Formulating waterless cosmetics has continued to be a growing trend as consumers want more eco-friendly, travel ready, and low waste personal care products. Just what product forms work for waterless cosmetics, and how are they put together? Read on to find out…
How to formulate waterless bar formulas – where it all began
We first started seeing waterless bar formulas from mostly innovative, eco-friendly Indie skincare brands over five years ago. The concept was simple: formulate a concentrated ‘bar’ that consumers could wet just prior to application, then apply as if it was a regular liquid product.
However, waterless bar formulas proved to be far more difficult to create, in the early days at least. In order to create a bar form, you not only need to take out the water portion of the formula, but then increase the functional content of the formula so that it will work properly when wetted, and make the final product set just right. If the bar is too hard, it will crumble, crack, or be too hard to work with, even when water is added. If the bar is too soft, it can be deemed ineffective by consumers or again, too difficult to work with. The trick with waterless bar formulas is therefore to get the right setting and melting point for ease of use and manufacture, whilst also achieving the right consistency, hardness and performance during consumer use.
Here is a guide to get you started for a cleansing bar:
- 20 -40%w/w anionic foaming cleanser in powder or wax form only – use the lower side of input for facial bars, or the high side for shampoos. Watch how to make waterless face & body wash here.
- 10 – 35%w/w lipid content – this will depend on whether you are formulating a face cleansing bar (more oil), body wash (mid range input) or shampoo (low input).
- 5-7%w/w glycerin – this helps with flexibility of the bar, foaming and skin feel.
- 10-25%w/w non-ionic surfactant/emulsifier with a high HLB value in waxy or powder form only. Use the lower input for shampoos and body wash, and the higher input for facial cleansers. This material will also help you adjust the final hardness of the bar, once set. See how input differs when formulating waterless shampoo bars, here.
- 11 – 35% superfatting and solubilising agents. These can be adjusted to help create the desired end feel after wash off, as well as alter the hardness of the bar.
- 1-2%w/w glycerin based extracts – to boost marketing story, performance and skin feel.
- 1-2%w/w fragrance, essential oil, antioxidants or micas for sparkle.
You don’t need preservatives in a bar product as there is not sufficient water present to enable microbial growth; but you will need antioxidant if you are using natural plant oils and essential oils. Active ingredients can be added if they can tolerate the heat of processing.
As you can see, it takes a bit of trial and error to get the balance right between performance, hardness and consumer acceptance. It’s even trickier when you start formulating waterless conditioner bars and waterless moisturising bars!
How to formulate waterless foaming powders
Since hardness and form is not an issue with a powder product, these are much easier waterless formulas to create. In this case, you need to source powder foaming materials only, then use them in the following ratios:
- 10-25%w/w primary powder surfactant: if using a sulphate, and especially if creating a waterless face wash powder, use the lower input. If using isethionates, and for shampoo products, you can use a higher input.
- 10 – 15%w/w secondary mild surfactant: choose a mild powder surfactant to boost foam and gentleness, such as a sulfosuccinate.
- 20%+w/w starch: this helps the product remain free-flowing throughout its shelf life and also boosts a mild skin-feel on application.
- 3-5%w/w fast hydrating gum or polymer: this helps the product feel silky soft on application but also helps the product gel quickly for easy spreading and great foaming. Having this material helps ‘hold’ the product together when it is first wetted so that it doesn’t just fall off the skin while being applied.
- 1-2%w/w lipid, fragrance or antioxidant (optional): if adding these materials, you will need to spray them onto the powder while being mixed in a ribbon blender.
It is largely a matter of trying different inputs of your chosen materials then testing them with water to see which combination yields the desired results on application. Watch how to formulate a waterless foaming powder here. You can also get innovative with product forms, like waterless powder cleansing masks, like this one. Since there is no water present, preservatives are not needed either.
How to formulate waterless liquid concentrates
These are a newer ‘waterless’ product to enter the market and are again a bit trickier to put together. They are commonly not completely waterless, but instead, a very low water version of the normal presentation of the product, so they can be mixed with more water just before application and then used as normal. Packaging these products for suitable dispensing and explaining how a consumer should use them is the trickiest part with these products, because they are more costly to produce given their concentrated form – but cheaper in the long run, if a consumer uses them correctly.
Waterless liquid concentrates can also be quite viscous, almost paste like – so you may need to again fiddle with the form of these products to make them easy to use.
To formulate waterless liquid concentrates, you will need to subtract the water from your formula, so you are left with just functional materials. This means all functional ingredients will appear to have quite a high input compared to the water containing version. Here is a guide to inputs:
- Approximately 35%w/w of a 30% anionic surfactant plus amphoteric surfactant. There is water present in these materials which is why liquid concentrate products are not truly waterless, but instead, ‘no water added’.
- 5-8%w/w of a non-ionic surfactant or superfatting agent to boost foam and mildness.
- 5-8%w/w of a polyquaternium material in liquid form.
- 15%w/w glycerin is important to boost foam, increase mildness and improve skin feel on wash off.
- 1-3%w/w of a fast-hydrating gum or polymer to help hold the formula together when it is mixed with water just before use.
- Around 1%w/w fragrance, essential oils and antioxidant if desired. A preservative is necessary in these formulas because there is still water present in the surfactants and polyquaternium.
It can take a few trials in the lab before you get the form of these products just right – careful of them becoming too thick! Watch how to put together a shampoo concentrate here.
Go waterless today!
Consumers are increasingly demanding eco-friendly products and waterless cosmetic formulas are one of the best ways to deliver this to them! Just remember to follow the guides and be prepared for a few extra trials in the lab to get the form and performance just right. Remember to communicate the ideal mixing ratios on your packaging too, for ultimate consumer satisfaction.
Happy formulating!
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