Cecily O'Connor
RedwoodAge.com
Eager to please health-conscious baby boomers, skin-care companies are launching a growing number of balms with organic ingredients like apple juice and anchovy extracts.
Some companies also tie a purchase into support for other groups, such as organic farmers, hoping that will harmonize with the progressive sensibilities of the generation that turned environmentalism and consumerism into household words.
Instead of lamenting the aging process, women and, notably, men can embrace their hard-earned wrinkles while finding solace in products friendly to both their bodies and environment.
For some, the "motivation is 'I want to be my personal best and take good care of myself,'" said Marti Barletta, author of "PrimeTime Women: How to Win the Hearts, Minds and Business of Boomer Big Spenders."
The Whole Plant
In general, green or environmentally friendly products steer clear of
pesticides, parabens or synthetic fragrances, relying instead on elements from
Mother Nature like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that help revitalize skin
and prevent further damage. However, those elements don't come cheap, and
quantities can seem paltry compared to non-organic products sold at drugstores.
"Organic lines usually use whole plants so they are not using cheaper ingredients that have been broken apart and chemically altered," said Korina McNair, an esthetician at Elephant Pharmacy in San Rafael, Calif., which carries a wide variety of organic skin-care and makeup products. "The biodynamic lines such as Jurlique, Weleda, and Dr. Hauschka, farm most of their herbal ingredients themselves. So these lines are hand-crafted, literally from the ground up. Also, because organic products have more active ingredients, less is needed to get the job done, therefore a smaller container is used."
Natural properties are important because skin changes dramatically as individuals age. Skin becomes thinner, and many people notice dry skin and wrinkles because their oil glands aren't producing as much as they once did. Sun exposure and cigarette smoke also can contribute to aging of the skin.
Greater awareness of what consumers feed their skin is significant because skin absorbs about 64% of what's placed upon it, said Karen Behnke, chief executive officer of Juice Beauty, a Northern California maker of juice-based products. The company recently launched a pricey green apple skin care line that includes: a mousse cleanser, $29 for 10 oz.; body peel, $49 for 4 oz.; and moisturizer with SPF 20, $34 for 10 oz.
Many consumers start eating organic foods, then want to "take it to the next step by putting pure products on their body," said Behnke. Juice Beauty uses natural hydroxy acids from fresh organic fruits grown in organic farms in California and the Pacific Northwest.
Boomers Drive Growth
The natural and organic personal care
products market is expected to hit more than $10 billion in sales by 2010,
according to a report from Packaged Facts, a market research publisher. That's
after growing more than $2 billion to $6.1 billion between 2002 and 2006. There
are several factors contributing to the growth, including boomers using makeup
with "cosmeceutical," or anti-aging, benefits; a stronger
natural/organic products infrastructure, and the subsequent crossover into mass
markets; and direct sales via the Internet, catalogs and infomercials.
Packaged Facts expects these factors to continue driving growth, along with public concern over the environment, the sustainability of resources, "fair trade" practices, and consumer fear of cancer-causing chemicals.
"More and more consumers are self-doctoring, either for treatment of specific medical conditions or for preventive maintenance," said Cathy Minkler, associate editor of Packaged Facts.
Powders and Moisturizers
At Elephant Pharmacy, Jane Iredale makeup is increasingly popular with women who
like the $44 loose and $49 pressed powders, which contain minerals that help
deflect light and minimize wrinkles.
A $25 Jane Iredale "active light" concealer is intended to reflect light, creating a smooth finish while covering darkness around the eyes and camouflaging fine lines around the mouth. It also contains cucumber to help with puffiness around the eyes and green tea, an antioxidant, is used to neutralize "free-radicals," McNair said.
For other areas of the body, Weleda makes a birch cellulite oil from a combination of natural plant oils and plant extracts that aims to reduce the appearance of cellulite. It sells for $21.99.
Men, in general, tend to buy moisturizers, sun block and natural shaving products, McNair said, noting Burt's Bees, chemical-free sunscreen with SPF 15 - price: $15.99 for 3.46 oz. - is attracting a following. Men also use a clarifying toner sold by Dr. Hauschka at $33 for 3.4 oz, as aftershave.
Juice Beauty's male customers also shave with the company's cleansing milk product ($22 for 6 oz.), whose ingredients include antioxidants like red raspberry and white grape juices, Behnke said.
How to Shop
Shopping for makeup and skin care products can be fun, or frustrating.
Many products are marked by "anti-aging" on the bottle, so
understanding which properties make that claim true is important. McNair
highlighted several elements to look for:
- DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol), a nutritional substance found in salmon, anchovies and sardines with powerful anti-inflammatory properties. DMAE helps tone sagging facial muscles by stimulating the neurotransmitters which contract these muscles, thus making them stronger and more elastic.
- MSM, (methyl sulfonyl methane), an anti-inflammatory that stimulates collagen growth in the skin. It also prevents breakage of collagen fibers in aging skin, which makes it great for healing the skin after surgery, for example.
- Vitamin C oil (ester-C), another anti-inflammatory that is absorbed into skin, stimulating collagen growth.
- ALA (alpha lipoic acid) helps other antioxidants perform better by protecting skin cells from free-radical damage. It is found naturally in the mitochondria part of cells, and said to be 400 times more powerful than vitamins E & C combined. Overall, it helps cells metabolize other ingredients more effectively, McNair said.
