New ingredient targets booming skin whitening market

With the skin whitening market continuing to gain momentum globally, there is an increasing need for a new generation of products that will give a more drastic result. Isabelle Benoit, global marketing manager of Laboratories Robiologiques, said, "The skin whitening market is no longer limited to Asian countries, but has become an essential part of the global face and body care market - with Actiwhite, we have developed a highly effective and safe solution, suitable for all market segments".​ Actiwhite can be used in formulations of a wide pH-range and in various lightening care products such as anti-age-spots creams and serums - due to it being developed with components known for good skin tolerance that can assure long-term use without irritation to the skin. It is able to reduce the colouration of human skin thanks to its high capacity to decease melanogenesis, the process that is responsible for the creation of melanin - which is responsible for skin colour. Following a study on Asian skin types the company states that the product property is 'linked to a decrease of tyrosinase activity in malanocytes and also to an inhibition of melanosome maturation'. This in turn leads to a visible reduction of skin pigmentation, with the dual biological pathway resulting in a 'whitening efficacy matching the current market benchmark'. Skin whitening as a whole has become desirable for both men and women across the globe, with Beiersdorf's Nivea skin whitening range, launched in 2005, proving to be a big hit in Asia. Beiersdorf said that it was increasingly aware of male interest in skin whitening, prompting it to make the bold step of launching the first ever male-dedicated skin-whitening product on the market.