The present invention relates to collecting data relating the ability of personal care compositions to soothe damaged skin. This method can also be used to measure other perceptual attributes that are defined by an individual's internal construct. These perceptual attributes include, but are not limited to, soothing, calming, relaxing, relieving, or pleasantness. More particularly, the present invention relates to an in vivo method of quickly and accurately measuring the soothing ability of a personal care composition, such as, for example, a facial tissue. The methods described herein allow for clinical studies and direct comparisons of different personal care compositions for determining the relative abilities of the products to deliver soothing attributes or beneficial perceptual changes to damaged skin, and are particularly well suited for determining the soothing attributes of facial tissue.
In today's marketplace, there are a wide variety of personal care compositions available to the consuming public. Regarding facial tissues alone, there are several brand-name and generic choices for consumers. Because the marketplace is crowded and competitive, companies seek to promote their respective brands by making certain “product claims” to garner consumer attention and focus; that is, companies may make specific statements or assertions on packaging regarding the product's characteristics or ability to perform certain functions. For example, a facial tissue manufacturer may promote its facial tissue as “the strongest tissue” or as “the most absorbent tissue” to concentrate consumer attention on their brand as opposed to a competitor's brand which is for sale in close proximity.
Because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, competitors consistently monitor one another's product claims to ensure that such claims represent truthful statements regarding the products. As such, it is imperative that companies compile appropriate data to substantiate product claims should such claims be challenged by one or more competitors. To meet this need for data and analysis of that data, companies routinely conduct studies, such as clinical studies, utilizing the consuming public as test subjects. As one might expect, these studies are typically carefully thought out and planned and generally utilize the assistance of one or more testing services to ensure appropriate, reliable data is gathered for analysis.
To date, some methods generally utilized by various companies to generate data to substantiate product claims have not been completely satisfactory. For example, methods used to date to measure the soothing characteristics of facial tissue, to allow direct comparison of the characteristics of different facial tissues, have been unsatisfactory for numerous reasons. Some of the shortcomings of these methods include the failure of the testing method to collect data from individuals with relevant skin damage, the failure of the testing method to collect data from skin on certain areas of the body, and the failure of the testing method to produce high confidence level, reproducible results. As such, a need exists in the art for methods for collecting data relating to measuring the soothing attributes of personal care compositions such as, for example, facial tissue.