Economical and sustainable care concept

When using cosmetics, the focus is on prevention, aka anti-ageing, skin protection and optimum presentation, i.e. make-up, but also the intention of having good skin feel and a pleasant body odour. Are these goals still achievable with minimalist skincare?
There are basically two strategies for finding out. The first and most common strategy is to optimise the current situation by reviewing the products and treatments used, eliminating ineffective ones and combining others. However, this usually has the disadvantage that people are reluctant to give up what they are used to, the decision is difficult and women do not make any progress in this way.
The second strategy is of a more fundamental nature and approaches the process from the other end by asking what the skin really needs and what can be compensated for by other measures. If we start from "normal" skin in its "original state", the first thing to realise is that the skin needs neither care nor cleansing. It does both itself. The sebaceous glands lubricate and smooth the skin's surface, the NMF (Natural Moisturising Factor) moisturises and keeps atmospheric radicals at bay. The skin barrier and the microbiome prevent the penetration of foreign substances and exogenous microorganisms. Cleansing takes place through continuous skin renewal and the shedding of dead cells, which also dispose of waste. So, everything is actually just fine, right? No, of course not, because there is still the cultural behaviour.

Quality and quantity

To start with cleansing: It goes without saying that not cleansing the skin is unrealistic, as we come into contact with a wide variety of substances every day that do not naturally belong on the skin and therefore need to be removed. But there are also times when this is not the case, e.g. in the morning after getting up. A shower, whether hot, cold or both, revitalises the body. But do we then need a shampoo or cleansing gel?
Even if these products are now characterised by high quality¹ with a few exceptions, are well tolerated by the skin and are biodegradable, they can be completely dispensed with in this case, with the advantage that the skin barrier is not depleted. An intact skin barrier in turn reduces the amount of subsequent care required with barrier-regenerating products such as creams and lotions. In other words, cleansing products can be reduced or omitted quantitatively throughout the day on various occasions without any disadvantages.
But there is also the psyche. Due to many years of practice, starting and instilled in childhood, showering with surfactants is unconsciously associated with cleanliness. "Without" creates the feeling of not being perfect; something is missing. The skin also naturally feels different after showering. This creates a certain insecurity and inhibits the changeover
Incidentally, it is not uncommon for people with atopic skin to have a certain compulsion to wash, which causes a latent disposition to break out in the first place.

Maintenance effort

Reduced cleaning therefore reduces the amount of maintenance required. But that's not the only factor. Here, too, we were taught as children: when you go out, apply cream – especially in winter. Unless the skin barrier is intact, like after cleansing, there's nothing wrong with that. But it became a constant habit and this leads to a dependency, especially with formulations that leave a persistent lipid film on the skin.
And it works like this: The skin is a sensitive organ that primarily produces protective substances when it needs them. However, the skin forgets this if the external protection is always already there – in extreme cases with an effect that resembles a plaster if paraffinic, physiologically non-degradable oils are used. Long-chain silicones give a more pleasant feeling but have a similar effect.
But that's not all. And this is where the mind comes into play again. If we forget to moisturise, we get the impression that our skin is dry. In fact, it really is dry because regeneration is out of practice and not fast enough to restore the damaged skin barrier to an intact state. In addition, the familiar smooth film feeling is missing, leading most women to believe that their skin is naturally dry. Surveys confirm exactly this and promote the sale of skin care products.
Minimalist tip: If necessary, look at the composition (INCI) of the care products and only allow physiological, i.e. compatible with the epidermis and microbiome, biodegradable components in the products. These formulations also have the advantage that they can be used sparingly. They are also suitable for skin protection.

