Well, it’s that time of year again.  Time to create all the goals I’m going to endeavor to accomplish in 2012.  For me, the goal making process is highly involved.  It goes something like this.

Step 1 – Create a list of goal categories.

My categories change only slightly each year but they are basically

1. Health
2. Money
3. Relationships
4. Personal Development
5. Impact on the World

These came from my personal manifesto that I wrote some years ago.  Essentially, it is a road map for the things that I think are important in life and what is going to make me happy.

Step 2 – Brainstorm goals for the year

I like to use a piece of free software called FreeMind.  It is a simple mind mapping program that lets you create categories and connect things.  I’ll often write a mind map on paper but the computer program is useful too.  You can see my 2012 mind map here.  I pretty much put down any idea that occurs to me under those areas.  When I get to the next step I pare down the list a bit but during the brainstorm phase, anything can happen.

Ideally, you’ll create goals that have numbers associated with them.  For example, I have a joggling mileage goal (1500 miles) and I have a weight goal (180 lbs).  Goals that don’t have a number associated with them (e.g. Build a better brain) are much tougher to complete because you won’t have a way to determine whether or not you were successful.  For goals like this, I try to re-write and quantify them during the planning stage.

Step 3 – Make your plans

Here is the key to accomplishing these goals.  At the brainstorm phase things are just wishes.  To actually accomplish something you have to create a plan.  If you’re like me you’ll soon find that there isn’t enough time to do everything and you’ll start cutting things out.  Of course, I have a hard time cutting things out so many of my goals go unfulfilled.  I never mind this much because I accomplish enough to keep myself satisfied.

Some goals, the plans write themselves.  For instance, I have a goal to “write a blog post every day”.  My plan is simple…write something new every day.  For goals that have a number attached to them, I can split them up during the year and schedule when to work on them.  For example, I want to “Draw 12 pictures”.  So, I schedule a day on my Google Calendar that sends me a reminder to draw a picture.  I only have moderate success here because I often am too distracted with other things that I don’t spend time on the goal.  This year, I’m going to be better.  I will not so easily ignore those things.

Step 4 – Track your progress

For me, this is the key.  You’ve figured out some goals, made some plans, but if you don’t keep track of your progress you’ll have a much tougher time staying motivated to succeed.  I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my goals and have done so since 2003.  It’s really cool to be able to look back at my years and remember things that I’ve done.  This does require me to look at the spreadsheet every day but I don’t much mind that.  I’m at the computer every day anyway.  You can see a version of my goal spreadsheet here.  This isn’t my complete list but these are the key things that I keep track of and are the ones that are most likely to be accomplished.

Cosmetic Science goals

This year my primary goals related to cosmetic chemistry are about growing this website and providing more information to help cosmetic chemists learn more and do their jobs better.  To this end a few specific goals.

1. Write a blog post every day
2. Launch the “How to Start Your Own Cosmetic Line” program
3. Record 26 podcast episodes
4. Create a series of basic chemistry videos (30)
5. Begin an open source formulation site
6. Run for SCC VP elect
7. Grow the website traffic & social networking followers

What are your goals this year?  How do you go about setting them?  And how successful are you?  Leave a comment below.

A lot of people have asked us what they should major in if they want to become a cosmetic chemist. There are a wide variety of majors you can have and still become a formulator but these are the best.

1. Chemistry major

No doubt that the most versatile major for breaking into the cosmetic industry is a BS in Chemistry. By far the largest percentage of people working in cosmetic science have these kinds of degrees. A BA in Chemistry is also acceptable and in my experience, there is no difference between a BA and a BS in chemistry when it comes to getting hired. The jobs you can get with a chemistry degree include formulator, research scientist, quality control chemist, and analytical scientist.

2. Chemical Engineering

There are a number of chemical engineer majors who have become cosmetic chemists. However, since engineers often know about mixing equipment they usually end up in the process engineering group. These are the scientists responsible for scale-up of batches. If you like this kind of job you should get a chemical engineering degree.

3. Biology

The third most common degree for cosmetic chemists is Biology. This degree will help you get a job in the industry but will usually be in the microbiology department. If formulating is what you want to do you may have to work a few years in the micro area then try to move jobs.

