A new year, means new trends, so we’ve found ourselves asking: What will be the latest and greatest in 2024?
To get the answers, we spoke with three Kenvue experts in self care, skin health & beauty and essential health to share the consumer health trends we can anticipate in the year to come.
Here’s what they had to say — and why 2024 just might be the best year yet.
1. The expansion of proactive, prevention products
While self care tends to be a result of episodic symptom care — a solve for pain, a cough or congestion — Kenvue experts are seeing the opportunity for it to span to bigger and broader product lines, dedicated to preventing everything from fine lines to the common cold.
“We’re extending beyond just offering a product on the shelf and actually helping people deal with challenges they’re having in their life,” said Anthony Geonnotti, senior director, head of future for self care R&D. “We’re going to continue to lean into that space, looking for new ways to help people, but on the other hand, we’re leaning into what can consumers do to prevent and be proactive about these challenges.”
2. AI incorporated as an addition to overall care
As AI gained ground in 2023, healthcare experts are just beginning to learn how it’s going to disrupt the industry.
“We’re mindful that [AI] is not a replacement, it’s an addition,” Geonnotti added. “It’s a tool by which we can take all of the things we do well and make us even better.”
And being better means being more efficient, closer to our consumers and testing and launching technologies faster and more effectively.
3. More products to come in the sensitive skin space
With social media simplifying the process of giving feedback, consumers are talking, and brands are listening. Barbara Green, senior director for skin health & beauty R&D, shared that skin health and beauty brands are seeing much of that online conversation surrounding sensitive, reactive skin.
“It’s becoming a universal ask to have the appropriate products [for this skin type],” Green said. “We have a focus on innovation across our categories to be able to continue focus in that space and deliver on meaningful benefits.”
4. Skin health and beauty will begin to simplify
Whether it be TikTok’s “clean girl aesthetic” or simply a craving to do less, skin minimalism is taking the beauty world by storm. By building a regimen that helps you achieve healthy skin with only the necessary number of products, consumers can spend less.
“We’re seeing the need to simplify across the board and that could be a sign of the times coming out of the pandemic,” Green noted. “It could also be inflationary, but we are seeing a bit of skin minimalism and how consumers can get more out of each product or out of the routine that they’re using.”
5. More options for the value-conscious customer
With the increased cost of living comes a need to be conscious of where consumers are spending their hard-earned money.
“Appealing to price-sensitive consumers and ensuring we can deliver the value and the benefit provides Kenvue with an opportunity,” Green explained. “For example, Neutrogena recently launched the Daily Facial Moisturizer, which is an everyday moisturizer at an accessible price point that delivers in strengthening the vital skin hydration barrier.”
6. Special attention to whole-body, systemic health
Over the last several years, the idea of the “whole body” has come to light. Meaning, how can one aspect of your health affect another?
“Any piece of your body is not separate from another,” shared Jessica Snell, global director of oral care R&D. “If we think about oral care as an example, it’s important for overall health — just as important as getting eight hours of sleep, wearing sunscreen and drinking water every day.”
In 2024, industries will continue to evolve products that focus on healing from the inside out, and Kenvue is no stranger to this space: Launched in 2023, Neutrogena debuted their skin health supplements to boost skin’s vitals from the inside out. These supplements focus on skin hydration, clear complexion and, coming soon, collagen peptides, and they’re prime examples of how our scientists are considering the whole body during product development.
7. Product development with an understanding of the microbiome
The microbiome is the collection of all microbes — such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and their genes — that naturally live on our bodies and inside us.
“The microbiome is something across our Kenvue brands that we’re understanding,” Snell noted. “We live in symbiosis with microorganisms, and they really impact our health.”
Affecting everything from gingivitis to eczema to acne, “[Kenvue] is paying special attention to how our products interact with [microorganisms] which can help us understand these various health outcomes,” she said.