Summer 2022 • Vol. 28 • Issue 6
Waterless and Low Water Formats in Cleansing
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…Andrew Miller, Cara English, and Gina Guiliano Koustoubardis
Ecological Consciousness About Water Usage and Environmental Impact
hen scanning the back of your beauty and personal care products, you will often notice that water appears as the first ingredient on the label. In fact, it is estimated that most skin and body products contain anywhere from 80 to 95% water. Water is used for many reasons including its function as a solvent, enabling other ingredients to be dissolved, and is the basis to create emulsions, hydrogels, and surfactant preparations. It can also help provide volume to products, making application easier as well as dilute formulations to ensure ingredients won’t irritate the skin or scalp. While there are benefits to using water in beauty or personal care products, we also know there are concerns over water usage. The Ecological Threat Register,1 conducted by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), estimates that “already, there are more than 2.6 billion people facing high or extreme water stress, meaning they either don't have enough water for their needs or that their water supply is at risk of disruption.” Climate crisis could displace 1.2 billion people by 2050, the report warns. They also estimate that by 2040, a total of 5.4 billion people— or more than half of the world's projected population—will live in countries facing high or extreme water stress. Many manufacturers are now trying to address the water crisis through innovative product development in the space of solid, anhydrous, or low water containing formulas. Everything from bars to powders to highly concentrated products are being developed and ingredient suppliers are developing additional solutions to meet these demands. A shampoo bottle of water might seem like a few drops in the face of climate change; however, if we continue to save water in our purchasing decisions, those few drops of consumption can turn into a flood of savings for the Earth. The water crisis is not the only focus here, consumers are thinking about the impact the products they buy have on the environment and how sustainable they really are. Reducing plastic packaging or using alternative recyclable packaging that is more environmentally conscious is tied to trending formats that are anhydrous or low water containing. In the United States, 83% of consumers are interested in trying products with eco-friendly packaging and 34% would be willing to pay more for it, according to Mintel.2 In addition, waterless or reduced water formulations help cut transport and energy costs, overall reducing one's carbon footprint.
Overview: Solid Surfactants in Waterless or Low Water Formats
Surfactants are surface active agents and have the ability to modify the interface between various phases such as water and oil phases. They are amphiphilic molecules meaning one portion of the molecule is hydrophilic “the head” and another portion is hydrophobic “the tail”. Due to their structure, the effects of the interface are the result of the ability to orient themselves in accordance (continued on Page 5) with the polarities of the two opposing phases. Surfactants have many functions such as cleansing/detergency,
N Y S C C N AT U R A L I N G R E D I E N T S S Y M P O S I U M • J U N E 3 0 ...see pages 10-25 for more information.