SKIN DEEP; Learning To Speak To Latino Complexions

THE light-brown complexion of Vilda Vera Mayuga glows in a way that suggests she devotedly visits a dermatologist, sits for facials or drowns her skin in expensive creams and serums. But Ms. Mayuga, 30, a lawyer and native Puerto Rican who lives in Manhattan, hasn't been to the dermatologist in more than five years. Instead, she relies on remedios caseros -- home remedies that the women in her family have used for generations -- as the cornerstone of her otherwise spare skin-care regimen.

"I like to use the cream that comes out of the cactus," she said, referring to sabila, or aloe vera, which she uses for dry skin, dark spots and scars, her most common problems. "You cut it and you squeeze it out and you boil it, and then you put it against your skin."

It is no secret among physicians that natural remedies like these are popular among Hispanics in the United States. But skin care companies with products to sell are nonetheless setting their sights on Latinos -- the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, which the United States Census Bureau projects will make up one-fifth of the population by 2030 and one-quarter by 2050.

"I don't think it's lost on anyone that our population is shifting," said Margo Weitekamp, vice president for new ventures at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company. That's why, in 2004, her company bought AMBI Skincare, a brand made for black women, and has since adapted it to appeal to women of Hispanic and Asian descent, too. Their products include fade creams, a moisturizer with sunscreen and an acne-clearing treatment to help reduce the dark marks that pimples can leave behind.

Neutrogena and Aveeno Active Naturals, also owned by Johnson & Johnson, now offer a scrub, a peel, a night treatment, an eye cream and moisturizers to even the skin's tone or erase lingering acne marks -- common concerns among Hispanics.

Meanwhile, Avon, which has a devoted Latina following, allocated nearly 15 percent of its media expenditures to Hispanic-specific ad campaigns in 2004, the last year tracked, and Procter & Gamble spent nearly $150 million on Hispanic-geared media, according to the market research firm Mintel International Group.