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Welcome to theYear in Beauty.
Move over, marine biologists: Theres a new cool scientist in town.
Masks, once reserved for doctors and nurses, were suddenly supposed to be worn by everyone.
We were advised to sanitize our groceries, until we learned COVID-19 wasnt really circulating via surface transfer.
Anti-science conspiracy theories seemed prevalent, perhaps mostly because the people spreading those theories were better at shouting.
The majority of the general public craved cold, hard, double-blind, placebo-controlled, trial-proven facts.
The chemists of TikTok are here to level-set expectations.
What is a cosmetic chemist?
The actual chemistry courses I took in college like, you know, organic chemistry I was terrible at.
But when I took cosmetic science, which is also chemistry, it was so much easier to understand.
I was never sitting [in a lab] scratching out formulas.
Instead, she likens being a formulation chemist to being a chef.
You start to learn which ingredients go well together and what they do, she explains.
Its kind of the same way people can call themselves a cook….
But a cook and a chef are not the same.
Thats how it is in chemistry.
Its not like a lawyer, where you have to pass a bar exam.
Cosmetic products are safe, says Romanowski.
They have an incentive to sell products that are safe.
They have a legal risk if somebody is harmed by a product produced by a big corporation.
Lawyers love to file class-action lawsuits.
The FDA is not going to stop that until somebody gets killed and then its hard to prove anyway.
The group was founded in 1945 and now has 19 local chapters in the US and Canada.
There are various tiers of membership, but really, all involved can apply, Chandler says.
Plus, the affiliate-level membership can be anyone interested in cosmetic science.
Its good for networking.
Theres also a technical journal where articles are written.
We have a database [of these journals] dating back to the late 1940s.
The only job I was able to secure out of college was as a nuclear engineer.
The people making your skin-care products likely come from a wide range of backgrounds.
The only job I was able to secure out of college was as a nuclear engineer, Ford says.
Ramon Pagan, a.k.a.
Ultimately, Chandler decided cosmetics were more interesting and moved to the personal-care side.
Some of them are clearly just better.
What does a cosmetic chemist do all day?
Most of the major brands have contract manufacturer relationships.
Unilever confirms it works with contract chemists, as well.
But no, Chandler says.
So much of [whats created] is driven by these ingredient-technology companies.
Chandler says those narratives typically come from the ingredient companies as well.
Its the same to them, he adds.
“We, as chemists, dont see duping as a bad thing.
We see [brands] copying other brands all the time.
Thats how we work efficiently.
(According to Chandler, the base formulas are usually provided by the ingredient companies as well.)
The contract manufacturers can, in turn, sell all of that to individual brands.
We always ask our customers to bring in a benchmark, Tsui says.
We, as chemists, dont see duping as a bad thing.
We see [brands] copying other brands all the time.
Thats how we work efficiently.
SaysEsther Olu, a.k.a.
Sometimes, a brand will just approve a product [based on those tests].
Brands that rush, you see what happens.
How did cosmetic chemists become influencers?
Making products in a lab and creating engaging explainer videos require two very different skill sets.
Tsui was a dancer growing up and developed an interest in cosmetics while applying stage makeup.
As the founder of a skin-care brand, Padgett makes videos that often focus on buzzy skin-care ingredients.
Now, its completely shifted to We love the science.
Its not just consumers who are eating up this video genre.
When Dr. Wong first started, she says, brands assumed doing science-focused marketing wouldnt work.
Now, its completely shifted to We lovethe science.
Even a video that leans toward being more critical can lead to a partnership.
In January 2022, Ford madea video about GrandeLash MDs $65 Lash Enhancing Serum.
Two days after this video, he got an email from GrandeLashs parent company.
I’m like, Oh, no, they’re giving me a cease and desist, he remembers.
Instead, they were emailing to tell him they loved the video.
They liked how diplomatic the approach was….
They wanted to work together in the future.
Our community members and customers are so excited about ingredient deep dives, Lee says.
They want to know all about the formulations.
The team atMurad, a skin-care brand founded by a board-certified dermatologist, also collaborates frequently with chemist creators.
As this area of beauty grows, creators are forced to get more, well, creative.
Back then, she says, her posts were on topics like What is a wrinkle?
Shouldyoubecome a cosmetic chemist?
At this point you may, like me, be considering a career shift.
Honestly, you probably could make your way into cosmetic chemistry if you so desired.
People think its a very, very difficult job and realistically its not, Pagan says.
There are a lot of ways to break into the industry.
Pagan is passionate about bringing more young people into the fold, especially people of color.
Its like, Okay, theres a gap here, he says.
We need people to actually fill this.
The people that I work with are [mostly] over the age of 45.
If those students get a job in cosmetics right after college, its usually entry-level work.
Companies have figured out that these [University of Toledo] students have a head start, Baki adds.
We have the same instruments in the lab that companies would have in [theirs].
As a scientist, getting into the field of cosmetics is just really a gratifying thing.
and glitzy (it can be!
), but ultimately it is not a very lucrative career.
Pick a science that you really like and thats interesting to you, Tsui advises.
A formulator may top out at $130,000.
Despite not making millions, everyone I speak with seems genuinely excited by their career choice.
What better way to use your science degree than to make people feel better?
Lam agrees: This is the best industry in the world.
I want everybody to be a cosmetic chemist.
Animation by Daniel Jurman.
Now watch Javon Ford do a blind test of cheap versus expensive eye shadow:
