OldPerry
Forum Replies Created
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In their defense, wasn’t the bill was stuffed into another bill covering a much wider range of topics? It seems a pretty challenging job to be a politician.
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Of course, beyond consumer complaints, there was no good evidence Wen caused hair loss. I contend it was the company’s sketchy business practices that caused the consumer complaints not the products themselves.
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I’d suggest you read this.
https://www.fond.co/blog/best-mission-statements/One thing you will notice is that (with the exception of 1) none of the mission statements use personal pronouns. The mission should be something beyond yourself. Consider the TED mission statement… “To spread ideas” They don’t say “We want to spread ideas”. The first version is something that can apply to everyone. So your consumers can feel like they are part of the mission. The second version relegates your consumer to be an audience member. At best they can watch to see whether you accomplish your mission.
Your mission statement needs to be more inclusive of both you and your customer. In truth, customers do not really care what you want. They care what they want. ALL of your communication should be in terms of what you consumer wants. (At least in the beginning) They don’t care about you. They care about themselves. So, you would be best served by talking about what they want, not what you want.
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@MarkBroussard - The Etsy sellers wouldn’t want that and a large swath of our population would squawk about government regulatory overreach. It still amazes me how unregulated the Supplement industry is.
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That depends on what you think makes something “worth it”. Please explain further.
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I think this only applies to sellers of $1 million a year or more, but I haven’t read the legislation.
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Occlusiveness depends on concentration, structure of the formula & other ingredients, so your question is not easily answered.
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@Ghita37 - You can only learn so much from reading. And much of what you read is probably wrong.
Are many women rejecting anti-aging? I don’t know but I find it highly unlikely. People are still buying and using cosmetic products. There is not really a health benefit, so they are doing it for some reason. Society hasn’t changed so much that a large swath of people are longing to look older. For better or worse, being youthful is still seen as better than being old. Until that changes, people will still want anti-aging products. They might not want them to be called anti-aging, but they still want the benefits.
You can ponder and read about launching a product as much as you want. But when it comes down to it, you just have to do it. Do something. Remember, great ideas are not worth anything. What you do with those ideas is where the value is.
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@Abdullah - I use products to solve problems. An AHA product would not solve any problem that I have. I’m perfectly happy with how my skin looks and feels so don’t feel compelled to do anything more than what I’m doing.
Serums, exfoliation, moisturizing…it all just sounds like a lot of extra work for minimal benefit.
@Squinny - The “cleanser” I use for face and body is…shampoo. Foam it up on my head, use the foam to clean the rest of my body. No more cleansers necessary. I do use conditioners because I like the way it makes my hair look and feel, but it’s not really necessary.
No, I don’t usually use moisturizer, except in the winter and only if my hands feel itchy. But typically there isn’t any readily available so I don’t bother. I do like to take the moisturizers from hotels, so I do moisturize my hands when I travel. But rarely.
Yes, I use sunscreen if I”m going to be at the beach or a lake and in the sun for hours. On occasion, I’ll use sunscreen when I go for a run in the summer. Honestly, it’s just a lot of work to apply and I don’t generally like how it feels. Mostly my strategy for sun protection is to cover up. I wear hats, don’t take off my shirt much, and put a towel over my legs.
As far as the DIY stuff goes, I do agree with you that you can make dupes of really expensive stuff for less money. What I don’t agree with is that those expensive products are better than the Olay, Suave or some other brand you could just buy inexpensively at a drugstore. See, I see no reason anyone should avoid a supermarket shampoo. Beyond the marketing stories and packaging, the salon stuff isn’t really different. I suppose I have too much knowledge about formulation and am also incredibly skeptical about marketing stories.
Like I said, I’m a terrible cosmetic consumer.
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@Pharma - I think that is one of the big secrets “they” don’t want you to know about DIY products. They’ll cost more to make and probably won’t work as well either. I’m all for encouraging people to learn how to make their own products, but it should not be looked at a way to get your products for less money.
In this way, making cosmetics is not like making food.
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Is it tiny bubbles or haziness? Panthenol should not cause that problem as it is water soluble.
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Before you sign up for any service, perhaps getting a copy of this book and reading it is a better (less expensive) start. StoryBrand book It also lays out the framework that Mojo is claiming to help with.
I’m not a marketing person so I don’t have an expertise in having all the answers to marketing. But I’ve read a bunch on the topic and you pretty much nailed it.
1. Identify your ideal customer
2. Find out what problems they want solved.
3. Make & sell products that solve that problem.
4. RepeatThis formula works whether you’re selling cars, cookies or cosmetics. In theory, it should work for any product or service. You’re right, cosmetics doesn’t have to be complicated.
Pantene puts out a great shampoo but it’s not significantly better than something anyone else can make. They are successful because of their marketing.
