Is Water A Useless Ingredient
May 19, 2020
The most widely used cosmetic ingredient is water. It is almost always listed first on an ingredient label because it is usually the ingredient with the highest concentration. Some companies will tell you that water is an inactive ingredient and that it has no purpose and that companies use it to reduce costs. In response to this marketing myth companies have based their products on containing no water. Water is usually replaced with either essential oil hyrosols or Aloe Vera.
Now a couple of things need to clarified. Water has a purpose in a formula. It is a solvent for other ingredients as not all ingredients are oil soluble. The water in formulas usually is deionised. The reason that deionised water is used is because tap water can contain minerals. Depending on where you live the concentration and balance of minerals will be different. This is where the terminology hard water and soft water comes into play.
So what about companies who base their products off hydrosols?
Well all hydrosols and essential oils contain various chemicals as part of their chemistry. Hydrosols can vary quite differently to the same essential oil that it was extracted from. Natural essential oils and hydrosols can contain allergens. There are 26 listed cosmetic allergens and 16 of them are found in mother nature. Some fragrance ingredients do not cause allergy as such but may be chemically transformed on the skin in the presence of air, light or biochemical reactions inside the body, and these modified forms cause a reaction. So by replacing hydrosols with water may be setting your clients up for an increase in allergies.
In the diagram below you can see that linalool (cosmetic allergen) in Lavender hydrosol is much higher than in the corresponding essential oil. Linalool upon oxidising with air creates allergenic peroxides.
[caption id="attachment_2196" align="aligncenter" width="404"]
Hydrosol and Essential Oils of the same plant can vary quite immensely.[/caption]
There are many hydrosols which vary considerably with their chemical components. Below is a list of essential oils that possess a major component that is different from the corresponding oil. The assumption that hydrosols contain the exact properties of the aromatherapy oil is false. There are some that do possess similar properties but there is also a huge portion who do not.
[caption id="attachment_2199" align="aligncenter" width="702"]
Essential Oils whose hydrosol components vary extensively from the same essential oil[/caption]
The second most common ingredient to replace water is Aloe Vera. Aloe Vera in cosmetics comes in 3 forms. It can either be purchased in a fresh gel, reconstituted gel or a dried powder. Aloe Vera powder is carefully processed from the inner fillet of the aloe leaf. Care is taken to minimize disruption of the Aloin layer, which is then stripped. Further processed to remove pulp and fiber, the aloe gel is pasteurized and concentrated utilizing low temperature evaporation. The gel is then freeze dried to produce a product without additional additives or preservatives. Freeze drying prevents the breakdown of the great majority of the long chain polysaccharides found in the fresh leaf. The dried form retains its therapeutic properties.
[caption id="attachment_2198" align="aligncenter" width="440"]
Aloe vera gel degrades quickly[/caption]
So cosmetics that contain Aloe Vera Powder will obviously have water listed as an ingredient because they are using the concentrated form. Now what you have never been told is this......
ALOE VERA CONTAINS 98% WATER. Yes you read that. Aloe Vera is predominantly water. So the marketing hype of "we don't use water" really is just that hype, especially since Aloe Vera is composed predominantly of water. "There are as many as 200 different types of molecules in aloe vera. The aloe vera leaf gel contains about 98% water".
The concentrated form of Aloe Vera when used in cosmetics requires a very small percentage. One ounce of Aloe Vera Powder is the equivalent of 200 ounces of fresh Aloe Vera Juice. So for example if your product contained 40% Aloe Vera Gel the equivalent in dried form would be 0.2%. So just because Aloe Vera is listed at the bottom of an ingredient deck does not mean it does not have sufficient to have therapeutic properties. The same can be said about Aloe being the first ingredient. A product that has the first ingredient as Aloe is not necessarily any more superior to one who has it as the last ingredient. Especially when you are comparing fresh to the dried form.
Reconstituted Aloe Vera contains dried Aloe Vera Powder and water which has been viscosity enhanced with a thickener. It also requires a preservative.
So do products based on Aloe Vera have any merit? Yes they do. If you have not read our post on Aloe Vera please see below.
http://www.educatedtherapists.com/cosmetic-ingredients/herbs/aloe-vera/
Aloe Vera has many therapeutic properties. Whether or not a product containing Aloe has skin benefits will depend on the rest of the formula.
References:
Processing, food applications and safety of aloe vera products: a review. J Food Sci Technol (September–October 2011) 48(5):525–533.
Commercial Extract of Aloe Vera. Journal of Cosmetic of Cosmetic Science Pak. Vol 22. No 1. 2000.
Be the first to know.
Subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates and announcements.
