Creaton Poh | Health, Wellness & Beauty Business Insights

“10% Niacinamide.” “1% Retinol.” “20% Vitamin C.” Percentages have become one of the most visible selling points in skincare, and many consumers now choose products by comparing them. For a brand owner, that creates a quiet risk. A percentage on the front of a pack looks like a precise technical fact, but the same number can be calculated in different ways, can describe very different amounts of the actual active molecule, and says nothing on its own about whether the product is stable, tolerable or effective. This article explains what an active-ingredient percentage really measures, where regulations cap it, and what a brand owner should agree with a manufacturer before putting a number on the label. Quick answer: A skincare percentage normally means the weight of an ingredient as a share of the total formula weight (w/w). But it may refer to the pure active, to a derivative of it, or to a pre-diluted raw material, so two products with the sam...

Most supplement ingredients are chemicals: a vitamin, a mineral salt, a plant extract. They can degrade over time, but they do not die. Probiotics are different. The active ingredient is a population of living bacteria or yeasts, and from the day a batch is made that population begins to decline. For a brand owner, this changes almost everything about how the product is specified, packed, stored, tested and labelled — and it is why a probiotic that looks identical to a competitor’s on the shelf can deliver a very different number of live organisms by the time a consumer opens it. Quick answer: A probiotic is defined by the FAO and WHO as live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. The dose is expressed in colony forming units (CFU) — an estimate of how many organisms are alive and able to multiply. Because counts fall during storage, the number that matters is the count at the end of shelf life , not at m...

Most product testing asks whether a product does what it promises: does the cream moisturise, does the capsule dissolve, does the sunscreen reach its SPF. Contaminant testing asks a different question — what is in the product that nobody put there on purpose? Heavy metals carried in from minerals and botanicals, bacteria and moulds introduced by water, equipment or people, and residues from farming or processing can all end up in a finished cosmetic or supplement. For a brand owner, knowing which contaminants are tested, what the limits are and who is responsible for the result is part of knowing what is actually being sold. Quick answer: Contaminant testing checks a finished product, and the raw materials behind it, for substances that should not be there — mainly heavy metals (mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium) and microorganisms (total bacteria, yeasts and moulds, plus specific pathogens). In Malaysia, cosmetic limits are published by the National Pharmaceutical Reg...

“Dermatologically tested.” “Hypoallergenic.” “Suitable for sensitive skin.” These phrases appear on a large share of skincare, body care and baby products, and consumers read them as a promise that the product will not cause a reaction. In practice, each phrase can sit on top of very different evidence — from a two-day patch test on twenty volunteers to a six-week sensitisation study on more than two hundred. For a brand owner, understanding what each test proves, and what it does not, is the difference between a claim that holds up to a regulator or a complaint and one that does not. Quick answer: Skin safety testing on finished cosmetics usually means one or more human studies run under a dermatologist’s supervision: a single patch test for irritation, a Human Repeat Insult Patch Test (HRIPT) for allergic sensitisation, and an in-use test under normal conditions. None of these proves a product can never cause a reaction; they sh...

The number on the front of a sunscreen is one of the few figures on a cosmetic pack that consumers compare directly between brands. SPF 30, SPF 50, SPF 50+: each looks like a simple rating. Behind it sits a laboratory test on human volunteers, a set of international standards, and rules that differ sharply between Malaysia, the European Union, the United States and Australia. For a brand owner, the SPF figure is not a design choice. It is a measured result that has to be earned — and re-earned whenever the formula changes. Quick answer: SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is measured by applying a sunscreen at 2 mg/cm² to the skin of human volunteers and comparing the ultraviolet dose needed to cause slight reddening on protected and unprotected skin, following ISO 24444 . UVA protection, water resistance and “broad spectrum” are separate tests. In Malaysia and the rest of ASEAN, sunscreens are regulated as cosmetics, so the brand owner must hold the test evide...