Working With A Natural Skin Care Manufacturer: What Founders Need To Know
Choosing a natural skin care manufacturer isn’t just about the ingredients - it’s about meeting legal standards, consumer expectations, and deciding whether or not ‘clean’ beauty is a better angle for your brand.
Finding the right legally compliant and high-performing formula in this niche is particularly difficult.
So how can small beauty founders evaluate whether a natural manufacturer is truly the right fit?
Innacos is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below outlines everything you need to know about natural skin care and how to find the best manufacturer for your brand’s specific needs.
We discuss the definition of natural, legal compliance, choosing the right manufacturing method, and how to know if clean beauty is a better match for your business.
What Is Natural Skin Care?
Natural skin care generally refers to products formulated with naturally derived ingredients and without synthetic additives. However, what counts as “natural” is not legally defined in most countries.
For small home-to-lab brands without the backing of an entire corporate legal team, this makes choosing the right manufacturer even more important.
The right partner will help you interpret ingredient lists, source genuinely ‘natural’ ingredients, and help keep your brand legally compliant with any ‘natural’ claims you make.
The demand for ‘natural’ skin care is fueled just as much (if not more) by positive PR as it is by scientific backing.
There’s a tendency to fall for the natural = good fallacy. Consumers often assume natural ingredients are more effective, gentler, and safer than lab-made alternatives.
Plus, the beauty market often places a lot of trust in the survivorship of traditional ingredients across time. For example, tea tree oil has been used for centuries to treat skin and hair issues.
While a lab-made version might provide similar results (often more consistently, more sustainably, and less expensively), a synthetic alternative wouldn’t have the same heritage appeal.
Finding Legally Compliant Natural Skin Care Manufacturers
Unlike ‘organic’ skin care, which has a specific legal definition, ‘natural’ skin care is not as tightly regulated in the US.
However, this could change - the Natural Cosmetics Act was introduced to Congress in late 2021. If the Act passes, the FDA will legally define the terms ‘natural’ and ‘naturally derived ingredient’ for the cosmetics industry.
Although the status of this Act has stalled since 2022, the USA’s regulatory approach is becoming increasingly strict over time.
For example, the passing of MoCRA has brought US cosmetics regulations closer in line with global regulatory standards. Learn more about how you can comply with MoCRA in our full blog post here.
How To Remain Legally Compliant
The FDA makes it clear that all cosmetics, natural or synthetic, must be safe, labelled correctly and truthfully, and must not be misleading to consumers.
Importantly, the term ‘natural’ should not be included in the ingredient statement, as ingredients must be listed by their proper legal names.
When evaluating natural skin care manufacturers, be sure to ask about how they comply with the USA’s regulations when it comes to their ingredient choices:
Do they use any synthetic ingredients (including preservatives) in “natural” formulas?
How careful is their batch testing process, given that natural ingredients tend to vary in quality?
Where do they source their natural ingredients?
Do they perform all the necessary stability, safety, and longevity testing on their natural formulas in-house? If they use a 3rd party tester, how do they verify the reliability of the results?
These questions will help you separate the manufacturers who actually understand how to formulate ‘natural’ skin care to legally compliant standards from the ones who just talk the talk.
Learn more about vetting manufacturers in our full guide to selecting a natural lab here.
The Demand For Natural Skin Care
Domestic and global demand for natural skin care is growing steadily.
Grand View Research valued the global market for natural skin care products at $6.7 billion, with projections to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% between 2022 and 2030.
Europe leads with over 33.2% of the market share (as of 2021). However, North America is close behind, expanding at 6.7% annually.
Market research reflects this growing demand.
A Global Web Index study found 44% of beauty consumers specifically look for natural or organic products when shopping for cosmetics, while Real Self’s 2021 survey found that 80% of consumers want more detail about ingredients - yet only 30% feel they can get that information when shopping for cosmetics.
It’s not enough to label your products as ‘natural’ - you need to understand just how ‘natural’ each ingredient is, and take steps to educate your consumer base using only the most factual, ethical, and legally compliant information.
The right manufacturer should not only supply you with compliant natural formulas.
They should also explain if their formulas already qualify for any natural certifications or help develop new formulas to meet those certifications’ standards.
At Innacos, we pride ourselves on our flexibility when it comes to meeting our clients’ needs. We can formulate to virtually any certification standard, including natural standards. Learn more about certifications and standards at Innacos on our website here.
