ETHNIC CARE
Rebalancing African skin Developing customised personal care products for African skin is part of BASF’s overall strategy to offer consumer-oriented solutions to the sub-Saharan African beauty industry. We spoke to Dr Torsten Clarius, business development active ingredients, BASF Personal Care and Nutrition, about Bix’Activ – a sebumregulating active ingredient proven effective on dark skin.
H
OW IS THE PERSONAL CARE MARKET
to their specific skin needs – and that they are
IN AFRICA DEVELOPING?
willing and able to pay for it.
Dr Clarius: While the global beauty and
Nevertheless, it is important to note that
care market is dynamic as a whole, this
black consumers around the world often feel
Dr Torsten Clarius says there is a demand for customised solutions for dark skin types
WHAT IS BASF’S SOLUTION?
is especially true of Africa. The demand for personal
underrepresented by cosmetic brands, leading to
Dr Clarius: BASF offers several active ingredients
care products is increasing rapidly in this part of
the demand for customised solutions for their
that target oily skin. However, we recently
the world. This development is driven by several
skin types.
developed an active ingredient called Bix’Activ,
factors, not least of which a growing middle class with access to higher disposable incomes.
It is essential that sebum-regulating actives do not impact the skin’s natural hydration balance
WHAT CONSTITUTES AFRICAN SKIN?
which demonstrates outstanding efficiency. In clinical studies on Asian volunteers, we could
Dr Clarius: By way of example, African consumers
prove that just 0.25% Bix’Activ reduced sebum
are generally much less susceptible to developing
secretion by 46% after four weeks. This effect was
wrinkles than Caucasians. This is likely due to the
more pronounced after eight weeks of application,
higher amount of melanin in the epidermis, which
leading to a 62% reduction. These results far
offers the dermal structures better protection
outperformed the placebo formulation – which did
against damage from UV rays. With this in mind,
not contain the active ingredient.
the anti-ageing segment of cosmetics is rather less lucrative among African consumers. By contrast, African skin types tend to be
CAN YOU ENSURE BIX’ACTIV HAS THE SAME EFFECT ON BLACK SKIN?
less hydrated than others. In response, the skin
Dr Clarius: Even though we believe many actives will
seeks to compensate for this dryness through an
be effective independent of skin type, we wanted
overproduction of sebum, which leads to oiliness
to prove this hypothesis. So, we included cells from
and shininess. Common solutions on the market
black skin donors in our cell culture-based assays
to become home to some of the world’s fastest-
are often not suitable to counteract this concern,
for oily skin. These simplified systems help to shed
growing economies. Furthermore, as the world’s
and the regulation of sebum secretion tends to
more light on characteristic biological processes in
second most populous continent, Africa is projected
result in the skin becoming even drier. For African
the skin and to avoid failure when proceeding to the
to account for around 20% of the global population
skin types in particular, it is essential that sebum-
clinical study phase.
by 2025. This means that a huge number of people
regulating actives do not impact the skin’s natural
need effective personal care products customised
hydration balance.
Over the next few years, Africa is expected
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QUARTER 4 2020 // P&C AFRICA
The skin cells responsible for the production of sebum are known as sebocytes. The lipid droplets