4. Environmental sciences

Some cosmetic chemists get specialized degrees in environmental sciences. This allows them to get safety and environmental jobs in the cosmetic industry.

5. Any Bachelors of Science degree

While it is harder, it is not impossible to get a cosmetic chemist job with a degree in something like Physics or Anthropology. You’ll probably have to start in the role of a technician or QA scientists and work your way up but it can be done.

If you are interested in getting into the cosmetic industry and you’re just deciding on a major, Chemistry is probably the best one to pick. However, if you did choose something else and are too far along to change, that doesn’t mean you can’t become a cosmetic chemist. It may just take you a little longer.

There are some aspects of cosmetic chemistry that are easy but there are others that can be a but difficult. This list refers to the latter.

1. Generating new product ideas. There’s a reason that cosmetics haven’t changed much in the last 30 years. It’s very difficult to come up with something new and original. The cosmetic chemist who can do this will be in excellent shape to advance her career. Try some of the innovation exercises that we suggest.

2. Solving stability problems. Sometimes it’s not obvious why a formula isn’t stable. When this happens it’s tough to fix. But a knockout experiment can be very helpful.

3. Politicking. In a corporation your success is highly dependent on your ability to interact with other people. Your knowledge of science is just not as important, unfortunately. Learn some interpersonal skills to get better at this aspect of your career.

Cosmetic chemistry is not necessarily a difficult career but there are certainly some challenges. If you can excel at the hardest things you will be well on your way to a successful cosmetic chemist career.

On another post about wrinkle treatment breakthrus, Louise asked this excellent question which I thought would make a good post because people just starting out in the cosmetic industry might wonder the same thing.

Why aren’t cosmetic chemists doing research?

The basic premise of this question is that cosmetic products haven’t really changed much over the years. Cosmetic marketers seem to just take the same old formulas, change them a little and call them a new product.

This is a fair observation (although incomplete). But there are two main reasons cosmetic chemists spend more time on developing products than they do on researching new technologies.

1. Success

Cosmetic companies are in the business of selling products. When you try to research a technology you are not actually creating a new product. Certainly, you might find something that could some day be turned into a market changing product, but the reality is most technologies that you investigate will not turn into products. This is true in the cosmetic business as well as almost every other market. Research has a low level of success.

Product development, on the other hand, has a high degree of success. At least when it comes to whether or not you have a product to sell. When your company has to go to Walmart or Target and tell them the latest product they are launching, they have to have some tangible, new product that can go on store shelves. Product development will almost certainly create that. Basic research will not. Thus if a company has to decide where to focus it’s efforts, they will invariably choose the short term product development strategy over the long-term research one.

2. Money

While success is not guaranteed in research, the fact that it costs money is guaranteed. It’s a relatively small amount of money in the cosmetic industry but it is money nonetheless. When a company pays for something they want to see results. Unfortunately, research does not work that way. Finding technological breakthrus is not something that can be easily planned, budgeted, or guaranteed. Most times it can’t even be explained to marketing and sales people. Therefore, people who are in research have a tough time justifying their work because they can’t show an obvious result.

While basic research is the most promising area to create truly breakthru technologies, most companies do not have the risk tolerance, time, or money to invest significantly in it. And that is why most of the jobs in the cosmetic industry focus on “new” product development rather than new technology discovery.

In my talk about using the Internet to do cosmetic chemistry, I frequently say people should use Twitter. But I think people are having a hard time seeing the benefits. In this video, I will show you exactly how Twitter can be useful to a cosmetic formulator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNOLWyJzOPA

Here are the basic points.

1. Keeping up with industry news
2. Getting questions answered
3. Finding experts
4. Keeping track of competitors
5. Establishing yourself as an expert.
6. Finding out what consumers care about
7. Finding a job

Click on this link if you would like to find other cosmetic chemists on twitter.

Here at Chemists Corner, we have an online training course (the Complete Cosmetic Chemist) and we encourage everyone who would benefit to take the course.

But there are a number of other types of courses on the Internet. Best of all they are put out by various universities and are often free.

Here are a couple of our favorite sources.

1. Open Culture – Lists 400 online courses from top universities. Includes a number of Chemistry courses and Biology courses. Also useful are the Business courses. You can get really smart just going through these links.

