Health has always been a key tenet of the L'Oréal-owned brand, which aims to reactivate skin's own healthy mechanisms. The general populace is catching up now, with a study revealing 70 percent of adults today say their health is the number-one priority, according to Vincent Chauvière, global brand president of Vichy Laboratoires.
"More people are changing their behavior to lead a healthier life," he said. That can be regarding what they eat or how they sleep or exercise, for instance.
"We know the Vichy consumers today tend to over-index in all these behaviors," Chauvière said. Inchauspé's appointment comes as the brand morphs.
"We want to develop Vichy in a more integrative way," he said.
Integrative medical health is the convergence of conventional medicine, such as dermatology, science and tech, with more holistic disciplines, like nutrition, sleep, exercise and mental health, to boost overall health.
"This is why we are very excited to sign partnerships with key health professionals that are bringing to Vichy this complimentary expertise," Chauvière said.
That's where Inchauspé, a French biochemist, nutrition expert and New York Times bestselling author of "Glucose Revolution" and "The Glucose Goddess Method," comes in.
Growing up in France, she always knew about Vichy.
"When they reached out, because they wanted some help with extending their science and were going toward a messaging about holistic health, I immediately became passionate about their mission and what they were doing," Inchauspé said.
"It was quite natural," she continued. "My passion is explaining science. So the opportunity to be able to get deep into their science, clinical trials and studies, and then get to explain that for me is not work -- that's a lot of fun."
Inchauspé said she has the same vibe as Vichy's team, who wants to make good products accessible to the masses.
"I want people to have access to affordable science that's teaching them things and is actually going to create an impact in their lives," she said.
Inchauspé adores "vulgarizing science of any kind of topic" -- making it sexy and accessible. She focused on skin science for content created for Vichy.
"It's a great way to enter your health journey," Inchauspé said. "You also have to think about how you're eating, how you're exercising, your hormones, your mental health. It's such a good message more people need to know about."
The tie-in to beauty is that skin reflects one's internal health.
"My food hacks are about how the inside heals, so that shows on the outside," Inchauspé said. "All of their products are about what are the best, highest-quality things you can put on the outside, to help your skin and your body from the outside in. So we're kind of like two peas in a pod."
"With Jesse we are developing assets around collagen first -- how you should eat to avoid collagen degradation," Chauvière said. "And even to boost your collagen. This is where it's becoming integrative."
Inchauspé asked Vichy scientists questions like: "How many collagen molecules does the body make every single day?" (Spoiler alert: It's trillions.) And "Why is it that we can't put collagen molecules directly on to the skin?"
Vichy has been on fire. In 2023, the brand registered its strongest growth in 18 years, at plus 14 percent. And in the first half of 2024, it continued posting double-digit increases, bolstered by its Dercos franchise.
Such gains make industry sources expect that Vichy will reach yearly sales of 1 billion euros in 2025.
Chauvière outlined the three main phenomena driving the brand's growth: medical acceleration, digital acceleration and the dermo hair care segment's acceleration.
Today, Vichy is the second-most recommended brand by dermatologists around the world, with more than 70,000 suggesting it, and it ranks first among their recommendations for an anti-dandruff brand, thanks to Dercos.
At medical congresses over the past year, Vichy has had more than 10,000 visitors at its booths, and it places third globally for its number of medical and scientific publications in the dermo field.
Vichy's media model has also been transformed, with a stronger emphasis on advocacy and social media. The brand hit 4 billion online views last year, up 300 percent versus 2022, due to brand- and influencer-developed content. Its influencers include those specialized in skin and hair care, as well as dermatologists and pharmacists.
"This is allowing us to talk to younger generations," Chauvière said. "We have created a campaign, called '#mevsdandruff,' that is about debunking the taboos around dandruff that are still not talked so much about and also introducing dermatological solutions to younger generations."
That hashtag is on its way to hitting 2 billion views on TikTok by year-end.
"It says a lot about how we can amplify the power of dermatology on social media," Chauvière said.
Another key contributor to Vichy's growth is category transformation. The brand's number-one growth driver today is Dercos, the brand's medical hair care franchise. (Ten of its Dermatological Shampoo, or DS, are sold each minute around the world.)
"It's been booming in the past years," said Chauvière, of the brand that takes top spot in its category sales-wise today. "It's all about scalp."
Specifically, it homes in on dandruff and hair loss, or alopecia, the two main scalp pathologies. Hair-related issues are currently the second most common reasons people consult dermatologists.
"That explains the hyper growth of the segment," Chauvière said. "One of the fastest-growing segments in the dermocosmetics world today is hair care."
However, it remains small, only 3 percent of the total hair care market, versus dermocosmetic beauty, which is around 10 percent of its overall product segment.
Dercos' sales have tripled in size over the past four years alone.
"It's also the number-one priority when it comes to global development of the brand," Chauvière said. "It is the main focus for us in China."
Growth has been very rapid there.
"China has even become our number-one market when it comes to anti-dandruff segments," said Chauvière, adding scalp care is a highly understandable concept in the country -- more than in the western world these days. "The medical approach is also very relevant."
Alongside accelerating in China, another geographic development priority will be the U.S., where Vichy does not yet trade in hair care. Dercos is to be launched there in January 2025. E-commerce -- especially Amazon -- will play a key role, alongside Vichy's other distribution there.
This month, Vichy will present a new study at the European Congress of Dermatology showing how DS formula works on everyone's scalp, regardless of age, hair type and ethnicity.
"This is a first around diversity of scalp in this industry," Chauvière said.
Dercos recently launched the Anti-Dandruff Serum 10, leave-in scalp care, and a two-in-one daily shampoo and conditioner.
North Asia and North America are important for Vichy's growth overall. Today, Europe is its biggest market, followed by South America -- particularly Brazil, where the brand's highest percentage of business is in hair care.
E-commerce is the fastest-growing retail channel, soon to reach 30 percent of total sales.
Skin care, and especially collagen products, remain important for Vichy, too.
"Collagen is the top rising ingredient online -- on TikTok there are like 8 billion views on collagen alone overall," he said. "It's quite a magic protein."
It is the most abundant protein in the body, the most abundant element in the human body after water. With age, though, collagen decreases.
"One of the key focuses for us is the [Vichy Liftactive] Collagen Specialist cream," said Chauvière, referring to the brand's bestselling cream, billed to stimulate the protein's production. That franchise, earlier this year, added eye care.
"We are working on brand new knowledge behind collagen, which is that there is not only one type of collagen in your skin, but there are 16 collagens," Chauvière said. These can be grouped into four families.
"We will introduce and launch a new proprietary technology at the beginning of next year that has the ability to boost every single one of these families of collagens and so visibly reduce -- like never before for us -- the signs of aging and boost the health of the skin," he continued.
Vichy just introduced a little device, called the Scalp Consult Pro, powered by artificial intelligence, for diagnosis by dermatologists and pharmacists. It came out first in Italy and China, then will expand in France this month prior to a global rollout in 2025.
"It's only the beginning," Chauvière said of Vichy's evolution.