In the ever-evolving beauty industry, dietary supplement business owners face unique challenges and opportunities. Understanding the synergy between inner wellness and outer beauty is essential to thriving in this dynamic sector. While consumers prioritize personalized beauty solutions, supplement business owners must tap into the growing demand for holistic health and wellness approaches. This holistic perspective emphasizes the entwinement of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being with outward appearance.
Topical Beauty Products Versus Beauty-from-within Supplementation
Defining beauty is a complex and multifaceted task that can be accomplished topically and from within. Beauty is one of those feel-good life deliverables that both give and receive, making it a personalized priority for most.
Beauty is a matter of interpretation, appreciation, and commitment. It all starts with a strong dedication and willingness to pursue practices that persistently feed overall wellness. Beauty is intricately linked to health, with factors such as restful sleep, regular exercise, and a balanced diet playing pivotal roles in maintaining radiant skin, bright eyes, and lustrous hair.
Topical Beauty Products
As time passes, aging becomes a concern for many, prompting the use of topical products. The downside is topical products typically work on the superficial surface of skin and hair. These layers, the epidermis, and the hair cuticle, respectively, are designed to keep things out, it becomes a continuous effort to correct and alter, and results in a never-ending search for the next great product that “works.”
However, what if supplement business owners could offer a more comprehensive solution by addressing beauty-from-within?
Beauty-from-within Supplementation
The beauty-from-within supplements category consists of four distinct segments, with some overlap. These segments are skin, hair, nails, and “anti-aging.”
Skin Health
Skin health supplements typically address certain aspects of skin appearance. Most frequently, this includes fine lines and wrinkles, dryness/moisturization, and skin elasticity. Some products also address other aspects of skin appearance, such as age spots/hyperpigmentation, skin redness, and non-cystic acne. In all these cases, there are nutraceuticals with human clinical research to promote these aspects of healthy skin appearance. These include:
- Collagen peptides – Promote collagen production in the skin, help reduce fine lines/wrinkles, and promote skin moisturization and elasticity.
- Ceramides – Substantially promotes skin moisturization, reduces transepidermal water loss (TEWL), and improves dryness and elasticity.
- Astaxanthin – Antioxidant protection, suppresses damage to skin barrier function, helps reduce fine lines/wrinkles, and promotes skin moisturization and elasticity.
- Hyaluronic acid – Binds to water to help maintain hydration.
- Coriander seed oil – Helps decrease skin redness and soothes sensitive skin.
- Blood orange extract – Helps reduce UV-induced age spots and skin redness.
- Grapeseed extract – Helps reduce hyperpigmentation.
- Zinc – Helps improve non-cystic acne.
- Guggulsterones – Helps improve non-cystic acne.
Hair Health
Hair health supplements likewise address two aspects of hair appearance: growth/shedding and thickness. There are a few select nutraceuticals with human clinical research to promote these aspects of healthy hair appearance. These include:
- Biotin – To be clear, biotin supplementation only helps with hair health if you have a biotin deficiency (characterized by hair loss). Otherwise, there is no research showing that biotin supplementation will impact hair growth.
- Spermidine – Supports the anagen phase of hair growth, reduces hair shedding, and promotes hair thickness.
- Pomegranate extract – Helps promote hair growth and hair thickness.
- Solubilized keratin – Helps reduce hair shedding, supports the hair cycle, and promotes stronger, shinier hair.
Nail Health
Nail health supplements are typically formulated to address these aspects of nail appearance: splitting, thickness, hardness, and tendency to break. There are a couple of select nutraceuticals with human clinical research to promote these aspects of healthy nail appearance. These include:
- Biotin – This may help decrease fingernail splitting and improve nail thickness.
- Solubilized keratin – Helps improve nail hardness and reduces the tendency to break.
“Anti-aging”
Perhaps the most obvious outward sign of aging is a change in the appearance of skin and hair. As collagen levels decline, an increase in fine lines and wrinkles and a decrease in skin elasticity is evident. Likewise, hair growth and thickness start to decline, and instances of hair shedding may increase. In these instances, the nutraceuticals I previously mentioned may help slow down the signs of skin and hair aging.
What Nutraceutical Ingredients Have Been Shown to Promote Beauty-from-within?
