HOW BEAUTIFUL IS YOUR DATA?

Is THE GENE-BASED SKIN CARE INDUSTRY IS GROWING. BUT HOW SAFE IS YOUR DNA IN THE HANDS OF A BRAND –AND IS IT WORTH THE RISK?

Brands are now using your genes to craft personalised skincare – but how safe is it to share your DNA?

Aswab of saliva for better skin, a drop of your blood for a healthier body: the era of hyperpersonalised beauty and wellbeing is upon us. As advances in beauty science filter down to the high street, we are all becoming increasingly knowledgeable, demanding ever more precision from our products and services. Hence the rise in DNAdriven skin care. With the global market for individual DNA testing predicted to hit $45 billion in the next four years,* the tantalising promise is that DNA-driven skincare and services prescribed and formulated around your genetic code will give better, quicker, more effective results.

But this kind of tailored skincare doesn’t come cheap. One Swedish company, Allél, tests 16 genetic variations in your DNA via a cheek swab. The cost for the test is £115, and a typical customer will be recommended five products, starting from £1,4OO. A similar test with Londonbased skincare expert and facialist Lisa Franklin starts at £52O. But the appetite is there, and it’s only increasing. ‘The beauty industry is leveraging the democratisation of DNA testing for a rising class of “skintellectuals”, who value personalised, precise and scientific skincare solutions,’ says Emily Safian-Demers from trend forecasters Wunderman Thompson. We’ve already seen this in other health fields (are you wearing your Fitbit right now?). It’s transforming the way we sleep, the way we eat, even the way we conceive. But downloading the apps, tracking your every move and inputting your daily data could have implications beyond your control. In the wrong hands, that information could be used to manipulate your life without you even realising it.

We’ve all been made aware of the murky business of data mining in recent years, but it’s hard to understand how it can affect you on a small scale. ‘Any single identifier – your age, name, income, location, ethnicity, religion – combined with another could potentially be related back to you,’ explains Ailidh Callander from the charity Privacy International. The results can be anything from targeted advertising to a refusal of services. The former (ads on your Instagram feed, for example) might seem more irritating than anything else, but things can easily take a darker turn, says Callander: ‘If you become pregnant, the value of your data rockets exponentially. Companies want that data to target you with products and services. But imagine if you lose the baby. You continue to be bombarded, and you don’t know where from. There’s no way to stop it.’

Things ramp up a notch when DNA data is involved. The way in which you are targeted can be refined endlessly – even your mortgage application might be refused because you have a predisposition to disease. Or you might not be able to get health insurance. The future could bring even more sinister developments, such as a potential employer – or even a romantic partner – paying to access to your genetic data. It makes the practise of trawling someone’s social media accounts for red flags look like child’s play. W hen it comes to beauty, are the benefits of DNA-based products even worth the reward? Rachel, 32, forked out for a £9OO course of personalised products to calm uncomfortable redness and smooth the ever-deepening tracks across her forehead. ‘It was interesting to see what came up in the results,’ she says. ‘But I slathered them on and, though I saw a small difference, it was nothing compared to later having a face-to-face with a dermatologist, for a fraction of the price.’ Rachel might have ditched the personalised plan but her DNA data harvested by the skincare brand is possibly still out there – and vulnerable in the wrong hands. How personal is too personal? That’s up to you to decide.