Kyle Dailey O'Hara, founder of the anti-aging company Maintain Youth, said homeopathy is making an entrance onto the beauty market and is well placed for growth.
Growth and potential of homeopathic beauty
O'Hara, who is also the founder of export service firm HealthLink International, said a number of cosmetic companies have begun using homeopathic remedies in the last two years.
Cosmetic companies are always looking for something new and in tune with consumer sentiment. O'Hara said homeopathy fits these criteria because it comes fresh onto the market with features that match up to some of the latest trends.
Homeopathic remedies use highly diluted plant extracts and therefore fit the natural trend.
The claim that “the higher the dilution, the stronger the remedy” may be counter intuitive to some commentators. However, O’Hara said the high level of dilution appeals to health aware consumers concerned about toxicity.
Homeopathic cosmetics also support the idea of holistic beauty with the emphasis being on health and well-being from the inside and out.
The potential of homeopathy in beauty is nonetheless restricted by its confused regulatory status. In the US, homeopathic remedies are regulated as medicines so companies including them in oral supplements need a drug license.
For topical applications, products fall into a grey area where they are not seen as drugs but must nevertheless be labeled carefully when marketed as cosmetics.
Regulatory breakthrough in Asia
In Asian countries, where homeopathy has little or no precedent, O'Hara said after seven years of work in South Korea, the regulatory groundwork has been laid for homeopathic beauty.
O'Hara in her work for HealthLink International set the regulatory ball rolling that finally led to the creation of new legislation for the admittance of homeopathy as a general category of medicines.
The breakthrough came in the context of O’Hara’s work representing Arnica Montana in its efforts to market SinEcch, a treatment for bruising and swelling caused by cosmetics surgery.
South Korea has a flourishing market for cosmetic surgery providing the potential for SinEcch but achieving regulatory approval demanded a long process involving plenty of discussion and three clinical studies.
O’Hara said: “This regulatory break-through will definitely "crack the door open" for import approval of other homeopathic beauty and anti-aging preparations in the Asia market.” She said the next ports of call would be China and Taiwan.