So, how does one approach beauty-from-within? The aging process is influenced by oxidative stress, metabolic changes, and inflammation, affecting the eyes, skin, and hair. Antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, such as vitamins (A, C, E), minerals (Mg, Ca, Se, Zn, Cu, Fe), polyphenols, and omega-3 fatty acids, play a crucial role in reducing systemic inflammation, promoting immune health, and supporting these organs.
Supplementing with structural proteins like collagen, MSM, hyaluronic acid, and B vitamins, enhances the matrix of skin and hair, contributing to a comprehensive beauty-from-within regimen. Additionally, addressing cellular health and microbiome balance through ingredients like Green Tea, Goji Berry, Blueberry, chlorophyll, and probiotics can profoundly impact long-term beauty and overall health.
It’s important to constantly educate your customers that dietary supplements should complement a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. Consulting with a healthcare professional before starting any supplementation regimen is always recommended.
Why Should Supplement Business Owners Pay Attention to the Beauty-from-within Industry?
The estimated value of the global beauty supplement market size was $3.56 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $9.22 billion in 2031 with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4% during the forecast period of 2023 to 2031.[i]
Entering the beauty supplement market presents several advantages, primarily the opportunity to expand your product range significantly. Given widespread concern about physical appearance, offering supportive products allows you to meet demand and adapt to emerging trends, often featuring innovative nutraceuticals tailored to the beauty supplement category. Additionally, with the universal process of aging, an increasing number of individuals are embracing these products at younger ages to maintain a youthful appearance. Those supplement brand owners who choose to enter this category now can make the biggest splash and capture a significant portion of the market.
There is also a rising demand for personalized beauty supplement regimens. By concentrating on various beauty categories, you can seize this opportunity. For instance, you could create personalized skincare products targeting concerns like aging skin, hydration, sensitivity, discoloration, and acne. Moreover, these ingestible supplements can be marketed to complement topical products designed to address similar issues.
Key Considerations for Beauty-from-Within Supplements
There is a broad range of popular ingredients found in beauty-from-within supplements. While I mentioned some of them in this article, there are also emerging ingredients that are starting to gain a foothold. For example, there has been significant interest in so-called “vegan collagen” products. Of course, collagen is a protein only found in animals, and popular types of collagen include bovine, porcine, and marine (fish) sources. Recently, however, innovative companies have developed vegan amino acid blends that mimic human collagen and have conducted studies demonstrating the effectiveness of the blends for skin health.
Another nutraceutical area of interest is pre-and probiotics. While commonly used to promote digestive/gut and immune health, some select pre-and probiotics demonstrated applications in beauty-from-within supplements. For example, one Bifidobacterium species was found to improve skin gloss, firmness, and redness, as well as skin pores and dryness. Likewise, a specific prebiotic oligosaccharide was shown to improve skin dryness and wrinkles.
While expanding into the beauty-from-within supplements market is a good idea, you must differentiate yourself from the competition to avoid offering “me-too” products. To do so, you must stay updated on scientific research and consumer trends within this category. Educating yourself by reading industry newsletters and trade publications and attending industry tradeshows are ways to accomplish this.
It is also important to be aware of regulatory considerations and compliance requirements for the beauty-from-within supplements category. For example, while you can offer supplements for acne, you must ensure the products are directed toward non-cystic acne since cystic acne is considered a medical condition. Likewise, you can offer products for skin redness and sensitive skin, but you can’t imply that such products will treat rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, or similar medical conditions. In any case, you also want to avoid overpromising results that won’t be forthcoming, like “get rid of wrinkles”.
Of equal importance to all these considerations is choosing a supplement contract manufacturer with proven experience in formulating and producing beauty-from within-supplements. The right contract manufacturer can help you select the best ingredients and delivery forms for your product.
How Can Vitaquest Help You develop a High-quality Beauty-from-Within supplement?
Vitaquest, a trusted contract manufacturer with over 45 years of experience, has an extensive track record of manufacturing customized beauty-from-within supplements for nutraceutical business owners. We work with supplement business owners throughout every step of the manufacturing process to ensure their products exceed their expectations for quality and safety. In addition to our dependable manufacturing solutions, we offer convenient packaging design and fulfillment services under one roof.
To learn how we can help you “Deliver What’s Next” in the beauty-from-within supplements category, call 800-526-9095 to speak with one of our knowledgeable sales executives or request a nutraceutical manufacturing price quote.
References:
[i] https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report/global-beauty-ingestible-market/1049
