Innovation: connecting the dots to the future

Our history reveals that the rate of technological change is exponential.1 Bill Gates said in 2002, which is probably even more applicable today: “Even though we are in an economic downturn, we’re in an innovation upturn.” One only needs to compare the speed at which new forms of communication have been adopted to that of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention to see the accelerating rate of change. What took Bell’s invention 50 years to achieve has occurred in a decade with mobile phone technology. While it took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television hit that mark in only thirteen, the internet a mere four years and Facebook, a lightning fast two years.2 To paraphrase President Barack Obama, the first step towards winning the future is to innovate. Research and Development (R&D) and creative teams, whose job it is to find and apply innovation, will need to work even harder and smarter to meet the challenges ahead. Their success will be determined by how effectively they can ride this wave of unrelenting progress. Connecting the multiplying dots of new information and quickly translating them into products that the consumers of the future will desire, is key to establishing a competitive advantage in the modern marketplace. In order to get a sense of where the future opportunities in personal care exist, it is important to look back. What are some of the key innovations that have shaped the personal care market? How did past inventors connect the dots and leverage emerging technologies to create new and desirable products? In this article, I will provide some examples of innovation from the rich history of personal care development. I will also and share some of my own experiences and observations while working in R&D over the last 25 years.

In the beginning

Some of the earliest evidence of cosmetic formulation can be traced to ancient Egypt, around 4000 BC. The eye colouring, khol, was made by grinding lead sulphide, also known as galena, and other substances to form a black paste. When archaeological khol samples were recently analysed, researchers unexpectedly found laurionite and phosgenite in addition to lead sulphide and lead carbonate. This was unexpected since both materials do not occur naturally and must be synthesised.3 Today we know that these lead-based materials are very toxic; however, what is not so well known is that they can also boost the skin’s production of nitric oxide which plays an important role in activating our immune response to disease. Scientists speculate that the ancient Egyptians may have used these eye makeup preparations to treat eye infections, which inhabitants of the marshy Nile basin would be particularly prone to. If these early formulators were able to associate the white precipitate formed when these lead derivatives were present with improved eye health, then it is entirely plausible that they were intentionally adding these ingredients to prevent infections. This innovation could represent the beginnings of our present day chemical industry.4 The Egyptian Eber’s papyrus dating from around 1500 BC indicates that they were actively creating and recording recipes for a wide variety of cosmetic products. Many describe a combination of vegetable oils with alkaline substances to form crude soaps in addition to multiple henna preparations and a variety of skin treatments including antifungal and antiitch remedies. For instance, a face mask recipe included a ball of incense, wax, fresh oil and cypress berries. The ancient Egyptians also created perfumes and were using essential oils dating back thousands of years. These oils, particularly cedar oil, were of great importance in their elaborate religious and burial ceremonies. They were also included in the mummification process.5 The use of fragrant oils and medicinal plants declined precipitously with the rise of the Christians who deemed them too indulgent. Non-believers in the East kept the art alive. Their Middle Eastern trading partners played a pivotal role in reviving the practice in the West. The Persian-born physician Avicenna’s invention of the distillation process in the 10th century was a major milestone in extracting and purifying the botanicals that are the foundation of present-day fragrance and personal care formulations. Abulcasis, a contemporary of Avicenna’s, wrote extensively on cosmetics in his medical encyclopedia, al Tasrif. In it, he describes recipes for hair dyes, hair straighteners, deodorants, breath fresheners, tooth whiteners and lipsticks. The Islamic belief in the care and beautification of the body was an important factor stimulating these early cosmetic innovations.6