Top 5 most-read stories February 2023: L’Oréal on hair care, EU PFAs ban, biotech promise and collectives

A round-up of CosmeticsDesign-Europe’s most-read news from February 2023 shows interest in legislation around PFAs and microplastics, animal-free safety testing and predictions on hair care and biotech promise.

Trend predictions – hair care and biotech​

L’Oréal’s CEO told analysts during the company’s most recent earnings call that hair care had become the new skin care, with performance and engagement in the category soaring post-COVID. Beauty consumers, he said, were aspiring to healthier and more diversified hair looks and also shopping at the premium end of the category.

Biotech startup Arcaea’s CEO told attendees at a TEDx Talks event that beauty ought to look to biotechnology to create and carve out entirely new opportunities and even categories. Biotech, she said, offered opportunities to develop more sustainable, sophisticated, efficient and innovative formulas across many beauty categories.

A push on PFAs and microplastics​

The European Chemicals Agency ECHA published a call from five EU national authorities to ban the production, use and placement on the EU market of all perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs). If adopted by the European Commission (EC) and passed into law by Member States, the proposed ban would constitute one of the largest bans on chemical substances ever

A group of beauty brands and associations also signed an open letter addressed to the European Commission (EC) calling for a faster and more complete ban on intentionally added microplastics in cosmetics, as the Commission reviewed its existing microplastics regulation. The group of 15+ brands and associations took issue with proposed transition periods being ‘exceptionally long’ and said many brands had already demonstrated microplastics were not essential for the production of a wide range of cosmetic and beauty products.

Animal-free safety assessments globally​

A collective of beauty manufacturers, suppliers, industry associations and animal welfare groups established the International Collaboration on Cosmetics Safety (ICCS) in a bid to advance animal-free safety assessments worldwide. The group included a range of major beauty players, including Beiersdorf, Chanel, Kao, L’Oréal, P&G and Unilever, among others.

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