PCHI Series Interview- Dr. Tang Shengnan from YAT

Hello, Dr. Tang! This time I am very fortunate to be able to invite Dr. Shengnan Tang, a partner of YAT, to answer our questions.

I often see the product information shared by YAT official account. It can be seen that YAT has been committed to providing you with more professional and well-founded component analysis, and providing reasonable product recommendations based on the evaluation. It can be said that it is the majority of the party’ gospel. The ECHEMI platform (www.echemi.com) is the world's leading B2B e-commerce information platform in the chemical industry. It is serving more than 5,000 suppliers and more than 60,000 overseas buyers worldwide. As a trading platform for cosmetic ingredients, we are also eager to learn about the latest developments in cosmetic ingredients.

Q: We all know that hyaluronic acid is gaining momentum, and this ingredient is also widely used by many brands. But in fact, only a few people really understand this ingredient. Based on your professional knowledge, can you talk about the current forms of hyaluronic acid in cosmetics, and what indicators should high-quality hyaluronic acid be better?

A: Hyaluronic acid is a kind of polymer chain linear polysaccharide, which is a natural moisturizing factor. Depending on the molecular weight, it has different effects. High-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid should be the most widely used type of hyaluronic acid. It can grab hundreds of times of its own moisture and is an excellent moisturizer. It can also form a dense and breathable protective film on the skin's surface to moisturize and moisturize the skin. Small molecular weight hyaluronic acid: it can quickly penetrate into the skin, deep and long-lasting moisturizing. For another example, it is clinically proven that sodium acetylated hyaluronate can effectively repair damaged cells, enhance skin elasticity, and fight pores, wrinkles and fine lines.
Of course, sodium hyaluronate is not that simple. In addition to the difference in molecular weight, there are also structural modifications, such as the sodium acetylated hyaluronate that I just mentioned.

Q: We all know that the theme of your sharing this time is "Data to help the next ingredient beauty research and development". Could you please talk about what you think will be the next ingredient outlet, and how to use data to help it?

A: With the rise of ingredient schools, more and more consumers are shopping rationally, they believe more in the effects and efficacy of products, and more and more brands are beginning to use ingredients to tell product stories.
Ingredients school 1.0, we can see that beauty consumers are increasingly searching for functional ingredients to purchase cosmetics. There are many notes in Xiaohongshu that are classified by composition. At this time, everyone will also find that some ingredients such as niacinamide, 377, retinol, etc. suddenly started to catch fire. Consumers have a preliminary awakening of their rational consumption awareness of cosmetics, and they have begun to understand and think about their own needs.
In the 1.5 era of ingredient school, raw material barrel brands began to appear, and more and more brands included ingredient content as part of their product introductions. The ingredient content competition began to appear. But high content does not mean good effect. R&D should consider the safety of formula, process technology and ingredients.
Next: It will enter the era of ingredient school 2.0. The next ingredient will not be an ingredient, but may be a combination of ingredients and a matrix, or a technology, such as neurocosmetics and autophagy. But its ultimate performance is the effect brought by the product. Pay more attention to efficacy.

Q: At present, whether it is cosmetics or personal care products on the market, the concept of "plant extract" from overseas has begun to be strongly sought after. There are also many brands that open related series of products. Compared with traditional raw materials, do you think this trend of pure plant extraction and no additives will be the mainstream in the follow-up market? What are the advantages and disadvantages of traditional cosmetic ingredients and plant extracts?

A: When it comes to plant extracts, many consumers will think of it: mild, natural, environmentally friendly, green, pollution-free, and non-irritating. In fact, many plants themselves are irritating or even allergenic.
Because there are many excellent plant extracts, the efficacy and safety are very good. We believe that the trend of plants and no additives will become the trend of the market. It is precisely because of consumers' pursuit of "green, mild and pollution-free" that they are guiding the progress of the beauty industry and bringing consumers effective and safe products.
  Traditional cosmetic ingredients have experienced the test of time, and when the manufacturing process and other technologies are mature enough, the balance of safety and efficacy can be achieved. Plant extracts are relatively complicated in terms of production process and formulation use, and more attention should be paid to the stability of the formulation.