Recent patents protect skin and hair from pollution by strengthening barriers, creating physical shields and balancing the microbiome.
Neha Srivastava, Senior Patent Analyst – Food & Drink and Beauty & Personal Care
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- What you need to know
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Consumers prioritise skin barrier strength and link pollution to skin and hair concerns
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PRODUCT INNOVATION TRENDS
- The UK, Germany and France lead in facial skincare and haircare launches featuring protects-against-elements claims
- Graph 1: % of face cleanser and face/neck care launches with protects-against-elements claims, by market, 2020-25
- Graph 2: % of haircare launches with protects-against-elements claims, by market, 2020-25
- Facial skincare and haircare launches with advanced anti-pollution benefits
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THE PATENT LANDSCAPE
- Anti-pollution skincare and haircare patent publications peaked in 2022 before declining
- Graph 3: patents related to anti-pollution skincare and haircare compositions and ingredients, published each year, 2015-25
- South Korea leads in anti-pollution skincare and haircare patent grants
- Amorepacific Corp emerges as a top innovator in anti-pollution skin- and haircare patents
- Graph 4: top 10 organisations with active patents related to anti-pollution skincare and haircare compositions and ingredients, 2025
- Strengthen the skin’s barrier function
- A healthy skin barrier protects against pollution
- The skin barrier is increasingly mentioned on pack in skincare launches
- Graph 5: % of face cleansers and face/neck care launches that state ‘skin barrier’ in the product description, 2020-25
- Enhance hyaluronic acid production to strengthen and preserve the skin barrier
- Consider polyphenol-rich extracts to protect and strengthen skin barrier function
- Peptides are used to boost skin barrier resilience
- Strengthen the skin barrier with ceramides and botanicals
- Use actives to shield against pollution stress
- Skincare launches aim to shield skin from pollutants
- Brands harness botanicals, ferments and lignin in innovative solutions that shield the skin from pollutants
- Create an anti-pollution shield with film-forming skincare ingredients
- Leverage the power of ocean-derived ingredients to protect skin from pollutants
- Researchers are developing unique blends of ingredients that protect skin from pollutants
- Choose pollution-protecting haircare ingredients
- Claims of protecting against the elements are mostly in the hair styling sub-category
- Graph 6: % of haircare product launches with protects-against-elements claims, by sub-category, 2020-25
- Haircare launches feature pollution-protection ingredients
- Leading ingredient manufacturers are exploring key active ingredients that protect hair from pollutants
- Microbiome-friendly ingredients shield hair from pollution
- Brands are leveraging microbiome-balancing technology to counteract the impact of pollution on hair
- What’s next: systems and techniques for analysing pollutants, offering recommendations and assessing product impacts
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Key takeaways
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APPENDIX
- Research methodology
- Key patent examples for anti-pollution products and ingredients for facial skincare and haircare
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