New courses, resources, and more available through the Society of Cosmetic Chemists

30-Jan-2023 - Last updated on 30-Jan-2023 at 21:37 GMT

“We’re working to give different options to meet different needs,” said SCC Vice President Mark Chandler. © kody king Getty Images

This year the SCC plans to focus on keeping the dialogue going between industry members, facilitating online courses and in-person events to further innovation in the cosmetics and personal beauty care industries.

Recently CosmeticsDesign caught up with Mark Chandler, vice president of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC), to learn more about the SCC’s plans for 2023. Founded in 1945, the SCC is a professional association representing the interests of nearly 6,000 members of the cosmetics and personal care industries worldwide.

Offering a variety of educational and informative resources for industry members, the SCC “serves as a focus and provides the proper forums for the exchange of ideas and new developments in cosmetic research and technology,” according to their website. With the year in full swing, we wanted to learn more about the association’s upcoming plans and offerings in the coming months.

CDU: How does 2023 fit into the SCC's five-year progress plan?

Mark Chandler (MC): I can speak on behalf of the SCC on this and that's keeping the dialogue going. Each of the Association chapters holds their own regular meetings where there's a dialogue, usually with a technical presentation, but also the conversations that take place in the meeting where cosmetic scientists get together and talk and present.

Understand that this, as opposed to a lot of other industries, is very much dependent on innovation from ingredient technology companies. In other industries, most of the innovation is coming from the developer of the final product, but the personal care industry is different in that there is a lot of science going on at the brand level and at the contract manufacturer level.

Much of that innovation, from aesthetics to stability and absolutely on performance and claims is being driven by literally hundreds of ingredient technology companies investing fortunes in advancing cosmetics science. Formulators of finished products are not picking chemicals; they are looking for innovation from innovators and that’s everyone working together.

The SCC's five-year progress plan is to keep that dialogue going, both with the journal and the library. From back to the late 1940s, all the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists papers are available online and easily searchable. You must be a member to get access to that, but the value of that is enormous to be able to see what these companies have written about the science.

There’s also the national annual scientific meeting, which last year we took a chance and for the first time, we had it in Los Angeles after holding it over 70 years in New York. It was a raging success. This year will be in New York again, and we may consider going back and forth in the future. That's a possibility as part of the five-year progress plan to reenergize that annual meeting.

CDU: Can you tell us more about the currently available SCC programs and educational resources?

MC: The Journal is amazing, and the library is an incredible resource, but the SCC has a full slate of live courses that are taught, some of which include lab courses.

What’s super exciting now is the availability of a lot of online content and then teachings on various subjects for reasonable prices. There are online courses that can be taken from top instructors, providing access to experts.

The SCC offers members access to the International Journal as well. The media library is another source of content, and there's also a Career Center. The continuing education course offering is quite extensive.

CDU: Are there any new resources, programs, or webinars launching this year?

MC: Yes, we'll be coming out very soon with the 2023 schedule for these courses, most of which are online, and then expanding the options for the live. With lab courses, we did one later last year for the second time for a cosmetic formulation course, and we sold out again. We’re working to give different options to meet different needs. We’re really excited about the new courses, and I think that'll be very exciting.

CosmeticsDesign would like to thank Mark Chandler and the Society of Cosmetics Chemists for their time and contributions to this article. For more information about the SCC, visit https://www.scconline.org/.