Efficacy Testing of Cosmetic & Personal Care Products

The competitive environment that surrounds Cosmetic & Personal Care Industries is pushing manufacturers to develop cosmetic products of better quality and higher efficacy. Cosmetic and personal care companies are receiving increasing pressure to provide solid evidence to support product claims. Companies can no longer rely purely on their marketing claims.

With the development of ways to measure cosmetic and personal care effects, companies can now backup their claims. Initially most efficacy tests were subjective, but now instrumental methods have been created including in-vitro and in-vivo measurements on human volunteers.

Efficacy testing is often used in an attempt to provide data to support claims due to intense scrutiny from both the regulators and competitors. Efficacy testing are a set of procedures in product research and development that are conducted to test the product's intended purpose in order to substantiate those all-important claims that appear on packaging or in advertisements. Instrumental methods for efficacy testing of cosmetic products have long been of interest. However, Efficacy testing of Personal care products has to be carried out ethically and with proper expertise. The method used for testing should be validated and data to be quality checked. Few examples of claims which need efficacy testing are increased moisture levels in skin, improvements in skin tone, elasticity and smoothness etc. Hair properties are also measured, such as improvements in hair strength and styling products that retain their properties. Deodorants are also regularly measured with regards to their odor protection effectiveness and duration etc.

Here is a short list of Efficacy testing that are carried out.

Hydration – A measure of the water content of the skin via the analysis of the moisture retention capacity based on the dielectric constant of the water present in the skins layers.

Firmness & Elasticity – The ability to resist skin deformation and return the skin to its natural state. It utilizes a probe suction method that measures the resistance of the skin to be pulled up by the negative pressure thereby measuring firmness. Its ability to return to its original position measures elasticity.

Wrinkles – A measurement of the wrinkles depth and width using 3D imaging analysis.

Deep lines & wrinkles – The method for measuring deeper lines and wrinkles is based on a silicon replica of the skin which is then analyzed by software which measures different characteristics of the wrinkle in length, depth etc.

Pigmentation – To measure dark spots on skin. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is used for determining the total number of skin chromophores, melanin, haemoglobin and collagen by observing the absorption spectra.

Odor – Deodorant efficacy testing is done by sensory assessments, also known as a "sniff test" performed by an expert panel. The panel assesses the intensity of body odor developing in the armpits of 10 to 30 volunteers after application of test products.

The efficacy testing of SPF, UVA and antioxidant capacity of sunscreens is another important area. The testing of hair products also lends itself to extensive instrumental testing.There are numerous testing companies (Clinical Research Organizations) located throughout the World, some which have a special focus or expertise in Personal Care products efficacy testing.

For the Cosmetic & Personal care companies to flourish, the key is to focus on the efficacy testing which shows cosmetic effect of the product on consumer in general.