As T. Joseph Lin tells it, he studied chemical engineering simply because his mother told him to do so. “I was a good Chinese boy,” says Lin, a soft-spoken man who, with his wife Cathy and three sons, has lived in the Palisades since 1974. “I listened to my mother. My father started one of the oldest cosmetic companies in Taiwan, and studying chemical engineering made sense.” Lin grew up in Taiwan and came to the U.S. where he graduated from UC Berkeley in 1957 with a degree in chemical engineering. He then went on to receive a M.S. degree from the University of Washington in 1959. “When I finished school,” Lin says, “I realized that I still really did not know anything about cosmetics and decided that I had better look for a job in a cosmetic company to learn the trade.” Finding a job, however, was not easy. After many rejections, Lin was offered a job at Beauty Counselors Inc., a small company in Detroit where he worked on aerosols and manufacturing problems. Still yearning to learn more, Lin attended night school at Wayne State University, where he received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering. He soon joined Rohm and Hass in Philadelphia but in 1965 was lured to Max Factor by a headhunter, as a principal research chemist. “My dream was to work for a big company, and I was very excited about moving to Hollywood,” Lin says. But four years later, Lin’s mother asked him to return to Taiwan to help the family business, Shen Hsiang Tang, where he designed a new factory, set up a research and development department and trained the staff. He also created two cosmetic brands’VIP and Cellina’that are still popular in Taiwan today. Eventually, Lin felt he was losing his edge, and in order to keep up-to-date with scientific developments, decided to attend an International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) congress, where he met some Japanese scientists, who asked him to consult with them. And, once more, his life took an unexpected turn. “When I was a boy, Taiwan was a colony of Japan and I knew how to speak Japanese,” says Lin, who is also fluent in Mandarin as well as the Taiwanese dialect. “So I brushed up on the language and was soon lecturing in Japan.” In 1974, Lin returned to California and became an independent consultant for clients worldwide including Avon, Estee Lauder, Gillette, Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson to name a few. For years he wrote a popular column, “Notes from the Orient,” for “Cosmetics & Toiletries” magazine. In August, he was honored by a Japanese cosmetic trade magazine, “Fragrance Journal,” for his work as its columnist for the past 30 years. Although Lin continues to be an independent consultant, he has his own company, Shangri-La, Inc., where he is working with his sons Richard and Edward to develop skin-care products and innovations considered to be unique. Presently they have two products, under a brand called Octane, available: a green tea shampoo/body wash gel with mint and a re-energizing gel with ginseng boost. Needless to say, Lin has a lot to say about cosmetics and the industry today. “There is only so much you can do with cosmetics,” Lin begins. “Nowadays cosmetic companies have a lot of competition, like Botox, plastic surgery and laser. My view is that not just one thing will fulfill all the needs of the consumer. We need all these things. It’s a myth to think, for instance, that natural ingredients are better than synthetic. Synthetic ingredients are still necessary. They’re really indistinguishable from natural. “The desire to be beautiful is so strong. It’s part of our DNA. Companies want to get a high price for products. They have expensive jars. A French name. A big movie star as a spokesman. But they are getting smarter’and they really want to make good products. Women are willing to pay and the cosmetic companies are struggling to deliver. Essentially, the customer is really buying hope in a jar.” And scientists are always working to discover something better. For instance, for a while, they thought that Vitamin E would be a key ingredient to save the face. “Everybody was putting Vitamin E in cosmetics because we know the aging process of the skin is oxidation,” Lin explains. “So we thought that using antioxidants and, in this case, Vitamin E, was a good thing. And now we hear that it was bad for the heart. And then it all changed. “We’re continually learning. That shows that our understanding is not perfect yet. We still have a lot to learn about this thing we call nature.” It seems Lin’s mother was right about what Lin should study. Today, after 35 years in the business, Lin is recognized as an expert on cosmetic formulations and manufacturing. And he’s been able to give back to his native Taiwan, where he is on the board of the Taiwanese United Fund, a nonprofit cultural organization that raises money for young Taiwanese artists. “I enjoy my work,” Lin concludes. “I go to different countries, meet new people, discover new technologies. Newer functions are being discovered and I hope they’re real. I’m getting old myself, and am interested too!”
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