Find The Best Personal Care Manufacturers [5 Steps]
Struggling to find the best personal care manufacturers for your business?
According to Inkwood Research, the personal care market is set to hit $750 billion by the year 2032.
With growing demand comes more suppliers. But with so many options to choose from, how can you find the right fit for your brand?
Genie Supply is here to help!
Our in-depth guide below outlines the four best methods to find personal care manufacturers for your business. Plus, we reveal the three crucial selection criteria to help you pick the right one.
1. Begin With Thorough Market Research
To find the perfect match, you need to make major decisions about the direction of your brand in both the short and long term.
Start with the most important question: what type of products do you want to sell?
The right manufacturers for skin care brands are not necessarily the best for brands specializing in other personal care niches like shaving or feminine hygiene. Identify your specialty first.
Finding the right product niche begins with thorough market research.
Search on social media, dig deep on forums, and send out surveys with the aim of identifying the following:
The specific personal care problems consumers have
The type of ingredients and treatments they are currently using or searching for to solve those problems
Look out for areas with unmet demand - these insights can guide your first product range, help develop a target customer profile, and improve your branding later down the line.
For example, let’s say your analysis reveals that women over 55 struggle to find body wash and moisturizers that are effective at combating post-menopausal dry skin. This information identified:
A product type (body wash and moisturizer)
A specific sex and age demographic (women over the age of 55)
How your product can beat the competition (formulate a more hydrating body care range)
Struggling to come up with a solid brand all on your own? Genie Supply is here to help! Our Build Your Own Brand course walks you through the entire process from start to finish. Learn more about enrolling in our BYOB course on our website here.
2. Searching For Potential Personal Care Manufacturers
Once you have a clear idea of your target market and the types of products you want to sell, it’s time to begin the hunt for the right manufacturer.
Making Connections
If you have already made connections in the personal care industry, now is a good time to reach out to your contacts and ask for lab recommendations.
It’s easier to connect with suppliers when you have a mutual contact.
Plus, asking for recommendations is a good way of hearing the honest truth about a manufacturer’s strengths and weaknesses (including those you won’t find under the testimonials section on their website).
Looking to build new connections first? In the early stages of your journey, trade shows offer direct access to industry experts, networking opportunities, and potential suppliers.
Look for trade shows that are organized specifically for your niche to find the most relevant suppliers for your business.
Searching Through Databases
It’s also worth taking a look at directories to find potential labs, but the most common and efficient method of all is simply searching for suppliers on the internet.
A quick Google or Bing search for ‘best personal care manufacturers near me’ is a good place to start.
In 2024 and beyond, most quality personal care manufacturers have a website that provides enough information to quickly vet your options.
But to know whether or not you should remove a lab as a contender or add it to your shortlist, you need to identify the right selection criteria first.
3. Selecting The Right Manufacturing Method For Your Business
Begin with evaluating the supplier’s manufacturing methods. Can this personal care manufacturer create products that match both your product vision and your budget?
From your market research, you should already have a clear idea about the types of products you want to make, how competitors’ products compare, and how unique or specialized the manufacturing process needs to be.
This information, along with your budget constraints, will guide you in choosing the right manufacturing method for your business.
There are three main manufacturing processes to choose from. Remember, not all labs will offer all three:
Custom Formulating
Is your product idea completely original?
Custom formulating is the manufacturing method for you. This process involves working with a lab to create brand-new highly customized personal care products from scratch. Although the result is unique, it is the most time-consuming and expensive method.
At Genie Supply, we specialize in novel chemical research, new-to-market personal care product concepts and formats, hybrid products, and clean beauty. Learn more about our custom formulating capabilities on our website here.
Private Label / Bulk
What if you don’t require a unique formula, and you plan to differentiate your brand through strong branding and consumer targeting instead?
Private label/bulk should work well for your business. This involves adding your own customized branding to a lab’s existing preformulated formula.
Although your products will be similar to other brands, it’s the least expensive and least time-consuming manufacturing process of all.
At Genie Supply, we offer over 60 clean and cruelty-free personal care products on a preformulated basis, including body lotions and hair wash products. Order samples of our private label range directly from our website here.
Custom Product Creation
What if your product idea is not 100% original, but it utilizes a special ingredient to set your brand apart from all your competitors?
Custom product creation is the manufacturing process for you. This involves adding a limited number of ingredients to a supplier's existing base formula.
Considered the middle ground between private label and custom formulating, this process is a good compromise to incorporate some form of customization at the early stages of business when your budget is too tight for custom formulation.
At Genie Supply, we offer two separate custom product creation packages to suit a range of different budgets. Learn more about which package is right for you on our website here.
4. Evaluating Personal Care Manufacturers Based On Ingredient Quality & Ethics
Once you have shortlisted all the personal care manufacturers that offer your preferred manufacturing process, it’s time to evaluate the quality of their products.
Unlike some makeup niches, there’s no hiding average formulas behind pretty packaging and a nice shade range – consumers value functional personal hygiene products above all else.
Ingredient Quality
The key to knowing if a personal care product works to remove body odors or moisturize and soften skin is in the ingredient list.
Take hydrating body lotions as an example - check the product listing for hydrating or moisturizing ingredients like glycerin (a humectant that helps retain moisture) and shea butter (packed with fatty acids that nourish and hydrate the skin).
At Genie Supply, our body lotion base features both glycerin and shea butter for a luxurious hydrating, moisturizing, and softening experience for your customers. Order samples of our body lotion base directly from our website here.
Ethical Ingredients & Formulas
However, effective ingredients aren’t enough.
It's equally important to evaluate the safety, origins, and ethics of the ingredients - especially if your brand is openly aligned with clean, vegan, cruelty-free, or sustainable values.
For example, according to UL Prospector, Triclosan is one of the most versatile and effective anti-odor and preservative ingredients in personal care products – but it’s also one of the most dangerous.
EWG classifies Triclosan as an ‘unacceptable’ product, and the ingredient is now even banned in some US jurisdictions. The Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, which was passed in Washington state in 2023, restricts the use of Triclosan in cosmetic products from 2025 onward.
In addition to choosing cleaner formulas, always check for animal-derived ingredients on the potential supplier’s website. Look for transparency regarding their commitment to cruelty-free products and sustainability practices.
At Genie Supply, clean, ethical, sustainable, and cruelty-free personal care products run at the heart of our manufacturing business. We formulate our products without over 2,000 common yet potentially dangerous cosmetic ingredients. Learn more about our commitment to clean and ethical beauty on our website here.
5. Choose Suppliers That Offer Contract Filling
After filtering your options to labs that fit your niche, offer high-quality and ethical products, and use your chosen manufacturing process…
There’s one final selection criterion before you make your decision:
Does this manufacturer offer contract filling in-house?
If a manufacturer does not offer this additional service, you will need to find filling 3PL services elsewhere, which could result in coordination issues and push back your product timelines. (Note: packaging is typically not included in this filling service).
At Genie Supply, we provide contract manufacturing services in-house – allowing small cosmetics businesses like yours to source your formula, testing, and filling all in one US-based place! Learn more about our contract manufacturing services on our website here.
In sum, finding the best personal care manufacturers for your business involves:
Conducting thorough market research and crafting a brand identity
Searching for supplier options through word of mouth, at trade shows, in directories, and online
Identifying the right manufacturing process for your business
Evaluating your options based on product quality and ethics
Shortlisting suppliers that offer contract filling
Ready to create your own line of personal care products? Genie Supply would love to help! To learn more, get in touch via email: customerservice@geniesupply.com or call: (812) 329-1105.