Make Use of – This website lists a number of free online video lectures. We especially like the videos from Big Think.

You can sped a lot of time on the Internet. Instead of being unproductive by watching funny cat videos, spend your time learning and improving yourself. This could ultimately lead to you having the ability to create something like your own product line or business, and this is a goal worth pursuing.

If you are a student studying science (chemistry or biology is best) you might qualify for a scholarship from the Midwest SCC.

The Midwest Chapter Society of Cosmetic Chemists each year offers multiple $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate or graduate students exhibiting excellence in either coursework or research in the fields of chemistry, biology, cosmetic, or allied sciences. Special consideration will be given to students actively pursuing careers in cosmetic science. Applicants must have a letter of recommendation from a faculty member where the recipient is attending.

The deadline for this year’s application is October 15, 2011.

You can apply for the scholarship by going to this website.

Midwest SCC Scholarship program

I can completely understand how something like this happens. Overzealous marketers were selling iPhone apps that use colored lights to supposedly treat acne. The FTC found out and brought action against the two app makers. They subsequently stopped selling the products because they couldn’t prove they worked. Of course, not before they sold over $25,000 worth of product. Their fines totaled about $16,000. Seems reasonable.

Marketing pressure

So how does a product like this even get made?

This happens frequently in the cosmetic industry. It usually goes something like this.

1. Company outside the cosmetic industry sees problem not solved (e.g. acne)
2. Same company sees size of market.
3. Company creates product & makes impressive claims without adequate testing.
4. Company cashes in on desperate consumers.
5. Company keeps collecting money until FDA or FTC figure it out and shut them down.

Unfortunately, this last step doesn’t always happen and consumers waste lots of money on products that don’t work.

The other unfortunate thing is that marketers from legitimate cosmetic companies will see products like these that are making money and they will pressure their cosmetic chemists to come up with copycat products. When their scientists tell them they can’t do it, they risk being labeled obstructionists and having diminished reputations. But such is the life of a cosmetic chemist.

There will be times you have to disappoint your marketing people. Just remember to do it in a friendly way. You don’t want to develop an adversarial relationship with your marketers. You need each other to be successful.

When you get a job in the cosmetic industry you’ll most likely be working in the Research and Development department, or The Lab, as most people will call it. But there is much more to your company outside the Lab and if you want to advance your career, you’ll need to become familiar with other departments. Here is a brief rundown of all the departments you might have at your company and how you may interact with them. Note, your company may be organized slightly different.

Marketing

In most big cosmetic companies, this is the group that drives new product development. They are given responsibility for building brands so they help drive the launch of new products, the advertising, the promotion and the aesthetic characteristics formulas. As a cosmetic formulator you will usually get a product brief from a marketer explaining exactly the type of product they want you to create. Marketing people are your internal “customers” and you need to make sure they are happy.

Market Research

This group interacts with consumers to find insights which lead to the development of new products or advertising claims. Marketing relies heavily on them for collecting data that supports the launch of new products. As a scientist you will rely on them to help provide direction for your formulation development work. Be careful, however, just because the word “Research” is in their department name, it doesn’t mean that they are doing scientific research. The results from their research are highly subjective.

Sales

The Sales people are responsible for selling your products to resellers. They are often looked at as the most important group because they directly bring in money. They also have to do a fair amount of traveling and work all the time. They may call on you to do presentations at their sales meetings or even to develop products specifically for their customers. In their zeal to get things done quickly, the sales people will sometimes work outside the system and make requests that you probably shouldn’t fulfill. Of course, it’s good to make friends with the Sales department as they are often the most powerful group in the company. Help them whenever you can.

Packaging

These are the people that help design and source new and alternative packaging. You will have to interact with them to ensure that the formula you develop is appropriate for the package they want to use. Note that in some companies the Packaging department is part of R&D.

Purchasing

The Purchasing group is responsible for negotiating with sales people and getting the best prices for raw materials, packaging and other services. They can be helpful for you when developing formulas to ensure that you are meeting cost constraints. They will also help guide you to find significant cost savings by suggesting alternative materials at lower prices.

