Cosmethics

COSMETHICS focuses on a research topic “at the intersection of beauty and health.” It is structured around three different Work Packages. At CERAG, Marie-Laure Gavard-Perret serves as co-leader alongside Rémi Kouabenan (Full Professor of Psychology, LIP/PC2S) and Benoit Allenet (Assistant Professor of Public Health, CHUGA, TIMC/ThEMAS) for WP 3, which focuses on the risk-benefit ratio of cosmetics. The CDP is funding a doctoral dissertation in marketing by Swarnali Roy, co-supervised by Marie-Laure Gavard-Perret, Benoit Allenet, and Marie-Claire Wilhelm.

The goal of WP 3 is to better understand this risk-benefit ratio through both objective assessments (based on clinical, toxicological, and other evaluations) and subjective assessments (psychological, emotional, conscious, and unconscious). Several faculty members and researchers from CERAG have participated in this project: Cindy Caldara, Jessica Gérard, Haithem Guizani, Marie-Claire Wilhelm, and Sophie Pasini. WP 3, “The Objective and the Subjective in the Service of an Informational Tool: the Cosmétiquette,” seeks to understand the subjective assessment of the benefits and risks of cosmetics by buyers and/or users, as well as their usage behaviors. In a second phase, an informational tool similar to Nutriscore or energy labels—the “cosmetic label”—will be developed and tested through experiments with buyers and users to more accurately measure its effectiveness and acceptability.

To date, several areas of the literature have already been compiled—notably by Camille Anin during a 6-month internship at CERAG—and partial literature reviews have been conducted. Qualitative data were also collected based on nearly twenty individual interviews with healthcare professionals (dermatologists, pharmacists) and the beauty industry (aestheticians and sales consultants at drugstores, perfume shops, beauty salons, etc.) to identify their perceptions of how buyers/users assess the risks associated with cosmetics—and more specifically, those associated with particular categories of cosmetics at the heart of the project: skin-lightening products, tanning products, sunscreen, and pediatric cosmetics. A quantitative survey is currently underway among buyers and/or users of cosmetics (1,000 women on the one hand and 1,000 parents of children under 11 on the other). A psychology intern will assist with the overall analysis of the data. In this type of transdisciplinary project, exchanges are rich and can lead to cross-disciplinary learning and interesting new perspectives. However, they require mutual understanding and the harmonization of practices across disciplines, which can be very time-consuming.

More information on the project's website