TAGS: Skin Care Sustainability / Natural Cosmetics
An Interview with Harald van der Hoeven, Director of Product Design and Development at CLR Berlin
As our daily lives are constantly dominated by stress and challenges, the cosmetics industry offers a profound shift towards consumer well-being.
CLR Berlin being a key player in this landscape, sheds light on the evolving trends and their innovative response. Beyond mere skincare, the company prioritizes a holistic approach to mental health.
The consumers of today, do not just want to take care of their bodies and minds but also want to protect nature around them. Hence, the goal is to bring back balance and look out for solutions that are natural, effective, and sustainable.
In this article, Harald van der Hoeven provides insights about their award-winning, sustainable active ingredient that not only will be your go-to solution for skincare needs but will also help you maintain your overall well-being.
#1 – What does CLR Berlin see as the main trend in the cosmetics market for the coming years?
What we see is a very clear movement where consumer well-being is at the center stage. This is far more than a trend. In an ever-changing world full of stress and worries, consumers increasingly search for cosmetic products that can help improve or maintain not just their skin but also their mental health.
A retailer like Target in the US recently added 1,000+ products relating to consumer well-being to their offering. We see new concepts emerging such as “psycare,” “mental beauty” and “neurocosmetics.” These are just a few of the many illustrations of how the industry is picking up on this movement. Apart from the commercial opportunities the well-being movement provides, we should, however, realize that mental health is a serious concern and not to be taken lightly.
#2 – Can skincare products improve the well-being of the consumer?
Very much so. Just the ritual of applying a skincare product alone will have a positive impact on your state of mind. There is much more to skincare than just this ‘feelgood’ factor, though. Lots of research has been performed on, what can be called ‘psychodermatology,’ i.e., the effect of problems of skin on the emotional health of people and the other way around; how the state of mind of a person can influence the skin.
There is lots of room for cosmetics and
skincare products to play when it comes to bridging the gap between the skin and the brain.
#3 – Can cosmetic active ingredients provide added value to these kinds of skincare products?
Active ingredients can have a tremendous positive influence on the outcomes of skin and well-being. Not every active ingredient with a, for instance, anti-inflammatory or anti-wrinkle or moisturizing effect will automatically have added value, though.
The effect of the active ingredient should be clearly perceivable by the consumer and this effect should be related to what the consumer experiences to be a burden to them. It is all about making the active ingredient both as active and safe as it can be and as relevant as possible for most people. Then the active ingredient is not just of added value, it becomes a necessity.
#4 – Does your product AnnonaSense CLR™ fit the bill?
AnnonaSense CLR™ is a product we launched a few years ago. It won the award for best ingredient at in-cosmetics in Asia, which we were very happy about. Since then, AnnonaSense CLR™ has proven itself in the market. That is what a good active ingredient always does. Its sustained and still increasing success in the market is the best proof that it really works.
Last year we performed a new study on almost 120 volunteers. We wanted to find real proof that AnnonaSense CLR™ does not just
improve skin but well-being as well. What we also took a close look at was the feedback loop between our skin and our brain: how skin affects well-being, how well-being affects the skin, and how AnnonaSense CLR™ can play a positive role on both halves of this feedback loop.
#5 – Can you elaborate on how AnnonaSense CLR™ improves well-being?
Starting with the skin, what we saw in the new study is that AnnonaSense CLR™ had a positive effect on both people with sensitive skin and people with a stressful life. Many of the participants in the study were healthcare workers with irregular job hours and, arguably, a lot of mental stress on the job. Their skin was clearly improved. Its appearance was better and sensitivity was reduced. What we also saw is that AnnonaSense CLR™ led to reduced psychological stress and improved quality of sleep.
New Study Results for Volunteer Group 1 (Stressful Jobs) and Volunteer Group 2 (Sensitive Skin) After 4 Weeks of Treatment with AnnonaSense CLR™
#6 – Talking about the skin-brain feedback loop, this is just one-half of this loop, right?
Yes, it is. Covering the other half of the loop, linking well-being back to skin is something that we think is essential in making an active ingredient really relevant for skincare products. We took it two steps further.
Cortisol is a stress hormone produced by glands in our body’s endocrine system. It is increased strongly when people suffer from psychological stress. Too much cortisol, in turn, has a great negative impact on skin health. This closes the skin-brain feedback loop and was therefore an essential part of our studies too.
Measured in saliva, we saw that the cortisol level was reduced with AnnonaSense CLR™. We also saw that it improved skin health, in correlation with reduced levels of cortisol. With these activities, we can conclude that AnnonaSense CLR™ is an active ingredient with great relevance for the skincare industry. You might even say, there is no way around it.
#7 – AnnonaSense CLR™ is a very good active ingredient, is it sustainable as well?
The raw material we use for the production of AnnonaSense CLR™ is the fruit of the Cherimoya tree (INCI of AnnonaSense CLR™:
Annona Cherimola Fruit Extract). These trees are cultivated by small farmers in the south of Spain in the region around the town of Almuñecar and the fruits are sold for consumption in many supermarkets in Spain and other southern European countries.
Unfortunately, the fruit is sensitive and is quickly damaged, rendering it unsellable in supermarkets. In the past, these damaged cherimoya fruits were normally thrown away. We now take these damaged fruits and produce AnnonaSense CLR™ from them. A true way of upcycling waste from the food industry. There is essentially no reason not to use AnnonaSense CLR™.
About Harald van der Hoeven
Harald van der Hoeven holds a Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He started to work in the personal care industry in 1999 where he specialized in R&D and the formulation of skincare and suncare cosmetics.
In 2006 Harald joined CLR Berlin and took over as Director of R&D, then changed to the position of Technical Marketing Director between May 2013 and August 2020, where he was responsible for technical and scientific support of CLR's customers and still heavily involved with CLR's R&D department.
Harald focuses on basic science, including dermatology, cell biology, phytochemistry, biotechnology, and cosmetic formulation technology and the application of this science, making it both usable for the cosmetic chemist and understandable for the consumer. Since September 2020 he has been in the role of Director of Product Design and Development at CLR.
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