Regulatory

This department is sometimes part of R&D or other times part of the Legal department. These are the people who are supposed to keep up with world wide regulations and help ensure that you are not using raw materials that are inappropriate for your market. Many times a cosmetic chemist can see the Regulatory department as obstructionist because they are good at telling you what you can’t use. However, the job of the Regulatory department is to keep you company out of trouble so they should be looked at as beneficial.

Legal

The Legal department is where all the corporate lawyers are. For an R&D person they will help you file patents and may be involved in approving any of your out-of-the-company official communications. They may ask you for help in determining whether a patent is violated or whether some company’s product infringes on your company’s IP.

Production

The people that make the final product are the Production group. You will usually be called upon to help them make the first batch and to observe the process. They will also come up with ideas on how to make the batches faster. This could lead to some stability testing that you’ll have to do. If you don’t have a Process Engineering group, you will also be called by the Production people when a batch did not come out right and they’ll look to you to fix it.

Project Management

This group helps to ensure that all the tasks of a project get done in a timely manner. They will typically lead weekly project meetings that will include representatives from all the different departments. As an R&D person you may spend a lot of time in project update meetings.

Corporate Communications

When the company needs some public relations they call on the Corporate Communications group. This group may in turn call on you to go on trips visiting magazine editors in New York or other places around the country / world.

Human Resources

When you have questions about your job, the HR department is the one who should have answers. They can be a big benefit to you but remember that while the HR people seem to be working for you, they are really working for the corporation. Don’t ever give out information about yourself that could be detrimental to your career in the future. Remember talking to HR is the same as talking to the entire corporation.

Finance

This is the department responsible for keeping track of the company’s income and expenses. When you have to file expense reports for trips or courses, these ultimately get sent to the Finance department. So, sometimes you may have to work with them to validate your company expenses. You may also have to provide them formula costing information. Mostly, your interaction with this department will be limited.

IT

The computer department who ensure that your system is up and running without a hitch. Of course, there are lots of hitches and hopefully, you’ve got an IT department that can handle them. Just don’t expect them to be experts at the software you use. They usually aren’t.

Maintenance

When something breaks in the lab, the maintenance guys are the ones who will fix it. Be nice to them and you’ll get things fixed more quickly.

One big happy corporation

There are probably many other departments we didn’t list but this covers the majority of groups you’ll have to interact with. While it may sometimes seems like a battle between departments, you need to remember that you all have the same goal, grow the company. You may have different ideas on how to do that but if you focus on the final goal, you can get things done. As a cosmetic chemist in a corporation, you’ll want to develop a reputation as someone who is easy to work with and knows what’s going on. To do this, you’ll need to think about the other departments and how you can best help them achieve their goals.

Good luck!

Are there any departments that we missed? Leave a comment below

On today’s program we have an interview with Ron Robinson of Beautystat.com. He has created one of the largest portals for beauty information on the web and he stated his career out as a cosmetic chemist. We’re also going to talk about a couple of science stories in the news and answer some of the most common career questions.

Ron Robinson Interview begins at 13:00

Cosmetic Science news

Animal testing is in the news.

According to an article in Cosmetics Design-Europe, the European Commission who reports to the European Parliament has said that it will not be possible to meet the impending 2013 deadline for the banning of all animal testing.

In light of this fact, they are still looking at alternative scenarios which means there might be a delay in the outright ban of animal testing of cosmetic products. The final decision will be announced at the end of this year.

Currently, there are alternative methods for a variety of things that are normally determined with animal testing. These include, tests for the identification of corrosive substances, skin irritants, severe eye irratants, skin phototoxicty and skin penetration.

The EC says these alternatives are validated enough for ensuring the safety of cosmetic products. There are just a few more gaps that need to be filled in before a complete ban on the marketing of any cosmetic product that uses ingredients that have been animal tested after March 2009.

This is definitely a thing that a cosmetic chemist needs to keep an eye on. You will not be able to sell your products in Europe if you use any ingredient that has been animal tested since 2009. So much for all those new raw materials that have been launched in the last 2 years.

I really don’t know what cosmetic raw material suppliers are going to do. Until animal testing alternatives can completely replace current tests, there will be no new raw materials used in cosmetics in Europe.

I wonder if anyone will notice.
——————

Sunscreen from a pill?

Scientists from Kings College London are testing a new type of sunscreen that requires you to swallow it to get the benefits.

