Around the world, brands that have never before ventured beyond the realms of beauty and fashion are manufacturing medical equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic. In an unprecedented move, the American Food and Drug Administration advised able companies to address the global shortage of hand sanitizers by making it themselves, prompting beauty brands to pivot their businesses for a unified goal.
Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, and Coty Inc. (the conglomerate behind Covergirl and Gucci) have all begun making hand sanitizers for health care personnels while others like ORLY, CHI Haircare, and Rituel de Fille have focused their attention to the public need.
While the Centers for Disease Control have maintained that washing hands with soap and water is the best way to keep them clean, it cites using alcohol-based hand sanitizer as the next best thing. It’s thanks in part to companies like the ones listed below that this suddenly scarce commodity is on the market again all over the world.
“This product broke every single one of our rules of what we do. It’s not a clean product, it’s not in sustainable packaging, and it’s not about luxury. But it responds to a desperate need from our customers and all people,” said Francesco Clark, founder Clark’s Botanicals
Clark explained it took about 10 days for his four domestic factories to shift gears. For the next five weeks, the company will exclusively be producing hand sanitizer versus the prestige products it is known for
For her part, Laney Crowell, Saie founder and CEO, is not planning on keeping hand sanitizers in the company’s permanent beauty assortment, but she still took a visual approach to the new offering: It features Saie’s lavender packaging and a tangerine scent. Saie’s come-to-market proposition late last year was that existing clean beauty was “too expensive, didn’t work and wasn’t cool,” said Crowell.
“I’m thoughtful about what I buy based on how it looks,” said Crowell. “I wanted our customers to be able to pull out a cute thing from their bag, even if it was hand sanitizer. I’m up for everything in the drug store getting a zhoosh.”
Here are some of your favourite international beauty brands who are now including hand sanitizers as part of their products category
ORLY
Known for its cult-favorite drugstore nail polishes, ORLY has reconfigured its Los Angeles facilities to produce 75-percent alcohol hand sanitizer spray, with the first 10,000 units to be donated to the City of Los Angeles for distribution to the homeless population. All subsequent batches are expected to be available for purchase on ORLYBeauty.com
Vegamour
Vegamour, which you might know from its hair growth serums, is now selling a hand sanitizer spray that is 75-percent isopropyl alcohol with the addition of skin-benefitting aloe, marula oil, and calming lavender. Twenty percent of proceeds from every $16 bottle sold will be donated to the Restuarant Workers’ Community Foundation.
CHI
The makers of haircare brand CHI, Farouk Systems Inc., announced on March 26th that it will offer two variations, including one from its BioSilk range. The first, CHI Organic Gardens Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer, combines 77-percent ethyl alcohol with organic aloe to soothe and moisturize. It comes in four sizes, ranging in price from $5.74 for a 2.2-ounce bottle to $48.24 for a 26-ounce bottle
SPARITUAL
ORLY International is the parent company of sustainable body care brand SPARITUAL, which will also use its facilities to produce a hand sanitizer spray was available for sale in early April. Again, the first 5,000 was distributed to Los Angeles’ homeless population.
Rituel de Fille
The indie makeup brand Rituel de Fille has dedicated its manufacturing capabilities to making 2-ounce bottles of sanitizing spray made of 62-percent ethyl alcohol, organic glycerin, lavender, and tea tree essential oils. To further help the community, the brand has offered this temporary product at a choose-what-you-pay price, with three options: $5.48 (cost to make the product), $7.23 (including overhead), or $9.99 (additional support for the business). Purchases are limited to three per person, with pre-ordering available now.
Even here in Nigeria, Beauty brands are now producing hand sanitizers and some even face masks as part of their products categories. It begs the question; Is this here to stay or it is only till the corona virus is over?