The science makes the meeting…even when the locale is SoCal. The Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ 76th Annual Scientific Meeting & Showcase took place in Los Angeles, December 12-14. It marked the first time in history that the SCC moved the event out of New York City. Despite the nearly 3,000-mile commute, plenty of chemists—nearly 800 at last count—made the trip out West.

They were rewarded with in-depth sessions on diversity in beauty, hair care and skin care innovations, sustainability, claims and regulations, and sunscreen design.

During the opening session, SCC Chair Michelle Hines, PhD of Mary Kay, welcomed attendees. Hines congratulated the Committee on Scientific Affairs (COSA) for creating an outstanding scientific, which featured 2.5 days of lectures, up from two days for the previous 75 years. COSA was led by Chair Helen E. Knaggs, PhD of Nu Skin Enterprises and Vice Chair Dennis Abbeduto, Colonial Chemical.

Hines noted that meeting in Los Angeles, “widens the opportunity to share cutting-edge research in cosmetic science and professional development for our entire membership.”

The Society returns to New York next year, December 12 and 13. The SCC hasn’t announced the location for the 2024 SCC Annual Meeting & Showcase. But while the location may change, many elements of the event remain the same.

Just as in previous years, the Society honored its long-time leaders with awards at the meeting. Bart Maxon, Dow, received the SCC Merit Award in recognition of his 30-plus years of service to SCC, which includes co-founding the Michigan Chapter. Maxon, an achondroplasia dwarf, recalled being told he would never work in a lab as a person with disability (PwD).

“There is often a belief that PwD are less; and that there is something fundamentally “broken with us”…or that hiring PwD is a charitable exercise. On the contrary, inclusive work places that include PwD are catalysts for enhancing employee engagement, impacting surrounding communities, and advance business success,” said Maxon. “The truth is, people with disabilities are resilient, innovative, and have an ability to adapt. This gives us a unique perspective on the world and creative ways to solve problems.

“During one job interview I was told because of my height that I’d never work in a lab by the owner of a company,” recalled Maxon. “Now 40 years later, look what he missed: 20 patents, numerous product launches and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.”

Mindy Goldstein, PhD received the Florence Wall Women in Cosmetic Chemistry Award. In accepting the award, Goldstein said she has witnessed women making many advances during her career, but more work is needed.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by my peers in the industry by being awarded the Florence Wall Women in Cosmetic Chemistry Award. Florence Wall was a leader and innovator in our industry and opened up many doors for women to follow in her footsteps,” said Goldstein. “Over the past 30 plus years that I have worked in the cosmetic industry, I have cherished the opportunity to serve the industry in multiple ways, as well as to innovate, present this work at meetings or in publications and to inspire young scientists just starting their journey in the industry. It is incredibly rewarding to receive an award for doing something you love to do.”

David Steinberg received the Society’s highest honor, the Maison G. deNavarre Award. He recalled attending his first SCC Annual Meeting, back in 1969, and remembered meeting deNavarre. The SCC founder gave Steinberg two pieces of advice that shaped his career: Never stop learning and take what you learned and pass it on.

For more coverage of the SCC Awards, click here.

Insightful Keynote Lectures

The annual meeting got underway with a keynote by Dr. Robb Akridge, founder and CEO, Opulus Beauty Labs. He opened with a review of innovations from the 1920s through the 1970s, noting “a lot of innovations come and go. It’s what the consumer accepts that make innovations long-lasting.”

In order for an innovation to have staying power, it must meet several criteria, according to Akridge. Specifically, the innovation must:

• Be similar to existing habits;
• Not have too many steps;
• Be high tech;
• Not be too demanding;
• Be simple to use;
• Not deliver too much information;
• Be fun;
• Be addictive; and
• Provide better results.
• Akridge’s Clarisonic met all those goals and was acquired by L’Oréal. Akridge described four types of today’s consumer, too:
• If it works, I want it;
• Sustainable
• Everything is toxic; and
• Too much information, it’s time to simplify.

Akridge noted that the digital world has made tremendous strides in recent years, driven by artificial intelligence. So far, in fact, that he wondered if consumers will stop seeing their doctors “because their phones know better.”

The Beauty of Biology

In a room filled with chemists, Arcaea Founder and CEO Jasmina Arganovic called biology “the most sophisticated technology on the planet. It has nano-level precision and global scale. It is sophisticated and sustainable.”

Proteins, Arganovic pointed out, are the design structure of nature. Her company designs and grows organisms to meet the demands of today’s beauty consumers. For example, Arcaea’s ScentArc technology, developed via high throughput screening and machine learning, is a precise nutrient blend that impacts underarm microbes. It shifts the odor profile by selectively preventing the body’s production of odorous compounds. According to Arcaea, preventing malodor all day long is now uniquely and naturally possible without harming helpful bacteria, irritating the sensitive underarm area or clogging pores.

“We’re using biotechnology to create more sustainable solutions,” said Arganovic. “Biotechnology helps us access a new ingredient palette—sustainably.”

Beauty Resides in Me…and You!

The traditional concept of beauty comes from Plato’s observation that “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.” But Amway’s Amit Chandra said that in today’s society, that observation is outdated.

“Beauty resides in me,” he told the audience. This shift is having profound impacts on how beauty companies and their suppliers meet consumers. Successful companies will blend ancient wisdom of traditional herbal systems with modern science to create natural, holistic wellness products.

But companies must avoid stoking fear among consumers by warning them of all the things that can go wrong if they don’t buy their products.

“Do not sell ‘fear, ifs and what. Share joy and sell joy,” he urged attendees. “Tell consumers what can go right, not what can go wrong!”

He said consumers have tired of “anti-aging” labels. Consumers are aging gracefully and they want to be empowered to feel confident and strong.

“Drive positivity on what it means to be old with tools, services and opportunities,” he urged the audience. “Provide tailored solutions based on demography, geography, environment and culture.”

Frontiers of Science

Paul Alan Cox PhD, co-founder of Brain Chemistry Labs, detailed his work as one of the world’s leading ethnobotanists. His research focuses on discovering new medicines by studying patterns of wellness and illness among indigenous peoples. He congratulated the cosmetics industry for using ingredients such as shea butter, coconut and avocado oils, patchouli and licorice—all of them used by indigenous people for centuries.

“Indigenous people know what works and what doesn’t,” he told attendees. That knowledge is working in Ogimi Village, on the northern tip of Okinawa, Japan. There, 15% of women are more than 85 years old. Yet, they have no cases of Alzheimer’s Disease or Parkinson’s Disease, and remarkably, no one wears glasses.

One key to their extraordinary health is a diet that includes tofu and seaweed— both rich in the dietary amino acid l-serine. In fact, the Ogimi women consume more than 8g of I-serine a day; that significantly exceeds the average American dietary intake of 2.5 grams/day for women greater than 70 years old.

Maso Keynote Lecture

Katherine Oglesby, VP-business development, Nuritas delivered the Henry Maso Keynote Lecture. Nuritas uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create new categories of precision, cell-signaling peptide ingredients from nature.


“AI isn’t the future. It’s the present,” she insisted.

Nuritas utilized AI to discover a “skin youth peptide.” The company began its research with six trillion candidates, before AI culled the list to a more manageable 21 candidates. The result is a peptide found in peas that outperformed other skin care peptides by 9% and works well with retinol. Nuritas is using AI to validate claims. In the future, AI will be predictive of both in vitro and in vivo testing, Oglesby predicted.