Drunk Elephant https://www.drunkelephant.com/ doesn’t make products that are particularly innovative but their marketing story resonates with their hero customers.
As far as Instagram goes (or any social media). No one is necessarily going to TELL you their problems. You have to use information you see that the post, read what they say, and infer or guess at what you think their problems are.
I can imagine the development of Fenty by Rhianna probably went something like this.
Rhianna posted some glamour selfie then put something like “I luv this hat but I sure wish I could find makeup that worked better on my skin”
Then a large number of her fans responded and said “yeah, we can’t find good matching makeup either. Why doesn’t that exist?”
Then Rhianna says, yeah that should exist. Then she went out and made it.
You can only guess at what people’s problems are. But social media helps give you some clue.
When I want to make a new cosmetic formulation course, I read through this forum to see what problems people are having. That will help me know what product they might want.
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As I might have said on the show, it rarely occurs to me to use any skin products. I use shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and deodorant. That’s about it. It’s much easier to buy these things than make them myself even though I know how.
while I might be a good cosmetic chemist, I’m a terrible beauty consumer. ????
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The first thing you have to realize is that no one really knows why Rihana’s line was a hit. Everything people write about it is looking backwards to what happened and trying to explain it. That doesn’t mean you could do exactly the same thing and have a successful line.
Rihana was not the first brand to launch 40 foundation shades. For example Make Up For Ever had that many before Rihana. Her brand just did a better job of marketing it. But the products aren’t really different.
Fenty is also not the first brand to listen to their consumer. Big companies have entire Consumer Marketing groups that specifically go out and do consumer research. They talk to people in their homes, do focus groups, monitor them online. Teams of individuals dedicated to brands doing all the same things Rihana was doing.
Her celebrity status gave her a unique marketing story that for whatever reason was successful. You can’t expect to repeat or explain her effect. It was probably just lucky timing.
You listen to the conversations by following people on Instagram. See what they are talking about. See what problems they have.
Go read this and follow their advice. https://www.mojomedialabs.com/blog/complete-guide-storybrand-framework
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I’m not really sure but my guess is that the Panthenol drops the pH and that affects the viscosity. Although, it shouldn’t affect it that much. Are you sure you are adding panthenol?
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So adopting what the EU is doing & what big companies already do. Killing the middle sized guy I guess.
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While I share @Graillotion view that the world has enough mediocre products, from a formulation standpoint, I don’t think better than that is possible in the cosmetic industry. At least with the currently available raw materials.
Consumers are just not particularly good at noticing subtle differences in cosmetic formulas. You can take exactly the same formula and put the wrong fragrance in it & people will hate the product. But put in a fragrance they love and they’ll love the same formula.
Putting actives in a formula is not innovative. Anyone can do this & consumers can’t tell a difference anyway.
In my opinion the only innovation in the cosmetic industry is in the marketing stories. If you look at the most successful brands, they are simply compelling marketing stories backed up by decent formulas with appealing fragrances.
If you are going to spend time & effort on your skin care line, spend it on making the most compelling marketing story for your customers. Make a decent formula, pick a wonderful fragrance, good packaging & make it easy to buy your product. Working to create an innovative product formula is a waste of time, in my opinion.
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Micellar water is another example of science-washing. It’s just a fancy way to say detergent or surfactant.
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What are all the ingredients in your system?
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Yeah, I’ve always looked at skin pH as just a marketing story with little to no impact on the product effectiveness. It’s an example of cosmetic industry Science-washing.
Others include…
Microbiome
Epigenetics
Micellar water
Blue light protection -
@Abdullah - I just see it getting a lot of positive comments in consumer discussion boards. I don’t personally think it is better than Dimethicone.
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If any of these happen, you’ll get credit.
My predictions for 2023…
1. Mushroom / mushroom derived becomes the hot ingredients.
2. Silicones get reformed and are seen as good for hair - especially Amodimethicone
3. Cosmetic industry scandal - An independent lab will analyze expensive anti-aging products and discover they contain little to no “active” ingredients.
4. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) will launch a beauty product line. (maybe hair treatment for the bald head)
Anyone have any more?
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Not exactly. I’m making no prediction, just guessing at a potential cause of your problem. It gives you something to test but it might not be the solution.
But when you said “same formula” I incorrectly assumed you also meant “same raw materials”. An even more likely reason for the problem is variation in raw material quality.
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You may be using the same tool & doing manual mixing but your volume is different. So you are not mixing it with the same energy. To get the same amount of mixing energy into a higher volume you will have to change your mixing (speed, paddle size, rpm, etc).
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My guess would be it’s because of your mixing. You probably aren’t making the batch using the same conditions. The larger batches just do not mix as easily as small batches. The shear force you can generate in a 0.5kg beaker is not the same as what you can generate in a 5Kg batch.
Just my guess.