2020, Johnson & Johnson Innovation launched a Black Innovators in Skin Health QuickFire Challenge inviting innovators from across the country to submit potential skin and scalp health solutions for the Black community. One of the finalists was a first-of-its-kind virtual dermatology clinic with a focus on skin of color.
K’ept Health, a resident of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC, combines cutting-edge A.I. with personalized care from board-certified dermatologists and medical estheticians experienced in skin of color and integrative medicine to develop a holistic health plan and provide support through virtual visits, private messaging, and skin-health monitoring for personal recommendations.
Enhanced skincare personalization, like that of K’ept Health, not only shows us how we can provide more inclusive skincare, but also why it’s so important.
Did You Know?
K'ept Health has an inclusive A.I. system of 2 million faces. The company collects and validates ongoing data through partnerships with leading research universities, skin of color clinics, and willing app users.
Trend #3: Sustainable Skincare
There is a growing passion among consumers to ensure we are preserving the health of our planet as we address skin health concerns. As a result, consumers have become more conscious of how the activities we engage in and the products we use—including their packaging—impact the environment.
Nearly two years ago, our Company made a new commitment to help improve the health of people and the planet, building on top of decades of sustainability efforts.
As part of this commitment, which we call our Healthy Lives Mission, our brands are on track to use 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable plastic packaging and certified/post-consumer recycled paper- and pulp-based packaging by 2025. Additionally, our Aveeno®, Johnson's®, Listerine®, Neutrogena® and OGX® brands will strive to use 100% recycled plastic in their bottles by 2030.
Did You Know?
We're working with a company that uses plant protein material as an alternative to plastic.
Since the announcement of our commitment, we've continued to make strides in sustainability, creating organic and plastic-free women's health products and compostable, plant-based cleansing wipes. And while we’re proud to see these products launch, we also know that there’s much more work to be done.
As part of that work, we’ve partnered with a group of innovators to evaluate the possibility of creating plant-based sustainable packaging. This packaging has the potential to be composted or dissolved in water, breaking down into a food source for the environment and creating a positive impact on our environmental ecosystem, and ultimately, the world.
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