Tip-ins and Fairy Dust
Lise
We're going to talk about ingredients and fractions today. I am in my cynical corner, but I'll try to be nice. (Come to think of it, no, I probably won’t).
Some ingredients are added to commercially manufactured products solely for one purpose, and that is to make the marketing and legal departments happy.
The marketing and legal departments are happy when they can advertise Cosmetic Product X now contains ingredient Y without the risk of being sued for false advertising:
'Now With Real Essential Oils'
'Contains Argan Oil'
‘With Soothing Aloe Vera’
This practice is nothing new.
The ingredients in question are often referred to amongst folks in the industry as tip-ins or fairy dust.
Tip-ins are present in such minuscule amounts that they would never in a million years be able to 'make hair softer' or 'skin smoother' or do anything else useful to the consumer.
In order to meet legal requirements, tip-ins are added at a minimum of 0.05% of the total formula.
Yes, you read that correctly: 0.05%
Shall we spell that out for clarity? Five hundredths of one percent.
That’s about the same as adding a grain of sugar to a pot of tea and pawning it off as ‘sugar sweetened’.
Is five hundredths of a percent of argan oil in a conditioner going to have any effect at all?
Nope.
If your hair does feel silkier after trying the 'now with genuine argan oil' conditioner, what you are in all likelihood experiencing is the (much cheaper and 100% synthetic) silicone listed on the ingredients label waaaay before you see argan oil listed.
Ingredients used as tip-ins are (as you may imagine) often on the pricier end of the scale, so the manufacturer is also happy about being able to generate sales with legal claims while keeping production costs at an absolute minimum.
In short, tip-ins and fairy dust are only win win win for the manufacturer. The consumer is duped and shortchanged every time.
Can you tell I find the practice distasteful, dishonest, and unethical?
To me, using tip-ins and fairy dust has nothing to do with producing quality products and everything to do with misleading consumers for the sole purpose of profit.
If this was a once in a while occurrence, I might not be writing about it (again) but tip-ins are unfortunately (still) common practice in the industry.
Do Indie Companies?
In stark contrast, most artisan companies will bend over backwards and do everything they can to avoid cutting back on the most expensive ingredients ‘just’ to lower production costs.
How do I know?
Because many of my clients struggle with this exact issue and ask me for guidance. I have yet to meet one who isn't in personal agony over not being able to include more of 'the good stuff' if they need to adjust their formula to lower production costs.
If you didn’t think indie beauty companies were that passionate about their products and their work, I can assure you they are.
Perhaps that's part of the reason the green beauty movement continues to grow. Consumers seem to prefer quality products to mass-manufactured fairy tales.
I can only hope the continued growth of green beauty companies and increasing number of label-reading-savvy consumers will eventually cause mainstream manufacturers to stop their practice of tip-ins and fairy dust altogether.
I think after all these years, it’s about time.
Do Tell
Have you had to adjust your formulation to meet a lower production cost? Please share in a comment below.
PS: The book below was written for artisan cosmetic makers and helps you get set up, sanitised and organised.
