Changes are rattling the beauty industry. Roberto Valente, Managing Director, Health and Beauty Germany GmbH, speaks about these changes in the beauty industry, the major trend towards holistic beauty and the reason why he loves to work in the beauty sector.
Interview
Roberto Valente
Managing Director, Health and Beauty Germany GmbH, Ettlingen, Germany,
www.health-and-beauty.com
COSSMA: You have been working in the beauty industry for several years. What made you decide to work in this sector?
Roberto Valente: Actually, my approach to the world of beauty was almost accidental: in the communication agency where I worked, I had Cosmoprof as a client and so I started to learn more about this world. Then I moved on to work at Cosmoprof as commercial director and so I dived into the fascinating world of beauty.
What is the attraction of this industry for you? What is so special about it?
The beauty industry is very fascinating for many reasons. I would like to highlight two in particular. The first is that it is very innovative and manages to combine two aspects: technical-scientific research on the one hand and trends (which go hand in hand with fashion) on the other. The second reason is that beauty, in general, is a bearer of well-being and people who see and feel beautiful are also better off psychologically. Beauty therefore has great power.
A more holistic approach in beauty includes daily routines that aren’t simply focused on appearance but on inner wellbeing too.
Beauty is changing. Not just the industry, but the definition of beauty itself – influenced by other huge movements in society. What is your personal view?
Yes, the approach to beauty is changing, as is normal, with the passage of time and the change of generations. We know very well that the younger generations (the genZ, for example) are much more attentive to the concepts of product sustainability, just as they tend to look more for natural products. In general, we can say that the concept of beauty is increasingly pervasive and goes beyond the purely exterior. There is also another aspect that must be considered and that is the tendency to want to verify the effectiveness of products. Thus the concept of pragmatical beauty comes into play. The product or treatment I do must lead to a visible result in a given time, otherwise it is not considered effective.
Holistic beauty is one of the trends everyone is speaking about. What changes can it bring and why is it so important?
When we speak of holistic beauty, and thus of a holistic approach, we actually include everything. As we said before, the subject of beauty should not be relegated simply to the outward appearance. In fact, a multitude of aspects concerning the person as a whole, come into play, hence the lifestyle that includes diet, sporting activity, time devoted to oneself, and psychological well-being. The covid period marked a fundamental turning point in most people’s lives, to the point where we cannot even say that we are in an era of change, but in a true change of epoch.
How do you see the beauty industry changing in the next few years?
The coming years, in my opinion, will be characterised in the beauty world by these macro trends described above. There will be an increasing focus on ‘longevity’, which will be understood not as length of life (i.e. as a number of years), but as healthy ageing. Quality takes precedence over quantity. And in this process beauty, with its beneficial effects, will certainly make its contribution.