Problem skin

Economical use is also the order of the day for problem skins, which affect a high percentage of users to varying degrees. However, economical is not the only decisive factor; it must also be the optimum product. Here are three examples:

• Film-forming components are taboo for rosacea. Provided this is the case, lamellar barrier-like preparations containing special active ingredients such as tranexamic acid, azelaic acid and/or phosphatidylserine² can be used. Another variant is physiologically degradable oleogels (see below), which contain the same substances but are anhydrous. In both cases, the minimalism lies not only in the low dosage but also in the absence of counterproductive additives.
• The situation is similar with perioral dermatitis, which is best treated without any preparation in the acute state and later only with liposomal dispersions, also without excipients, if necessary, as an adjuvant. The choice of active ingredients is similar to rosacea.
• Liposomal dispersions based on phosphatidylcholine are generally already effective as such without additional active ingredients for most forms of acne.³ The addition of a protease inhibitor and/or a substance effective against anaerobes such as azelaic acid in low concentration increases the effectiveness.

Technical minimisation

Treatments for problem skin show a technical trend that involves not only avoiding excipients, but also minimising the number and dosage of active ingredients. However, this requires bases with a high release rate.

• The aforementioned azelaic acid is a typical example. It is used in medicinal ointments⁴ in double-digit percentage concentrations, while liposomal, nanodisperse and lamellar bases contain up to 1 per cent without any loss of efficacy.
• Another minimisation is achieved with fat-containing products by eliminating the water phase, which accounts for up to two thirds of a product in creams, depending on the W/O or O/W emulsion. Accordingly, consumption is minimised when applying a comparable amount of fat, i.e. the contents of a 50 ml dispenser are sufficient for more than twice the time. Packaging costs, which are usually more expensive in terms of resources than the contents, are also reduced by at least 50% globally.
• At the same time, the proportion of excipients, which consists of emulsifiers, preservatives, consistency agents etc. and is necessary for stabilising the water phase, is drastically reduced. Admittedly, oleogels take some getting used to in terms of application, but are associated with fewer allergies and intolerances due to excipients, which affects both the epidermis and the microbiome.
• Powdered products are to be assessed in a similar way, although with the exception of powders for make-up, they are much less common.

Packaging

But now from the contents to the packaging. It can be largely reduced by omitting unnecessary outer packaging used for advertising purposes – with the exception of cases where the information required by the European cosmetics regulation or the machine-readable code necessary for the merchandise management system no longer fits on the label. However, it must be borne in mind that when shipping glass bottles, for example, the outer carton takes on the function of protection, which would otherwise require bubble wrap, for example.

Marketing⁵

A completely different possibility for minimisation is the reduction of wordy and exaggerated claims in product advertising. A more objective presentation would be more than desirable here. This is because it tempts more or less unsuspecting consumers to buy something they don't actually need.
However, as this will probably never happen, consumers can learn to familiarise themselves with the matter to such an extent that they ultimately do not delegate their skin care to the nonsense of marketing. Incidentally, we have a comparable situation in the healthcare system, where considerations about one's own health are delegated to the doctor and the subconscious is widespread that it is no longer necessary to think, as after all enough money is transferred to the health insurance fund.

Sport

One area that lies outside of preparations and treatments is sport.⁶ Maximising exercise means not only improving physical condition in general, but also skin condition in particular. This has a high substitution potential as far as cosmetic anti-ageing activities are concerned.
Tightening of the skin and connective tissue, increased microcirculation and improved cell metabolism are just some of the effects that cannot be achieved on this scale with cosmetic products. An additional synergy with a healthy diet occurs almost automatically.

References

1. H. Lautenschläger, Wissenschaft Hautreinigung, Beauty Forum 2022 (11), 62-64
2. H. Lautenschläger, Trend zu physiologischen Inhaltsstoffen – Phosphatidylserin in der Hautpflege, Chemie in unserer Zeit 2024, 58 (5), 93-97
3. H. Lautenschläger, Handbook of Cosmetic Science and Technology p. 155-163, CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton 2006
4. Rote Liste, Arzneimittelinformationen für Deutschland, https://www.rote-liste.de
5. The section on marketing marked in blue was added later and is not part of the publication.
6. H. Lautenschläger, Sport & Bewegung – Einflüsse auf die Haut, Medical 2024 (4), 56-60

Dr Hans Lautenschläger

published in
Beauty Forum
2025 (3), 116-118