Especial Cosméticos

Full speed ahead
 
The ethnic products segment is growing year in, year out, mainly in the hair care categories

As the English historian Thomas Fuller used to say, “when the wind blows, you must sail”. And the wind seems to be even more favorable to ethnic cosmetics. In the hair segment, which concentrates this type of product, the ethnics share is 21.4%. Other categories are starting to believe this niche, such as toilet soaps, creams and lotions, and even sunscreens.
Talking only about hair care, the ethnic market moved, according to Abihpec, R$ 836.61 million in 2005. The growth in relation to 2004 was 15.42%. The accumulated in the last seven years is 143.8%, according to the association’s data. In volume, the growth was 13.62% in 2005 and 41.4% in the mentioned period.

Top 3 – The hair care ethnic market leadership, both in turnover and in tonnage, lies with shampoos, which moves R$ 307 million with the commercialization of almost 45 thousand tons. Afterwards, there come the straightening products, with sales of R$ 164 million, and unwinding creams, with R$ 104 million.
Last year, the highlight was for the unwinding tonic and cream categories, which grew in volume, respectively, 43.6% and 41.9%. Highlight also goes to the end repairers, which had an increase of 28.3% and to the treatment masks, with a variation of 22.5%. The neutralizing/straightening category remained stable. Dyes and permanents displayed falls of 6.1% and 11%.

Opportunities – In comparison with shampoos, conditioners have a commercialized tonnage (from industries to retail) 344.2% lower. One of the manufacturers’ opportunities to grow is to understand why this happens and create actions to equal consumption or at least decrease this distance.
According to Alexandra Jorge, a technician of Tânagra Cosméticos, women having hair with black ethnic characteristics usually do not wash them everyday, and when they do they use the shampoo twice or three times and proceed directly to the application of creams or masks.
“The conditioner does not attract those women so much, they want a product with higher treatment and hydrating power, creamier and heavier”, she said. “For men, as it generally occurs, the shampoo is always more used than the conditioner; for this, there also is a difference in the consumption volume”, the professional added.

Debutante – Who invested in this market recently was the brand Garnier Fructis, which launched the Quimi-Resist line, with shampoo, conditioner, combing cream and treatment cream for chemically treated, curly or wavy hair. The products were developed for consumers with Afro hair and who submit to any type of chemical treatment.
According to L´Oréal, the products were developed with fruit concentrates, rich in vitamins, nutrients and softening agents. To achieve the ideal formulation, researches of Garnier laboratories analyzed the Afro hair constitution and found out that the cuticle has irregular thickness and breaks easily in its thinner part, leaving the hair cortex unprotected and also subject to breakage.

Treatment – Especially developed for ethnic hair, the Herbal Force professional line, of Tânagra, provides guanidine relaxing cream, an active principle that contributes to break the hair molecule bindings, changing their positioning and giving the hair a new shape. Its formulation also contains keratin, to help in the hair fibers recovery process, and a seven-herb extract, which acts a mildening agent.
Additionally to the professional product, the line displays products that can be used day-to-day directly by consumers to treat chemically modified hair. The shampoo and the conditioner are formulated with keratin and seven herbs. The unwinding promises to eliminate the hair roughness, and the hair hydrator counts on silicones to seal the cuticle and increase the hair water-retention capacity.
 
General lines – Many companies serve the ethnic segment with their lines for curly hair. This is the case of Ox, which believes to fulfill the black hair needs with its line for curly and wavy hair. There are eight products: shampoo, conditioner without rinsing, curl humidifier, curl activator, volume reducer, combing cream, unfriezing oil and hydrating mask. The formulation has wheat proteins to protect the hair and restore their flexibility, D-Panthenol and oat extract, to strengthen the hair from root to end, minimizing their breakage.
With Phytogen Termo Active for Defrizz, Kert affirms to serve consumers with curly, wavy and friezed hair, fragilized by constant straightening process, brushings and little plates. The line is composed by shampoo with keratin, conditioner, mask and curl activator. The products are formulated with two thermoactive silicones, Functional Amine and Dimeticone, which act as a high-emollience treatment system.
The line is composed by a temporary relaxation product based on the cystine amino-acid, which seals the hair cuticle, increasing the hair hydric retention providing a straightening effect. Also formulated with this same active, the Hair Hydrator without rinsing has UV filter and promises a 24-hour treatment action, provided due to the combination of two natural polymers derived from corn starch, and the Hydroavance a cutting-edge agent of hair hydrators.
Fênix Cosméticos also bets on its line for curly hair to conquer the Afro public. Elaborated with silicone, keratin, shea butter and vitamins A and E, the Curl Active Line is composed by a salt-less shampoo that reduces bristleness, a hydrating conditioner, a combing cream without rinsing that strengthens the hair cuticle, intense hydrating mask and a humidifier with macadamia.

