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How do formulators keep their secret if they have to disclose all ingredients
I use plant-derived colorants instead of micas in my products. Micas are the industry standard. This feature could give me a marketing advantage since my target audience wants natural cosmetics. My competitors could just replicate my idea by reading my labels. Does anyone have any advice on how to follow the labeling law and keep small innovation secretive?
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6 Replies
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Colorants are the most highly regulated of all ingredients in cosmetics. Basically, it is illegal (in the US) to sell anything using a color additive that is not approved by the FDA. See this document. https://www.fda.gov/industry/color-additive-inventories/summary-color-additives-use-united-states-foods-drugs-cosmetics-and-medical-devices
So, you can’t legally get a marketing advantage by using a unique color additive because everyone is limited to the same pool of color additives. If there were a marketing advantage to get, someone would already be doing it.
More importantly, in the cosmetic industry you generally can’t keep your formula secret. Anyone who is a decent cosmetic chemist could copy your product. They don’t really even need the ingredient list. This is mostly because consumers are not very good at noticing subtle differences in the performance of formulas.
Match color, fragrance, rheology and you pretty much can convince people that two formulas that chemically might be very different are the same.
My advice is that you don’t even worry about it. What you should spend your time and money on is making the story of your brand & your brand identity so unique and desirable that you become uncopyable.
Just think, there are cheaper generic versions of pretty much every product out there. But brands like Coke, Nike, Pantene, Olay continue to make sales because you can’t copy the brand.
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The only way I am aware of is if you register and declare a Trade Secret and your “petition” is accepted by the FDA allowing you to declare a Trade Secret. But, your plant-derived colorants are probably not a trade secret if you purchase these colorants from an ingredients supplier.
The laws are designed to protect consumers, so everything in the formula must be disclosed. The answer is: There are no secrets.
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If recreating a product by looking at the list of ingredients was that easy anyone would be able to do it. The thing is without a good formulator you can’t do it.
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Thank you, Perry, for providing a link to the FDA list. You are correct, the choices are very limited. Are soaps covered by the same regulation? Why is the list so limited is there a reason? Also, why are some food colorants like FD&C Blue No. 2 approved for food, but not for cosmetics?
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@Syl - It’s difficult to answer “why” questions when it comes to regulations.
As far as soaps go, if you limit yourself to the FDA definition of soap then it’s not regulated by the FDA. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/frequently-asked-questions-soap But if you make any cosmetic claims about the product, then you are bound by the FDA rules.
The list is limited because people have raised safety concerns about ingredients over the years. It’s a lot harder to get a new ingredient approved than to get one taken off the list, so there are just a lot fewer than when the FDA started.
The FDA was originally begun as a response to people getting injured by cosmetics (1930’s). Some of these injuries, like blindness, were due to toxic colorants that were being added to cosmetic products. So, when they were making their regulations they focused primarily on color additives. Anything that imparts color to a cosmetic is considered a color additive & the regulators wanted guarantees that people wouldn’t go blind.
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It is understanding. I am careful not to make any claims about any products. Thank you! You made me realize that I am using an unapproved natural color. Alkanet root is approved in Canada for food coloring and for use in cosmetics, but not by the FDA. Personally, I would not ingest it, but it is probably safe as a cosmetic colorant. I will do some research to find a replacement.
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