There is considerable growth potential in the natural care category for products that market to teens, young adults, and men. According to Sundale Research, the natural and organic personal care industry is expected to grow 10.2 percent in 2009 with shaving products expected to grow by 6.9 percent in 2009. Teen, young adults, and men have typically been underserved. However, this segment of the market is now among the shoppers of natural and organic products. 

A growing segment of the population is of ethnic decent, which makes it important to carry products that address the specific needs of ethnic men. Shaving products that address the common issue of ingrown hairs, razor bumps, and keloids will benefit from the increased growth of the ethnic segment of the market. Traditionally, African Americans have been the focus of ethnic products, but there is a large and growing underserved segment of the market that includes Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean descent. Thick, course hair is a common trait among many of these ethnic groups that can be addressed with the right personal care products. 

The young and older populations cannot be over looked either while choosing products. Anti-aging products are becoming more popular with the rapidly aging population of America that has the highest level of disposable income. Marketing to men 55 years and older with services and product offerings will help capture a piece of this lucrative market. Empty nesters are the fastest growing segment of the market and yet only have a handful of products to choose from. The teen category is also expected to continue growing with a younger generation that cares more about grooming and personal care than ever before. 

Your skin care business can benefit greatly by capturing these growing markets. Fully understanding the mind of a cosmetic formulator can help you chose the right products for your business. There are often three major issues that a formulator must work around when in the development, including: price of the finished product, aroma, and the therapeutic value. Packaging, marketing, and message also are important to the formulator but are secondary to price point, aroma, and results. If I, as a cosmetic formulator, were to sit down with you to develop the perfect product for your men’s care or teen care line, I would address these topics one by one with you.

Price Point
A high end spa selling mass merchandiser products with low price points does not really convey the exclusive message you want to give about your business. At the same time, men and teens will not spend excessive amounts on their skin. The price point of the products you chose to use for your business should be just slightly lower than your skin care products for women. If you have the miracle product for acne, you may be able to charge a bit more because typically a mother will spend the extra money to help their teen’s skin look better.

Aromatherapy for Men and Teen Products
Men’s products require a completely different aroma than other product lines. In general men’s product should not only use different scents, but they should also be scented at half as much as typical products. Men tend to give up the use of products based on scent more than anything else. Aromatherapy for men should be based around aromas that both appeal to men and the therapeutic need of their skin care. When given a variety of aromas to choose from, men tend to pick peppermint essential oil above all other aromas and we definitely find commonly in aromatherapy that people are attracted to the essential oil that is most therapeutic for their mind and body.
Peppermint essential oil has a universally popular aroma along with being good for circulation, stimulating, an analgesic, decongestant, aphrodisiac, cooling as well as a stimulant to heart rate and brain waves. Peppermint combined with tea tree essential oil has an appealing aroma and the synergy between the two oils makes it a perfect blend for men’s care products. Other popular aromas chosen by men include citrus essential oils, woody essential oils, and spice essential oils. Men tend to not be attracted to floral aromas for their own use, but the therapeutic value of many floral essential oils can be captured by blending them with spice or woody essential oils, so the aromas of the floral oils are covered up by the spice and woody essential oils.
Products developed for teen skin should focus more on the therapeutic value than the overall aroma. A product that works will be used and reused more regularly than a product that smells good but is ineffective. Teens want their skin to look good above all else. There are many issues of teen skin that can be addressed with aromatherapy. The single most useful essential oil for teens is tea tree. It is a powerful natural topical antibiotic that not only kills germs on the surface of the skin, but also penetrates the skin making it more effective than a surface cleaner. Tea tree essential oil has the unique property of being able to liquefy pus.
Grapefruit essential oil is another useful essential oil that works as a natural astringent. It helps to balance the skin without drying it out. Lavender essential oil is the most commonly used essential oil in aromatherapy. Despite the floral aroma it has useful applications in both men and teens products and can be used in combination with other essential oils to change the aroma. Lavender essential oil is useful to reduce inflammation, reduce redness in inflamed skin, and to soothe the skin. Chamomile essential oil is very useful to quickly heal the skin as well. Essential oils that decongest the skin are good for both men and teen products including; cedarwood, lemon, and rosemary.

