Lux’s refill costs 2% more per millilitre than the bottle. The ceramide cream couldn’t beat a plain one.

Skincare routines that teenagers with darker skin post on TikTok use 3.4 products on average, at about $68 a routine. That is the finding of a [study published on 4 November](https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2026-0133) in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. Three researchers opened new TikTok accounts, each registered as a 13-year-old. They collected the routines the app's For You feed showed them from creators aged 18 or under with darker skin. Only 38% of the daytime routines included sunscreen. In the most-viewed videos, routines used 4.7 active ingredients on average. 73% included at least one ingredient known to cause skin allergies, most often fragrance.

Our read: many of these routines look built for adult skin, with almost five active ingredients in the most-viewed ones. The researchers also found subtle messages favoring lighter skin. Creators used words like "bright", which can suggest lightening, and worried about areas of skin that are naturally darker. Two findings point back at brands. Fragrance was the most common allergen, and brands decide whether to add it. We think "bright" usually comes from the label before the creator says it. A brand may mean an even tone, but a 13-year-old watching a routine may hear lighter. On 1 October we reported, from a congress talk, that 45% of viral 'glass skin' clips pushed heavy combinations of actives without safety advice. This peer-reviewed paper finds the same stacking of actives in a group that earlier studies mostly left out. The study counted what the videos showed, not what happened to anyone's skin.

Nykaa, the Indian beauty retailer, [reported](https://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/nykaa-profit-surges-premiumisation-drives-beauty) profit after tax of 101 crore rupees for the three months to 30 September. That is up 207 percent on a year earlier, on revenue up 28 percent to 3,006 crore rupees. The same day its board approved buying 82 percent of Simply Nam, the makeup brand led by the celebrity makeup artist Namrata Soni. The price is capped at 33 crore rupees in cash, and completion is expected by the end of December. Nykaa credits faster customer acquisition and existing customers trading up. It now runs 338 beauty shops.

The tripled profit is real and thin. 101 crore rupees on 3,006 crore of revenue is a 3.4 percent margin. The acquisition needs a correction from us. On 8 August we wrote that Nykaa buying 51 percent of Aminu showed a retailer buying formulation. We said it had priced that brand on its formulas, not on a face. They are the same kind of deal. Aminu turned over 19.4 crore rupees last year, Simply Nam 17 crore, and each price was capped near 32 crore. Nykaa's announcement credits Simply Nam's formulations for Indian skin, which is the reason we gave for Aminu. The distinction was ours, not Nykaa's. On roughly the same money it is taking 82 percent of Simply Nam against 51 percent of Aminu. Grossed up, that values them at about 2.4 and 3.2 times revenue. On that measure the celebrity brand was the cheaper of the two.

Unilever has relaunched Lux liquid soap in Brazil with new packs, a new formula and two scents, strawberry with camellia and white tea. The aim is to sell liquid soap as a lifestyle product, its Brazilian marketing director, Marina Ballini, said, according to [Cosmetic Innovation](https://cosmeticinnovation.com.br/unilever-aposta-na-premiumizacao-de-lux-para-ampliar-valor-no-mercado/) on 4 November. She wants shoppers to make more unplanned purchases and spend more per trip. Scent is one of the main reasons Brazilians choose a liquid soap, she said. Unilever also plans cheaper formats and bigger refills.

Our read: Unilever wants Lux to feel like a treat but stay in the weekly shop. At one pharmacy group, the refill does not even offer a cheaper way in. At Pague Menos, a Brazilian pharmacy chain, the 250 ml bottle of the strawberry scent costs R$12.90 and the 200 ml refill R$10.50. That makes the refill about 2% dearer per millilitre. Extrafarma, which Pague Menos owns, charges the same for the white tea version. Retailers set shelf prices, and Unilever's list prices are not public, but a shopper who buys the refill to save money saves nothing here. On 29 October we reported that Unilever was raising prices to cover costlier materials, and that premium Dove hair products gave it more to charge for. Lux brings that approach to a basic product whose price shoppers compare easily. If the bigger refills are cheaper per millilitre, Unilever is giving price-conscious shoppers a way in. If not, it is betting Brazilians will pay more for the scent.

