Old favourites such as neem and tea tree oils could soon be squeezed out of the beauty care market because of new safety regulations, according to cosmetics industry expert Dr Chris Gummer.
New European regulations on chemicals safety testing came into force this year and are having a huge impact on manufacturers and suppliers.
"It's making people work very hard to get all the paperwork in order, and some ingredients which have been around for many years may not be supported any more."
Products such as neem and tea tree oils could lose out - not because they are unsafe, but because they won't have the required test data to back them up, says Gummer. "Something like tea tree oil is a mass of complicated and almost incomprehensible chemicals. And other oils will be similar. It's a question of cost."