01 Research
Are Clean Beauty Products the same as Natural Cosmetics?
No, Clean Beauty products avoid ingredients which are supposed to be bad for yourself. Essential oils for example are commonly used in natural cosmetics. However, Clean Beauty products are free from essential oils because they are the main causes of irritation for sensible skin. There's definitely an overlap between both genres. It is a part of a lifestyle to consume just things which are good for you and the environment. A „clean“ cosmetic should contain as less ingredients as necessary and as much as which are good for you. These come from the most natural and sustainable sources as possible. Clean for yourself and clean for the nature.
Certification
There is no official guideline or certification existing which proofs a cosmetic as a Clean Beauty product. Resellers like Douglas or Sephora claim their own Clean Beauty standards and list several brands. Douglas' products are free from parabens, animal testings and mineral oils (Just to name some). With the label Good for e-shoppers easily know which products are "clean". The COSMOS ORGANIC is an association which defines the criteria that companies must meet to assure possible consumers a 100% organic and natural product. They have been manufactured according to the highest possible sustainability practices. You’ll find the COSMO certifies on natural cosmetic and clean beauty products.
Competitors
Screening the online shops and drugstores most design are very minimalistic and often just uses typography. CA popular listed brand at Douglas is honest founded by the American actress Jessica Alba. As the naming promises, she wants to be honest and transparent as possible about everything concerning her products.
Meaningful transparency and thoughtful design. We’re on a mission to change the world, one product at a time. - Honest
They follow a six step system you can check out on the website to guarantee the most „clean“ product as possible. Further Jessica started promoting by explaining her several beauty routines using honest products. For the No-Makeup Makeup Routine you can shop a complete set containing an honest Primer, the tinted vitamin C serum and an eyebrow pen. Honest Clean Beauty is more than just a bunch of products. They all fit and work together to ensure a 100% daily Clean Beauty self-care routine. Clean Beauty focuses more on skincare than haircare. Innersense for example is a popular luxury Clean Beauty Brand from California offering a range of professional hair care and styling products. KORA Organics was founded by the Australian model Miranda Kerr. The design concept is minimalistic as well but a lot more colorful than the two other competitors. She believes in the power of gems, mediation and a self-caring lifestyle, where Clean Beauty products play a major role. Another great Clean Beauty concept is the Glow Recipe, which concentrates on products with one super fruit base and creates recipes for a glowing and bouncy skin. Glow from your inside and your outside. Their products are 100% animal cruelty-free. They address to a younger target group (18-30 years) and present a colorful world with emojis and cute icons.
A Munich natural cosmetic label called NKM offers 100% transparency by showing every single step on social media.
You can watch us work & participate. NKM
They offer sets to create your cosmetic or to buy their products online. They feel ecologically and socially strongly responsible in everything they do: The ingredients are as regional as possible, products are not tested on animals and packages are mostly packed with the Caritas, an employee for people with disabilities.
© https://shop.nkm-atelier.de/
© https://us.koraorganics.com/
Rausch Status Quo
Rausch's shampoos are as individual as we are, so as our hair. The company uses long-term knowledge about herbal extracts and develop individual haircare series for every specific hair care needs in their laboratory. When you get your first gray hair, you can try Rausch Ariona-Anti-Grau shampoo or for dry hair Rausch provides their Herzsamen Sensitive Shampoo as a natural solution.
In the production of our valuable herbal extracts and in the selection of the right ingredients, we adhere to the highest quality standards that one can have - our own. - Rausch Website
The process of production follows a high-quality standard. It's a pity that they do not explain, how exactly the high standard process looks like. Natural Cosmetics and Clean Beauty became a trend, but Rausch as a Swiss family business already exists for over 130 years. Early birds. The family business combines centuries-old herbal knowledge with the latest scientific methods and the latest technology.
Brand Values
Rausch already brings a full bunch of great characteristics which overlap with the definition of Clean Beauty. On the one hand, that's great. On the other it will be tricky to create a Clean Beauty concept which does not downgrade the other products and the brand itself.
Let's be honest!
How clean are Rausch Shampoos? Checking Rausch Shampoos with Codecheck some products contain suspicious ingredients. Camille-Amaranth Repair shampoo for example contains four ingredients with a significant concern. Coumarin Sodium and Laureth Sulfate ha a low allergy potential and weaken the natural barrier function of the skin. The Egg-Oil Nutrition Shampoo even contains microplasticAcylates Copolymer. To gain 100% trust of Clean Beauty buyers these ingredients need to be avoided.