The International Journal of Cosmetic Science has published a [supplement of seven research papers on textured hair](https://doi.org/10.1111/ics.70149). It went online on 2 November. Every paper carries the name of TRI Princeton, the laboratory behind the Textured Hair Consortium. The papers measure what standard tests were not built for: shine, curl shrinkage, flexibility, combing force and breakage. Three use single-fibre fatigue testing to show how curl type changes the way a hair snaps. Two papers on scalp health report that the most tightly coiled hair is washed least often and scales most. Dermatologists found the most traction alopecia in that group.

An aisle sold on claims for decades is only now getting the instruments. Until now, a product for coily hair was tested with methods built for straighter hair. The scalp papers are the part a shopper can use, and the lead finding is about styling rather than washing. Braiding, extensions and knots put tension on the scalp. Washing every two days improved scalp condition across every curl type. The second paper says condition tracks washing habits rather than curl type. On 6 September we wrote that Unilever pooled twelve of its own trials and found most hair fall is shed hair that never broke. Today's papers qualify it: in coily hair, breakage is real, patterned and measurable. Who paid is on record. The funder lists on two papers name L'Oreal USA, Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Symrise, Lubrizol and Solvay. TRI's site puts the project, which ran from 2019 to 2021, at a million dollars from ten members.

Doctors at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai gave 60 adults with moderate eczema either a ceramide cream or a plain look-alike cream. Everyone in the trial also used the same mild steroid cream and took an antihistamine. Both groups improved over six weeks, the [trial in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology](https://doi.org/10.1159/spp/aetag011) reported on 13 October. Skin moisture and symptom scores improved a little more with the ceramide cream. None of the differences between the two groups was statistically significant. The cream, Weirou Smooth Moisturizing Essence Cream, is made by China Resources Shunfeng Pharmaceutical. The authors say no sponsor funded the study.

Our read: the steroid cream that both groups used probably did most of the work. The authors say it may have left little room for a moisturizer to show an extra effect. The plain cream, with its oil and fatty alcohol, moisturizes too. The authors describe favorable trends but say the results should be read with caution, and they ask for larger studies. The maker did not tell them how much ceramide the cream contains. On 1 November we reported that Seppic called its plant ceramide extract clinically proven without naming a study. This trial tested a different ceramide, but it is the kind of test such claims need: blinded, against a placebo, and published when the result did not flatter the product. Brands selling ceramide creams for barrier repair should check what their own trials used as a comparison. A cream tested against nothing looks better than one tested against a basic moisturizer.

Grow-Good, Cardi B's hair care brand and a Revolve venture, helped the online fashion retailer add 202,000 active customers in the third quarter. That was its largest quarterly increase, [Glossy reported](https://www.glossy.co/beauty/revolve-cardi-b-grow-good-beauty-earnings/) from the 3 November earnings call. Revolve's finance chief said customer growth would have sped up even without the brand. Grow-Good's sales nearly doubled from the previous quarter, and it is now one of the group's ten best-selling brands. Revolve did not give its revenue. Group sales rose 20%, the [results release](https://finviz.com/news/414667/revolve-group-announces-third-quarter-2026-financial-results) shows. The average order fell to $292 from $306 a year earlier, mainly because Grow-Good's prices are much lower.

Our read: Revolve is using beauty to reach shoppers its clothes do not, and it accepts smaller orders to get them. Without Grow-Good, the average order would have been roughly flat, the finance chief said. A small order still costs about as much to ship, although beauty is returned less often. Revolve's return rate fell more than two points, partly because of beauty. On 22 September, covering Revolve's beauty-first venture with Donatella Versace, we said Revolve still had to prove that attention becomes a lasting product business. Grow-Good is the first evidence. Management says repeat purchases rose meaningfully and the brand already adds to profit. Revolve has not shown the numbers behind that. It gave no revenue, margin or acquisition cost for Grow-Good, and has not said whether the new customers also buy clothes. We expect this month's mini sizes to push order values lower still.