Researchers key in battle for beauty business

While the study could lead to a best-selling new version of Head & Shoulders, Dawson said there was no way when they began to project the outcome in business terms.

"It was a real start from scratch," he jokes.

With no way to predict the return on the investment, Dawson said, "they've got to make that commitment to the research."

In a conference room, Mike Robinson, a biotechnologist, talks clinically about the difference between "young butt" and "old butt" as he explains recent studies of skin aging. Biopsies were taken from arms and buttocks of 18- to 20-year-old women and from women ages 60-76 to compare sun-exposed and unexposed skin.

Other scientists work on human skin and corneal equivalents developed in labs, which P&G says have helped nearly eliminate the use of animals for testing.

Products in development go on to the suburban Sharon Woods Technology Center, where Schwartz, the chemist, works, for the mixing of ingredients, testing and preparation for marketing.

In one room, paid subjects try out the latest makeup formulations in closely monitored, precisely measured conditions.

Employees try them, too.

Brown recently returned from a New York business meeting with his sandy brown hair looking brighter, shinier. He had been personally demonstrating a new Clairol hair coloring product.

For Lauren Thaman, P&G's global director for beauty science, getting to use the latest products long before they reach store shelves is a nice perk. Usually.