Why Face Creams Cost More Than Body Creams

Hello! I understand your question and also saw the reply from cosmeceutical7.

Actually, the understanding that body care products must contain more active ingredients than face care products is not always correct. Facial skin and body skin differ in many aspects, such as thickness, sensitivity, and common skin concerns. This leads to products for the face and body being formulated with different compositions and ingredients.

The reasons why face creams are often more expensive than body creams are due to several combined factors, not just the amount of active ingredients. The main factors include:

• Type and Concentration of Active Ingredients: Face products often use more specific, research-backed, or expensive active ingredients, such as certain peptides, specialized antioxidants, or vitamin derivatives, at concentrations suitable for facial skin, which can be more sensitive. Body care products, on the other hand, often use common active ingredients focused on general hydration or broad exfoliation, which may have lower costs.
• Formulation Complexity: Developing formulas for the face is often more complex to ensure good texture, absorption, non-comedogenicity, non-irritation, and to ensure that various active ingredients remain stable and effective. This may require more complex basic ingredients (Excipients) or sophisticated manufacturing technologies.
• Research and Development (R&D): The development and testing of formulas for the face, especially products targeting specific concerns like wrinkles or dark spots, often require higher R&D budgets.
• Packaging: Face products often use specially designed packaging, such as airless pumps, to preserve the quality of active ingredients, or have a more premium design, which adds to the cost compared to general body care packaging.
• Marketing and Branding: Face products are often positioned in the market as higher-value items, targeting specific skin problems, leading to higher marketing and advertising costs.
• Production Scale: Body care products are often produced in much larger volumes (Mass Production) compared to some types of face creams, resulting in lower per-unit costs.

Therefore, the price of a product does not solely depend on the quantity of active ingredients but on various factors as mentioned.

Hope this explanation is helpful!