Last business quarter, wellness brand Hyland’s Naturals expanded into the skin care product category for the first time in the company’s history with the launch of its first Baby Skin Care product line. The company has historically focused on developing and producing natural ingredient health care supplements for issues like pain relief or allergy symptoms, and the new collection launch aims to target market share in the growing US baby and child skin care industry.
As recently reported by the market research firm Statista, “the revenue in the baby and child skin care segment of the beauty and personal care market in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2023 and 2027 by $97.2 million USD, or 21.43%, and revenue is estimated to amount to $550.79 million USD in 2027.”
Consisting of six products, including the Hyland’s Naturals Baby Organic Calming Balm, Baby Organic Chest Rub, Baby Eczema Cream, Baby Eczema Lotion, Baby Organic All Purpose Balm, and Baby Diaper Rash Cream, the collection “features products that are both dermatologist and pediatrician tested, hypoallergenic, soothing, and made from a comforting blend of organic floral and botanical ingredients, and are specifically designed with a gentle formula, safe for babies, to provide comfort and relief when they aren’t feeling their best,” shared the company’s press release announcing the launch.
To learn more about the background behind the Hyland’s Naturals Baby Skin Care Collection’s formulation and development, including challenges that needed to be overcome to launch, as well as what sets the collection apart from similar products already available in this industry space, and the consumer pain points the collection seeks to resolve, CosmeticsDesign interviewed Annie Chen, Chief Marketing Officer at Hyland’s Naturals for her insights.
Product formulation research and development
When the Hyland’s Naturals team set out to develop the Baby Skin Care Collection, the team sought to create consumer products that would “have a positive impact on the cosmetics and personal care product industries and meet the need of families who are seeking clean, safe, and ‘better-for-you’ options,” said Chen. Further, it was the formulation team’s goal to contribute to the personal care product category that would “raise the standard for skin care as it deserves a heightened focus on safety and quality due to the sensitive nature of baby skin,” she added.
However, achieving this goal was not without its challenges, Chen shared. “Candidly, despite organic products gaining traction and growing popularity,” she shared, “there is still a challenge in the industry to source high quality, trusted, organic ingredients,” particularly for products indicated for use on babies. “’Organic’ is still not a basic standard in product development,” she explained, and therefore, “supply is not in abundance.”
To resolve this issue, the Hyland’s Naturals product development team devoted “extra time and legwork to source great ingredients and develop exceptional formulations,” Chen said. Additionally, she added, the product collection “had to pass testing and stringent reviews to be certified USDA Organic in order to continue to deliver the best products to our Hyland’s family.”
Launching the product collection to the consumer market
The final Hyland’s Naturals Baby Skin Collection launched earlier this year “provides formulas that use organic-certified ingredients as alternatives to conventional baby skin care products” in accordance with the company’s goal to exceed the consumer needs for this market niche, said Chen. One way the collection’s specific product formulations stand out from other similar products in this space is the choice of calendula as the hero ingredient across the product line, she further explained.
“Calendula is an extract from the marigold flower that is known to provide gentle yet powerful benefits to promote skin health and hydration,” she shared, and was carefully selected because it is “safe for even the most sensitive skin.” This hero ingredient is incorporated into the product line for its “anti-inflammatory properties and natural antioxidants to soothe and calm irritation,” she added, and was combined with “other nourishing ingredients to help address specific needs, from soothing diaper rash to calming massaging balm,” including colloidal oatmeal, organic sunflower oil, organic lavender oil, organic bergamot fruit oil, organic aloe, and organic chamomile flower oil.
In creating its first personal care product collection, the Hyland’s Naturals team sought to best understand the needs of its targeted consumer audience. “Starting a family is a transformative experience,” Chen stated, “and many new parents spend a great deal of time evaluating the products they will use on and give to their children.”
Therefore, she said, the Baby Skin products needed to fill the consumer need to “take out the guesswork and make it even simpler on parents.” By “developing products that would be safe and gentle for the most sensitive skin; seeking to use organic-certified ingredients wherever possible; and meeting the highest clinical testing standards for dermatological testing,” each of these steps was undertaken to ensure that consumer parents can rely on the recently launched product line to take care of their baby’s skin and foster a relationship of trust through transparency.
The collection also aligns with the organization’s values as a company that promotes overall wellness, Chen added. “As a brand, we have always believed harsh chemicals have no place in our bodies, especially our baby’s, and there are no ingredients like petroleum, parabens, phthalates or synthetic fragrance in our products,” she said.
Moving forward
Hyland’s Naturals Baby Skin Collection may be the company’s first venture into the personal care product market but is representative of the brand’s mission “to support the wellness needs of families as a whole,” Chen concluded. Moving forward, the wellness company plans to continue to support their primary consumer audience with the hope that consumer parents “appreciate the peace of mind our pediatric options provide” as brand awareness continues to grow over time.