How Natural Skin Care Products Are Made
Skin care manufacturers use three main manufacturing methods to create natural formulations:
Preformulated: The lab creates all the formulas in advance. You can buy in bulk (in unbranded drums), or add your own customized branding through private label
Semi-Customized: The lab provides the base formula. You add in a limited number of ingredients to make the formula your own
Customized: You work alongside the lab to develop innovative skin care from scratch that meets your natural standards
Always ask about a potential lab’s manufacturing options in advance, as your level of control over the natural content of your products depends heavily on the production method.
If you choose to custom formulate from scratch, even labs that aren’t natural specialists can produce natural skincare (including Innacos).
With preformulated or semi-customized options, you won’t have control over the formula, meaning you’ll need to carefully review every ingredient in the formula and ask about their sourcing process to ensure it is genuinely natural.
At Innacos, we offer all three manufacturing methods, in addition to contract manufacturing formulas you created with another lab or on your own.
Our custom formulating service includes manufacturing to your required ‘natural’ standards. Learn more about the best manufacturing method for you in our quiz here.
Natural Vs Synthetic Ingredients?
Before you commit to formulating natural skin care, you need to understand the downsides first.
While ‘natural’ products have great PR, they don’t always live up to the hype.
A 2022 study found that 89.5% of a group of 1,700 skin care products labeled ‘natural’ contained at least one ingredient known to trigger contact dermatitis.
Lab-made ingredients are often popular for a reason. A 2024 study in the Journal of Pharmacy found that synthetic preservatives were more effective than natural alternatives.
Synthetics are often safer for the skin, better for sensitive skin types, and are typically more sustainable than natural alternatives.
Additionally, natural ingredients are harder to source, more expensive, and more inconsistent in quality. Crop failures, climate change, and political instability all have an impact.
Plus, with the biotechnological innovations in lab-produced ingredients in recent years, synthetics are becoming even more impressive, while natural ingredients remain the same.
As discussed in our biotechnology blog post, 200,000 petals are necessary to create just a few milliliters of rose oil. Now, thanks to lab innovations, a virtually identical version can be produced using a fraction of the raw materials.
When vetting potential skin care manufacturers, ask not only whether they use synthetics or not but also why. Their reasoning will reveal whether they are driven by safety, sustainability, or simply cost savings.
At Innacos, one of our sustainability initiatives includes using advanced biotechnological processes to create skin care ingredients.
Upcycling involves making ingredients from the byproducts of the traditional manufacturing process to reduce waste. Learn more about our innovative processes here.
The Solution: Clean Beauty
Clean beauty is the sweet spot between natural skin care’s positive PR and the practical advantages of lab-made products.
While there is no set legal definition, clean beauty is generally understood as formulas made without potentially harmful or unsafe ingredients, whether those ingredients are natural or synthetic.
For consumers, clean beauty brings what they hope to find in natural skin care: it’s gentle on the skin, kinder to the planet, and more transparent about ingredients.
For brands, clean skin care offers practical benefits: it is less expensive to create, more consistent in formula, and less wasteful than working exclusively with natural formulas.
For small home-to-lab brands, working with a manufacturer that offers clean formulations can be more strategic than narrowing your focus to just 'natural’ suppliers.
There are more clean manufacturer options, a broader skin care product choice, and you can take advantage of the industry’s growing and exciting biotechnical innovations (especially in the age of AI).
When considering skin care manufacturers, look for ones that specialize in clean skin care.
At Innacos, not only do we specialize in clean formulas, we’re also experts at creating cruelty-free, sustainable, and vegan formulations. Learn more about our clean beauty standards on our website here.
In sum, choosing a natural skin care manufacturer involves the following steps:
Understanding the definition of natural and how it may differ legally from region to region
Conducting market research to evaluate the demand for natural skin care products
Learning the differences between natural and synthetic ingredients
Deciding whether or not ‘clean’ beauty is a better approach for your brand
Finding the right manufacturing method for your brand and shortlisting suppliers who can meet all of your standards
Looking to partner with a manufacturer to create all of your clean or natural skin care products? Innacos would love to work with your brand! Learn more about how we can meet your requirements by calling: +18123291105 or emailing: customerservice@innacos.com
