LOOK UP AT THE INGREDIENTS LIST
Are waterless products safer?
All of us use skincare and hygiene care products in some way, shape or form. It might be a bar of soap, a facial moisturizer serum, a zero-waste shampoo, or maybe just even toothpaste.
On average, we use about 9 to 15 personal care products each day!
- How many ingredients is it per day?
A typical product contains from 15–50 ingredients. Considering the average woman uses between 9 and 15 personal care products per day, researchers have estimated that, when combined with the addition of perfumes, women place around 515 individual chemicals on their skin each day through cosmetic use. https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/chemistry-cosmetics)
- How long does it take for ingredients to go in our bloodstream?
Less than 1 min! . It will take exactly 35s for 65% of those ingredients to go in our bloodstream
Can a beauty product be 100% natural?
The answer is simple: Yes! Most beauty products that do not contain any water (denoted as AQUA on labels) are more likely to be 100% natural or made from 100% naturally derived ingredients.
Personal care products made without water are called anhydrous formulas.
Anhydrous, water-free, or waterless beauty refers to products that do not contain water. A formulator will use butters, nourishing oils, or active ingredients that are oil-soluble like Q10 to create a potent formula that does not require the use of preservatives.
Here below some examples of "waterless products" in our online boutique
However, going waterless can mean swapping out convenience for the sake of using more natural and healthier products. We choose to see this as just a good way to take time out for ourselves.
"With a powder face mask, more work is required from you than just dipping your fingers into a jar — you have to use a bowl, add water, and mix it with the product until you achieve the right consistency. You also must use the mask quickly because it does not contain preservatives. This may be inconvenient, but you can think of it like cooking a homemade meal with fresh ingredients. The result will be far tastier, fresher, and healthier and you can take sometimes for yourself"
Why do water-based products require preservatives?
Cosmetic products that contain water must be preserved to prevent microbial spoilage that would make the product unsafe for consumers. Preservatives play a very important role in products that contain water: they kill microorganisms and water-borne bacteria and prevent the growth of mold and yeast.
If you have taken a class with us, preservative is the last ingredient used in formulation. Preservative(s) is always added at the end of the manufacturing process, during the cool-down phase.
Are all waterless products preservative-free?
You might think that beauty products made from oils/butters (anhydrous formulas) are automatically preservative-free; however, the answer is not that simple.
Take a sugar scrub for example. Since these types of products are often used in the shower, it is likely that it will encounter water during use. Therefore, adding a preservative is strongly advised.
At Elodie's Naturals, we have decided to use a preservative whenever there is a risk that a product will come into contact with water
Some organic cosmetics brands think “no preservatives” is a good thing. Here's why we disagree!
Including water in a product helps provide hydration, which may be the main reason for using products like a hydrating or “aloe gel” serum (but of course, don’t forget your hydration basics: make sure to drink 1.5 liters of water every day!). In addition, some actives ingredients can only be dissolved in water, we call them "water soluble active ingredients".
Some hydrating serums may contain 90% water or more, while other serums may contain much lower percentages, such as our aloe gel serums: they contain only 32% water and 32% pure organic Aloe Vera gel. The rest of the formula is a blend of pure antioxidant oils and active ingredients like Vitamin C.
Natural is of course good, but synthetic ingredients are not all evil. The truth is, while there are countless incredible and effective ingredients found in nature, natural does not always mean non-toxic. You wouldn't eat just any mushroom you came across in the forest, right? And did you know that lemon essential oil can be phototoxic?
That being said, we strongly recommend to pick up products using "safe preservatives" authorised in the organic certification in Europe: Benzyl alcohol, Dehydroacetic acid - Potassium Sorbate, Sodium benzoate.
The advantages of waterless free products
Waterless products are indeed more concentrated. A good example is a facial cleanser. Water-based facial cleansing products can contain up to 80% water (like shower gel and so many beauty products!). They are less effective than oil-based cleansers and use surfactants which may strip the skin's natural oil barrier and cause irritation.
The best way to wash your face is with an oil-based cleanser (for any skin types, including prone-acne).
“Oil-based cleansers” come usually in 2 galenics: an oil cleanser or a cleansing balm. Some beauty companies sometimes offer some cleansing balm which are also “water-based” and this is really confusing for the consumer.
Wash your face with an oil-based cleanser
Are there any drawbacks or inconveniences associated with “water-free products?”
In all honesty, the only downside is for the manufacturer: waterless products are much more expensive to produce! Imagine the cost of manufacturing a beauty product made from 90% deionized water.
Take a sugar body scrub, for example. The cost of making a sugar scrub with water as the main ingredient can be anywhere from $2 to $5. Formulating a sugar scrub in an “anhydrous formula” can easily be up to three times more expensive. The reason is because instead of using water, you must add ingredients such as organic cocoa butter, Shea butter or organic oils.
Our advice: For some types of products such as face washes, sugar scrubs, and oil face serums, we highly recommend using waterless formulas. This is because anhydrous formulas will be more effective when it comes to cleansing (face wash), nourishing (sugar scrub, body butter, oil spray), and moisturizing (face oil serum) your skin.
What matters most is whether a product is safe, how effective and how many ingredient it contains.
The label on the back is much more important than the label on the front.
Any product can claim to be “all natural” but the ingredient list doesn’t lie. If you don’t know what an ingredient is, look it up on the app mentioned just below.
A skincare product won’t be more effective because the list of ingredients is longer
Let me give you an example: Hyaluronic acid (INCI: sodium hyaluronate). This natural polysaccharide (large sugar molecule) occurs in various tissues (skin, synovial fluids of joints, connective tissues). Hyaluronic acid holds 500 times its own weight of water and known to deliver an instant boost of hydration. We use sodium hyaluronate made from France, from French wheat fermentation with non-GMO yeasts, as anti-aging & humectant. Judge on quality and performance of ingredients.
The US skincare market is not regulated by the FDA, but since Europe bans many chemicals that are proven to cause cancer, birth defects, or hormone disruptors, we have chosen to follow the Cosmos ECOCERT certifications.
But not only: our formulas rely on the power of the highest quality plant-based ingredients from France and limited formulations (less than 15 ingredients) that are free of any toxic or carcinogenic substances
Whenever you’re shopping for products, you should always use the EWG's Healthy Living App or the Think Dirty App to scan a product's list of ingredients for any potentially harmful substances.
"The skin you want, minus the ingredient you don't want"
Ultimately, your have the choice to be part of the environmentally responsible movement by shopping true natural and/or organic skincare that follow the COSMOS certification.
To make a safe skincare, it start by organic farming and responsible sourcing.