Expansion – The ethnic market does not survive only on hair. Items for Afro-descendants are beginning to appear in various categories of hygiene and beauty, such as toilet soap, creams and lotions, and even sunscreens. Last September, Johnson & Johnson launched the first sunscreens ethnic line, Sundown Illumine. “For this innovation and for thinking on a sun care line to emphasize beauty, the collection was extremely well received by consumers”, affirmed Flávia Carvalho, the brand’s marketing manager.
According to Alice Moraes, the coordinator scientist of J&J, for having an extraordinary pigment formation capability, black skin has a higher protection against sun malefactions in relation to white skin. “But this does not mean that black skin does not need special care to assure its protection capability, appearance and sensitivity”, Alice explained.
For the line development, composed by an FPS 4 suntan, an FPS 15 sunscreen and an after-sun, Johnson used some natural actives that provide benefits to colored skin, such as buriti, which increases skin elasticity, reduces its drying caused by sun radiation exposure and helps to regenerate lipids; and urucum, which acts as an hydrator, photo-damage repairer (problems caused by constant exposure to the sun) and antioxidant.

Segmentation – Dermatologists confirm: for some categories of hygiene and beauty, ethnics does not make any difference. This is the case of toilet soaps. On the other hand, there is in the market a strong trend to segmentation, which leads companies to offer more and more specific products to consumers. These strategies seem to work.
At the end of last year, Unilever relaunched a version of Lux Luxo toilet soap for black-skinned consumers, Lux Beleza Negra, which is enriched with hydrating shea butter and black pearl extract. The item has a complex of nutritive oils and promises to fight skin drying, recomposing uniformity and texture. The company also has other ethnic products, such as in the deodorant (Rexona Ebony), shampoo and conditioner categories.

For men – The male beauty market also is a potential for the ethnic products segment. Bozzano is one of the companies betting on that. Since August last year, the brand has been offering the Bozzano Pele Negra-Morena line, composed by a shaving cream and foam, and more recently by an aftershave gel.
According to Davi Damazio, Revlon’s Beauty Care category manager, the line sales already represent 10% of the total commercialized within each product segment. “It is a consumer answer to the innovation presented by Bozzano when offering products fulfilling the main characteristics of Brazilians skin”, the executive explained.
Among the products differentials, there is the formula with active ingredients for each type of skin, such as allantoin, which acts as cicatrizant and anti-inflammatory, and alpha bisabolol, which helps in tissue regeneration. They also count on timol, an essential oil with antimicrobial action, which helps to reduce irritation and helps in skin cell renewal.

Actives – Croda do Brasil is one of the suppliers of raw materials to the sector that offers solutions to manufacturers interested in developing specific products for Afro-descendant persons. The highlight is an active that promotes a prolonged hydration (24 hours). “The imperata cylindrica extract hydrates in a prolonged way, keeping it even after bath”, explained Marisa Gonçalves de Lima, the technical marketing executive. “Black people suffer a lot with the drying process, in which the black skin acquires a grayish color, an unpleasant phenomenon frequently commented and avoided”, she affirmed.
According to the executive, the active “associates a high content of potassium to an osmoregulating agent named dimethyl sulfo propionate, which contributes to keep the osmotic balance at the cellular level”. The results obtained with this raw material were: immediate hydration, prolonged effect and softer skin, with less scaling.
This segment also offers opportunities for new actives, according to Sérgio Gonçalves, Croda’s marketing manager. “Croda is paying attention to the opportunities, already having innovative raw materials in its portfolio, both for ethnic skin and hair”, he affirmed.
This year, Arinos also introduced novelties, at FCE Cosmetique, held in the first semester. The company launched three GE silicones GE, indicated to improve combing, condition and protect skin and hair, besides giving a mate effect with differentiated sensorial. Arinos now is the GE distributor for Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and the Northeastern region. The other regions continue being served by Cosmotec.
According to the most recent census, carried out by IBGE in 2000, 45.3% of the Brazilian population is black. Out of this figure, 49% are women and 51% are men. That is, a vast public to be explored by the beauty industry.

Truths and Myths

According to Doctor Denise Steiner, dermatologist, the black skin is basically similar to the white skin, but more resistant to the sun due to the higher quantity of melanin. “The black skin does not suffer more with drying, as there is not any difference in the corneous layer or in the supply of water”, she affirmed. According to her, in all ethnic groups there are persons with more or less dry skin.
An important characteristic of the black skin, in her opinion, is that due to genetic issues, it displays more predisposition to cheloids. However, the dermatologist believes that, isolately, the cosmetics cannot prevent this trend. “There are particularities in each individual that can and must be respected in the choice of a cosmetic: age, skin type, higher or lower sensitivity, activity, etc. The skin color is the least important”, she explained. “There are not any specific substances for black skin; for this, I consider this to be a marketing appeal issue”, Doctor Denise Steiner affirmed.
On the other hand, black hair has unique characteristics that require special products. According to Doctor Marina Odo, dermatologist, the hair fiber structure varies according to ethnicity. In care of eastern persons, for instance, the hair has a round shape along its entire extension, with consistent cuticle, which avoids breakage.
Black hair displays depressions, regions in which the cuticle is thinner and tends to break easily. For this, according to her, it is necessary to use products containing actives that “stretch” the hair and avoid breakage. It is common to use vaselines, silicones and lanolin.