Results – Five Top Active Ingredients that work in Men and Teen Products
DMAE is one of the most effective active ingredients for products developed for men and teens. The most important aspect of DMAE for these skin types is the ability it has to reduce pore size. DMAE is also helpful in products developed for mature men because it helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles. When applied to the skin, DMAE would stimulate acetylcholine release which would trigger a response in the muscles of the face. This activity creates a firmer facial tone and less sagging. DMAE is used topically to reduce fine lines and wrinkles showing a noticeable difference within 20 minutes of application.
MSM is a must have ingredient for teen skin care, specifically because it helps reduce the pain caused by blemishes. MSM supplies sulfur to the body, which allows it to heal itself. It has been used with great success in repairing cut, scraped, burned, acne, and damage skin. There have been reports of MSM eliminating wrinkles, brown spots, skin tumors, and spider veins. MSM is being used for burn victims and repairing scar tissue. MSM is anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. MSM feeds the formation of collagen and elastin while preventing and reducing cross-linking between cells, which is the primary cause of wrinkles and scar tissue.
Activated Charcoal works wonders as a topical ingredient for both men and teen skin. It works topically much like it works internally by absorbing the toxins that our skin comes in contact with on a daily basis from both indoor and outdoor pollution. Activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the carbon atoms. Material that comes in contact with activated charcoal attaches itself by chemical attraction and it is absorbed. Activated charcoal is good at trapping other carbon-based impurities, as well as things like chlorine. Many other chemicals are not attracted to carbon at all (i.e. sodium, nitrates, etc.) so they pass right through it. This means that an activated charcoal filter will remove certain impurities while ignoring others, so it doesn’t break down your acid mantle, making activated charcoal fabulous for blemished skin.
Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) have exfoliation and therapeutic properties which help with, and minimize, photodamaged skin, which is a major contributing factor to aging. Apart from ridding the skin of unnecessary dead cells, they also have a moisturizing effect on the skin, by increasing the moisture content of the upper skin and so smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles, as well as reducing dryness and combating flakiness. Long-term use of low concentration AHAs can also increase collagen and elastin synthesis, and boost protein regeneration in the skin. Excellent examples of AHAs include: citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, glycolic acid, as well the extracts of bilberry, lemon, orange, sugar cane, and sugar maple.
Rooibos tea extract is recommended for wide range of skin problems such as eczema, razor burn, and acne because applied topically it has a soothing effect on the skin. Rooibos tea is caffeine-free, low in tannins, high in minerals such as calcium and fluoride and contains high levels of antioxidants such as vitamin C. The most important aspects of Rooibos are its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties. Recently, Japanese scientists found that Rooibos tea contains a mimic of the
enzyme Super Oxide Dismutase (S.O.D.), a super antioxidant which attacks the free radicals and limits their damaging effects.

Packaging
Packaging to the formulator is more than a pretty package. Proper packaging for aromatherapy, organically preserved, and naturally preserved products is more important to the formulator than how pretty the package looks. The needs of natural, organic, or aromatherapy based products are different than other personal care products. Products containing water that are truly organically and naturally preserved must be packaged so that air, light, and fingers cannot come in contact with product. This tip will help you identify the difference between
a natural, organic look alike and the real thing.

Market
Differentiating whether your market is tweens, teens, or men makes a huge difference in the choice of products you pick for your business. Hormones, pore size, and skin types make a big difference to the cosmetic formulator. There are many issues we can address with subtle aromatherapy, percentages of active ingredients, and oil content of the finished product. For instance, oil free products for teens leave the skin dry, making it produce more oil. So the oils and level I use them in a formula would be different between a teen and men’s product.

Message
Find the right product that meets the message of your business. This is true whether you private label your own brand or use another company’s brand. The products you use must complement your mission. Conflicting messages tell your customers a lot about your company. If you market all natural treatments and then use products containing mostly chemicals, you tell your customer that you haven’t done your research. Having aromatherapy spa treatments using fragrance oils tells your customer that you are not necessarily the expert that you want to project.
Industry research through the year 2013 shows nothing but growth in the natural and organic personal care market at a faster rate than traditional chemical-based products. The opportunity to capture this market with spa treatments and products that will produce results and repeat customers is ripe right now. Despite the downturned economy sales of natural and organic personal care products are up. Currently 10.5 percent of natural and organic personal care sales is captured by department stores, spas, salons and boutiques leaving 89.5 percent of this multi-billion dollar industry seeking these products elsewhere. As the experts in skin care, spas and salons have an opportunity to capture a larger segment of the natural and organic personal care industry.

Kayla Fioravanti, RA is the Chief Formulator, registered aromatherapist, and co-founder of Essential Wholesale, Essential Labs, and von Natur. Through Essential Wholesale, they provide wholesale bulk cosmetic bases, raw ingredients, and essential oils to the spa industry and all sizes of businesses. Essential Labs private label contract packages and custom formulates for companies big and small internationally. von Natur is a finished retail spa line that is organically preserved, naturally formulated, and aromatherapy based. www.essentialwholesale.com, www.essentiallabs.com, www.vonnatur.com, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.