They found a coral-derived compound that is an efficient screen against UV rays. According to the team, the research could eventually lead to the development of a pill that you eat to get long lasting sun protection.

Eventually, they will have to figure out the molecular structure of the compounds and also a way to make them in the laboratory if the product is ever to be launched on a large scale.

The reason they believe it could work in pill form is because fish that live around the coral reefs where they discovered the compound, also benefit from the UV sun protection.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, cosmetic chemists may now (or in the future) be competing with food chemists for the development of sunscreens. I could see people just taking this pill rather than putting on lotions and sprays when they want to go out in the sun.

Second, the future of cosmetic chemistry may be moving towards food supplements. There are not a lot of advances that can be made in the standard topical applications and testing for new materials is becoming more and more difficult. In the future, you may have to be able to develop food supplements as well as topical treatments if you want to compete as a cosmetic formulator. This would be a whole new area of chemistry that you will have to learn about. Perhaps now is a good time to start.

Cosmetic Science Career Questions

One of the goals of Chemists Corner is to help people who are curious about the cosmetic industry learn how they could start a career in cosmetics. That naturally attracts a number of questions which we have usually responded to via email. However, other people likely have similar questions so we’re going to edit and publish those questions and answers about cosmetic science careers here.

Question: What kind of degree should I get?

I really enjoy Chemistry but I’m not sure I would like to do it for a living for the rest of my life. What I
really am interested in is going into cosmetic sales. Would a Chemistry degree be a good way to get into Cosmetic Sales? Or do most sales employees you know start with a business degree?

Answer: If sales is what you really want to do, you’d probably be best served by getting a business degree first with a minor in Chemistry. However, lots of cosmetic industry sales people start out in the lab (with chemistry degrees), then get an MBA and switch to sales.

Question: What should my area of concentration be?

I have decided to major in Polymer and Color Chemistry, the only thing is I do not know what concentration I should chose. There is ACS certified, Science and Operations, and Medical. I would like to concentrate in Science and Operations and attend grad school for Cosmetic Science. My question is, are my chances still good for getting into grad school with regular physics and calculus courses versus more advanced?

Answer: I think that you would be fine following the Science and Operations route. If you really want to be a cosmetic chemist, you will not need to know as much of the math behind things. It is more important to know the characteristics of the chemicals that you are mixing together.

Question: What can you expect when starting a cosmetic science career?

Hi i’m going to study Chemistry at University in the UK , at the end of this year and have a lot of questions. What is the average salary? (although money isn’t my only target it is significant)Do you
get a chance to meet people like you would if you were working as a pharmacist? What is the most important factor for loving your job? Do you ever get the feeling that you could do more with your skills? How hard is it to get a job with a big company e.g. Estee Lauder?

Answers:
A. In the US, the average salary for a starting cosmetic chemist is ~$35,000 per year. I don’t know what that would be in pounds but you get the idea.

B. You don’t get much interaction with the general public but you certainly get to meet people who work in the cosmetic industry.

C. Loving my job involves doing something I’m interested in, feeling like I can make a difference, and making people happy. Cosmetic chemistry satisfies all those.

D. I certainly did think I could do more with my skills. That’s why I started my own business and it’s what I currently do.

E. If a company like Estee Lauder is hiring, it’s not too hard to get a job (if you have a good resume, degree, and interview).

Question: Where are all the cosmetic science jobs?
Answer: LA, New Jersey & NY are the best places to go for cosmetics jobs. Jobs in Utah are looking good as are those in Ohio (Cincinnati).

Interview

Ron Robinson is a seasoned product development expert with over 20 years of experience creating innovative products.  He has worked at companies like Avon, Revlon, Lancome and Estee Lauder.  He is currently the founder and CEO of BeautyStat.com, one of the leading beauty communities on the web.

Ron’s Website: Beautystat.com

Announcements

Sign up for the Cosmetic science forum.

You can still sign up for the Complete Cosmetic Chemist cosmetic science training program here.

Speaking engagements:

• Perry Romanowski will be speaking at the Midwest SCC Technical Symposium on October 13, 2011
• Perry will be speaking at the Southwest SCC October meeting on October 20, 2011.

If you have a question, comment or other suggestion about the podcast, leave a message in the space below.

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.