In April, the global personal care industry gathered in Paris for In-cosmetics 2026.
If you aren’t familiar, In-cos is a key meeting point for suppliers, distributors, formulators, and brands. It remains one of the clearest ways to understand where the industry is actually moving.
Vik Pandit, founder of Phycus Biotechnologies and the innovator behind Purolic, attended and presented “The Future of Glycolic Acid”. If you’d like the highlights from his talk, click here.
In an interview, however, Vik reflected that the highlight of the show was conversations he had roaming the floor. This post is a summary of his insights.
What I Saw Everywhere
Sustainability messaging was universal. Terms like green, natural, and bio-based were unavoidable. Far from positioning sustainability as a differentiator, the ubiquity of these messages underlined that these ideas are now baseline expectations.
Fermentation, on the other hand, stood out as a trend in ingredient innovation. The talk (particularly among distributors) was helping fermentation commercialize at scale.
Not Everywhere, But Still Noticed
Certification and proof were not heavily marketed, but they cropped up in presentations and conversations. Interestingly, they rarely were lead themes, appearing instead as reassuring footnotes – the rational proof validating the excitement behind an ingredient.
This suggested a shift to Vik: proof is assumed, but still required.
Core Theme Emerging from Conversations
Across discussions, the focus moved quickly from identity to performance.
Rather than asking what something is, conversations centered on how well it works. Sustainability is expected, but not sufficient on its own. Demonstrating consumer benefits was critical.
This reflects broader market dynamics, where clean positioning must be supported by demonstrated effectiveness.
Customer Questions Vik Heard Again and Again
The questions being asked were practical and formulation-driven. Attendees focused on performance equivalence, irritation profiles, impurity levels, and how an ingredient would behave within existing systems.
Interest was clear, but conditional on reliability and consistency. There was also growing curiosity around new applications, particularly in areas like hair care.
Hair care deserves particular mention here. Based on the number of conversations, it appeared to be the next wave of glycolic applications driving excitement.
Efficacy as the Primary Driver of Switching
Sustainability alone is not enough to drive switching.
Performance remains the deciding factor, particularly when it comes to efficacy, irritation, and consistency. This aligns with consumer expectations, where proof of effectiveness is increasingly required alongside clean claims.
Ingredient-Level Discussion: Impurity and Process
Deeper conversations consistently returned to process.
There was strong interest in how ingredients are made, including impurity profiles and supply chain transparency.
Questions around eliminating contaminants such as formaldehyde or dichloroacetic acid reflected a growing awareness that production methods directly affect performance.
Category Context: How Glycolic Acid is Produced
Glycolic acid is a well-established ingredient with a long history in skincare. What is changing is not the molecule itself, but how it is produced.
Innovation is shifting toward manufacturing processes, while at the same time the ingredient is expanding into adjacent categories such as hair care – driving more manufacturing conversations.
Partnership / Collaboration Opportunities
There were early signs of increased collaboration, with discussions around combining ingredients and exploring synergies in new applications.
While still informal, these conversations suggest that future innovation may come from integration rather than standalone advances.
Closing Thoughts
The future of glycolic acid is not a reinvention, but an evolution.
The molecule remains the same, but expectations have changed. Improvements in purity, consistency, and performance represent a natural next phase.
The broader takeaway from Paris is clear. The industry has moved beyond positioning alone. Sustainability is assumed, and performance ultimately determines adoption.