02_Buyers_Analyse
Define target group
Rausch as a brand mirrors a century full of traditional herbal expertise and a Swiss high-quality standard cosmetic product mostly referring to women aged from 40-60 years old. After intense online research on case studies and Statista the typical Clean Beauty buyers target group age can be estimated from 18-45 years. Concepts can focus on the consciously living generation-z and the millennials (18-25 years old) or on an elder target group, aged between 25-45 years. For Rausch, we recommend to focus on the 25-45 years old woman to respect their traditional brand values.
Recommended target group definition for Rausch: 25-45 years old woman, middle class, conscious & healthy lifestyle
Buyers Personas
Before developing concepts for Rausch we created Buyer Personas, which represent the needs and buyers' behaviors of potential consumers. To simplify the process we first concentrated on Rauschs' shampoos and key products, in the following on the body care.
Problems to solve
Ella, Tina & Sara need a shampoo avoiding any listed irritating & unhealthy ingredients
Tina & Sara need a shampoo which avoid microplastics
Tina & Sara need a shampoo with a sustainable packaging concept
Tina & Sara need a shampoo with an obvious CLEAN BEAUTY Label
Rausch needs a Clean Beauty Concept, which does not downgrade their common Shampoo Range
Rausch needs a modern Clean Beauty Concept, which still represents their traditional brand values
03 Concepts
Concept 1
Rausch opens his great knowledge to its costumers. They can learn how to professionally mix a 100% fitting shampoo. Which ingredients are necessary? What exactly mean all those cryptic words as Sodium Laureth Sulfate or PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate? And what's their impact? Potential buyers as Tina are hungry to learn about a product and to showcase their knowledge. Creating it by yourself is the best way to know for 100% what's in the INCI List and how it positively affects your hair. Rausch can use social media channels as YouTube and Instagram to reach out to buyers as Tina and Sara and spread their new owned expertise. In the online shop, it's possible to order highly professional mixing sets containing flasks, test tubes or a digital scale as well as necessary ingredients. The shampoo bottle can be easily refilled with the next self-made shampoo. No animal testing. And the ingredients are as individual as you are. Becoming a Rausch Alchemist is a promise to make the world a bit better. Something you like to share with others.
What about Clean Beauty Buyers with a busy lifestyle?
Buyers like Ella won't have the time or patience to create a self-made shampoo. No problem. Rauschs' standard shampoo range offers a solution for nearly every "hairy" problem. These shampoos contain the same ingredients and are produced under high-quality standards in Kreuzlingen. So, even if the idea #I'm a Rausch Alchemist might be developed for a niche buyer, it will have a great impact on all products and the brand itself.
Concept 2
The second concept is inspired by the brand idea of honest. Clean Beauty is not about just a product. It's a part of a holistic lifestyle. Protect your body and mind from things which are not good for yourself and others. Rausch Detox Routine offers clean hair care products, which exactly fulfill those needs. The steps of Rausch Detox Routine are easy to follow and great to integrate in consumers daily beauty routine. It first detoxes, second serves essential nutrition for your scalp plus hair and third helps the hair to build a natural protection against our daily environmental influences. The ingredients are as clean as possible, from sustainable resources and not been tested on animals. Without downgrading the standard range of Rausch's shampoos, this concept can be easily integrated.
Concept 3
No Concept? Why? Because Rausch values actually already stand for Clean Beauty. Instead of implementing a new product concept, resources can be used to improve Rausch as brand considering Clean Beauty buyers needs and make a 100% match!
- Improve the packaging concept: How can plastic be avoided or reduced?
- Become a waaay more transparent: Rausch denies animal testing, avoids parabens, uses handpicked herbs from Switzerland, and they have 130 years full of experience producing and using herbal extracts. These are really really great facts, but mentioned in just one - two sentences on their website. Using Instagram and other social media channels to show potential buyers, how a typical working day at Rausch's laboratory looks like or by interviewing the farmer delivering the herbs for Rauschs Kräutershampoo will generate an authentic transparency.
- Codecheck friendly ingredient list: Buyers who do not want to study each INCI List simply use Codecheck or another provider to check, if a product contains ingredients which might be noxious. Using ingredients, which are marked as significant concern or high concern, can be the killer reason during the process of a purchasing decision.
