Renown Hollywood dermatologist Dr Simon Ourian and cosmetics industry expert Shari Jafari together co-founded the Dr. Simon Ourian MD brand, which pioneered using AI-powered personalised skin care regimes.
Recently the brand has taken this concept and technology to expand into the wellness sector with customised supplements, Daily Ritual, which also uses AI technology to analyse customers' wellness profiles and formulate supplements to target key concerns like energy, mood, gut health and overall vitality.
We spoke to the trailblazing duo about what they have been working on and what they foresee for the future of the skin care category...
CosmeticsDesign-Europe (CDE): Your brand has been an early adopter in terms of using AI for personalisation. Can you tell us a bit more about what you’re doing and why?
Dr Simon Ourian (SO): I have worked with many patients over the past 25 years and always believed that skin care should be personalised.
What we’ve created with this brand is an extension of this philosophy I’ve had, which is personalised and science-backed formulations that cater to real people with real concerns.
My goal was to simplify this process by creating products that are effective and tailored to individual concerns.
I’ve noticed over the past years that during my practice, most people do not follow a basic skin care regimen at all because, they feel overwhelmed or they don’t know what to use because there are so many options. My goal was to simplify this process by creating products that are effective and personalized to individual concerns, and to make them, available for everyone,
CDE: To do this, you’re using AI data from thousands of scanned faces to then make personalised product recommendations. Can you go into a bit more detail about this?
SO: At the heart of our personalised process is our AI system which leverages a data pool of facial scans. We use this data and analyse it to give personalized product recommendations that are aligned to individual’s skin concerns, lifestyle and goals.
We blend the cutting edge power of technology with my years of expertise treating diverse skin types from all walks of life. So when a consumer takes our consultation quiz, their responses, along with their submitted selfie, are analysed by our AI platform, and then it identifies key concerns like hyperpigmentation, wrinkles, dryness and connects those to specific products.
This process also ensures that every recommendation is relevant and effective for every individual.
It also goes beyond that because it helps us foresee trends in skin care concerns and lifestyle shifts. For example, if, data shows a rise in specific issues like pollution-induced skincare, for example, skin damage or dehydration, we can quickly go back and adjust the product development in our pipeline to meet those evolving needs.
CDE: You’ve you’ve been an early adopter using technology to offer a personalised service. Where do you expect this to go next?
Shari Jafari (SJ): Technology, as we all know, is evolving rapidly all around the world, and skin care is evolving alongside that. So one of the areas in which we imagine it can go next is incorporating some wearable technologies and advanced tools to really further enhance our personalised recommendations that we make through our through our AI analysis..
And soon devices could even analyse your hydration levels and things like UV exposure and even the balance of your skin.
All of this will be able to happen in real time as we move forward. And these metrics would really allow us to start to hyper personalise recommendations, perhaps even all the way down to the exact formulation that a consumer would need.
Another area we talk about is biofeedback technology, where wearables could really help us monitor our stress levels or diet patterns and provide higher insights into how all these external factors that we’re faced with are impacting our skin and our overall wellness.
Of course combining all that with our AI power analysis, could help us to really build a proper holistic skin care and wellness plan for our customers that is daily to their daily life.
CDE: Moving on to ingredients, what do you think will be key in future skin care innovation in terms of ingredients?
SO: One of the more interesting things we’ve come across in the past few years is fermented botanicals. The fermentation process enhances the potency of any natural extracts, making them more available and effective for the skin.
These are ingredients that are gentle and at the same time very powerful. They have incredible benefits for hydration and they create skin barrier repair and overall, radiance.
Another category to watch is peptides. I’m sure you’ve been hearing about peptides, which are basically small chain amino acids that are the building blocks of the proteins in our body, the collagen and elastin, which is our skin and essential to creating firm, more youthful skin.
As we get older, we lose them. And as we deepen our understanding of these peptides, we’re discovering how to use them to precisely target specific concerns like wrinkles, fine lines and uneven skin tone.
The key moving forward will be the combination of these breakthrough ingredients with delivery systems that ensure they penetrate deeply and work where they are needed most.
CDE: In terms of the future skin care consumers, what do you think’s going to be important to them?
SO: I think the future is going to be about more than topical treatments. A lot of consumers are becoming, increasingly aware of the holistic nature of skin care; understanding that great skin isn’t just about what you apply on your skin, but also how you live, eg your diet, your hydration, your sleep level, your stress levels, and overall wellness.
All play a very critical role in how your skin looks and feels. Your skin is basically the mirror of what goes on inside your life. And what I see for the future is a shift towards, more, integrated approach to products that probably continue to be scientifically advanced, but that also work in synergy with lifestyle choices and changes.
Education would be the key for this. And helping consumers understand, what how they can achieve radiant, youthful skin.
That requires a combination of personalised skincare using the AI technologies, healthy habits and focus on mental and physical wellbeing. And I think this approach, would empower people to take control of their own skin health and supports much longer term results.
CDE: And is there anything else you wanted to talk about in terms of future skin care innovation?
SJ: Building on what Simon has said, we’re always talking about things related to the potential that AR and VR tools have in the skin care world.
Imagine being able to really try on the products and seeing the ‘before and after’ from the comfort of your own home. This is something that we’re super excited about. And we have some teams working on some, technological products there.
We’re also exploring educational VR. So really allowing consumers to experience and learn about the skin, to learn about the science behind the skin where the technology helps us bridge this education gap between the clinical expertise of a dermatologist and taking care of your skin at home.
But I really believe that the big leap next will be all about integration of wellness solutions into skin care technology, because consumers just know a lot more about this these days.
This means really combining skin care with nutrition, activity levels, mental health, sleep, and really creating a comprehensive profile for the person’s overall health.
So, the future of skin care really lies in making it more interactive, more holistic and personal, and blending this cutting-edge science with lifestyle insights to transform not just the skin, but the overall wellbeing. And that is truly exciting for us.
