A solo opinion podcast episode by Lorraine Dharmeyer arguing that ‘gentleness’ should be the default objective in beauty formulation and messaging. Lorraine contrasts microbiome‑gentle goals with mainstream trends (chemical exfoliation, peels, anti‑aging turnover), cites industry growth figures and consumer concerns, highlights Formula Botanica’s mission and achievements, and issues a call-to-action to shop microbiome‑gentle brands and embrace kinder beauty practices.
Questions this video answers
To make all personal care products microbiome gentle within the next five years.
Teach 3 million people to formulate by 2030.
Over half a million people.
Facial peel products grew in popularity by 150% from 2019 to 2020.
The market for chemical peels is expected to grow by 50% over the next five years.
Chapters
Last week here on the podcast, I interviewed Leo Salvi of Kind to Biome, an expert in the skin microbiome. And we talked all about how much we currently do and don't know about the microbiome. And I think it's safe to conclude that there's a lot we do know, but there's even more we don't. But one thing that really stuck with me after that interview is the fact that Kind to Biome's business mission is to make all personal care products microbiome gentle within the next five years. Now, I always love it when companies have big bold mission statements because that way everyone knows exactly where they're going. We have one too. At Formula Botanica, we're on a mission to teach the world to formulate. And we've drilled down even further into that statement and decided that we want to teach 3 million people to formulate by 2030. Pretty cool, right? And we've already taught over half a million people to formulate in the last decade through our free and formal paid online courses. So this is another great example of a big, bold mission statement. And Kind to Biome do that too, with their mission of making all personal care products microbiome gentle. But I kept staring at that word gentle and wondering if the beauty industry is actually ready for us all being gentle. So today on the podcast I want to ask the question, why is gentleness not the default objective for all our beauty products? Hi, it's Lorraine Dharmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my main takeaways from the episode we released last week and I challenge you to join me in making the green beauty sector a better place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. So I kept reading that statement of wanting to make all personal care products microbiome gentle over and over in my head, and that the part that really stood out to me was that word gentle. I love the idea of our skincare formulation objectives being to make gentle products gentle on our skin's barrier, gentle on our skin's microbiome, and gentle on us as individuals. In fact, when you look up the word gentle in the thesaurus, one synonym is the word humane, which is characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals. However, I'm not sure that definition really applies to the beauty industry. Imagine gentleness extending beyond our formulations to incorporate the way we talk about beauty. Imagine being gentle on how we approach the privilege of having aging skin and hair. And it is a privilege because many people never even get to experience aging. Imagine being gentle in how we talk about ourselves in relation to our appearance. Doesn't that sound exactly like the sort of formulations we all want to make and use in our community? I would say yes, definitely. I think most Formula Botanica students would be very much on board with the idea of formulating gentle skincare that's gentle on the body, but, let's face it, also gentle on the mind. But is the rest of the beauty industry really ready for this? After all, when I go into any big beauty retailer, the first products that I see are the ones which encourage cell proliferation or chemical exfoliation or peeling or a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles. And these can be amazing formulations full of incredible natural ingredients. But they're not gentle if they're encouraging surface skin cells to die rapidly and turn over, making way for new cell growth underneath. That approach certainly won't be gentle on the microbiome. And arguably it's not gentle on your mental health either, when the beauty industry loves nothing more than telling you that you need to strip away the outer layer of your skin to look younger while making you feel inadequate in the process. I mentioned recently on the podcast that a 2022 study concluded that the main skincare concerns held by shoppers last year were wrinkles, fine lines and eye bags. If your main objective is to reduce wrinkles, then you will need to encourage cellular turnover. And how gentle is your skincare then realistically going to be? Some of the ingredients that are the most popular on the skincare market also have the potential to irritate the skin and therefore also the microbiome. I vividly remember that I once felt like my skin was on fire. It was burning. I when I tried a vitamin C serum, I bet that wasn't great for the microbial colonies living on my skin. Well, take the huge growth in the popularity of facial peels. According to one data analysis bureau, facial peel products grew in popularity by 150% from 2019 to 2020. Now, much of this growth was driven by the pandemic, of course, where people were looking for at home treatments. However, this demand doesn't seem to have ended since the pandemic, and apparently the market for chemical peels is expected to grow by 50% over the next five years. I'm pretty sure that chemical peeling is not classified as gentle on the microbiome so although there's a lot we don't know about the microbiome, I love the idea of us aiming for gentleness in our formulations to protect the huge microbial diversity on our skin and therefore also protect the health of our skin. I also love the idea of being gentle in how we talk about beauty and protecting our mental health in the process by being less unkind about our appearance. After all, if we're gentle in how we formulate for our skin, and we're gentle in the expectations we set for our skin, we might just turn out to be more humane in our beauty routines than we all imagined possible. Now, if you're a regular listener, then you know that I'm a little bit of an idealist and I love the idea of putting forward my opinions for improving the beauty industry, and I would say this is definitely one of them. So my challenge to you for this week is to join me in embracing gentleness. Let's shop for beauty products that are gentle to our skin, gentle to our scalp and hair, and gentle to us as individuals. There are plenty of small beauty brands out there doing exactly this, and if you're not buying from them yet, you are missing out. Start with the graduates listed on our website@formulabotanica.com you can even filter them by region of the world so you can find beauty brands near to you. Your skin will thank you for it. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty Opinions. If you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so now in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations. I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode. Sam.
