What is waterless beauty? Everything you need to know

Waterless beauty is not new to Indians, those who did not westernise with the wave always used ancient- ayurvedic ways to wash and nourish the skin. Different herb /clay Powders, oils & butters and water in their respective state have always made up as super effective known beauty ingredients.

With various industrial revolutions the past couple of decades, many ingredients especially chemicals & preservatives have made their way to skin care & beauty products with the mere motive to make them cost effective & non-greasy. The focus in recent years has majorly shifted to fancy packaging, advertisements with tall claims, misleading terms like pure, natural, organic etc. simply to lure the customer.

Waterless beauty & skin care products come back is about returning to healthy, chemical & preservative free products. Over the years be it food or skin care, the growing side effects of the synthetics- chemicals and preservatives have forced mankind to think on the return journey.

Hence waterless beauty is the said new era to dawn upon for generations who did not witness their parents/grandparents using oil in place of lotion.

What is water less beauty or skin care product?

Waterless beauty or water less skin care products simply means the product does not contain water at all. The water less concept is making a strong comeback simply because in the past 3-4 decades there has been tremendous use of water in skin care products to make them economical – cost effective and of course non-greasy. Light texture, water/gel based, non-greasy (no chip chip) has been the promoted favoured trend in the last few decades.

Water has been used as filler only because it’s inexpensive. The increased water usage reduced the overall effectiveness of the product. The more the water, less effective is the product creating a constant urge to reapply.

Hence waterless products (Waterless Beauty Products) are potent, efficient and last long with better shelf life of its own.

One of the simple examples of water based waterless skin care products is Body Lotion. Lotion is a mix of water & oil which calls for the addition of an emulsifier to blend water & oil as the two do not blend with each other on its own. Additional ingredients like colour, fragrance/perfume, and thickener are added to enhance the colour, texture & aroma in the product.

After shower Body oil is the Waterless skin care product {Waterless Beauty Products} to use in place of body lotion. The companies suggest applying the oil on the body immediately after the shower, on moist skin to lock the moisture and stay day long moisturised with no urge to look for a bottle of lotion multiple times a day.

Both water based & water less are used for the same purpose but applying water based products means application of chemicals & preservatives as well.

So in a way the waterless skin care is economical, healthy & environment friendly.
Economical – A bottle of body oil lasts much longer than a bottle of body lotion as only a few drops help moisturise the body. Don’t have to pay for the water which is free flowing from the tap and is the major ingredient in the bottle of a lotion.

Healthy – No water means no addition of emulsifier and preservatives.

Environment Friendly – The usage of no chemicals and preservatives help keep the environment healthy.

In earlier times, mustard oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, desi ghee was used as skin moisturiser after the shower to keep the skin nourished- free from dryness and itch.
The rich royal community used aromatic plant oils like rose oil mixed with carrier oils to beautify the skin in ancient times.

Are water based products bad for skin?

Water as an ingredient is beneficial for the skin as it helps in quick and easy absorption of oils in the skin pores. Water being light & non – greasy, ph balancing helps sink better in skin pores providing skin its needed hydration and long last relief from dryness/itch. Therefore, water is used with oils/butters to reap maximum benefit to the skin.

But water when added as an ingredient to the product like face cream, body lotion, face serum certainly needs chemicals & preservatives to give it a texture, consistency and shelf life.

These chemicals & preservatives may unknowingly and invisibly do more harm to the body than the good we expect from the product.

Many brands claim to use less than 1% food preservatives in their formulation to prevent products from going bad calling the product completely safe.

Think if less than 1% preservative can save the 99% of the product from damage, isn’t the used food preservative strong enough to make an impact on our bodies?
And hence the water in the product as an ingredient is bad.

Is waterless beauty a new concept?

Washing the skin with different herb powders, using oil/ghee to moisturise the skin, using beeswax to set the hair are some of the traditional day to day skin beauty & care routines that were practiced in different Indian homes for times unknown. The chemicals & preservatives used in today’s formulation in different organic and ayurvedic products were not known in ancient times – with no mention in ayurveda.

The products were used in their own natural state with least processing.

We are going back to the same concept of retaining the original natural physical & solubility state of the product with zero alteration.

Is water less beauty a step towards sustainability?

Waterless beauty definitely is a positive step towards sustainability but connecting it with only water scarcity is hype, a trend mostly seen as a marketing tool.

Going waterless in product formulation is a tiny percentage of water saved as compared to water wasted in manufacturing, packaging & shipping of the product. Water used in producing chemicals & preservatives, used in bath/showers, toilets, kitchen etc are by far the most wasted – create unthinkable water footprints.

But, going waterless has multiple health & sustainability benefits too.

No water – means no chemicals & preservative needed in the product.
Healthy product
A potent and effective product
Product is environment friendly
Economical in the long run- last longer than conventional products as only few drops/pea size is needed at a time

Is Waterless and clean beauty the same thing?

Waterless & clean beauty may not be the same completely.
Clean beauty means that the product is safe, free from toxic ingredients, all ingredients are labelled etc. However the term is not regulated by any law. It is the term that has evolved over the years looking at the need of the market. Clean beauty may contain water and chemicals & preservatives, thought to be safe for humans.

SNAANA with 100% chemical & preservative free – waterless beauty product line since 2017 is a game changer in altering the dynamics of the skin care industry.

The need and the desire of the founder to go completely natural in formulation of the skin care beauty products led to clean – effective and environment friendly product composition, something which came out to be new to the consumers in terms of texture, consistency, colour and aroma.

The thumb rule of the formulation is not to alter the state and solubility of the ingredient. For example A lotion formulation calls for the addition of water and oils. Since the two do not mix on its own with each other – a solubilizer is needed to facilitate blending water and oil. Anything that contains water and is in liquid state certainly needs preservative to enhance the shelf life.

It’s only the undiluted hydrosols/ steam distilled water/ark in water state that stays without preservatives for more than a year if stored in proper conditions. Know more on the traditional technique of making hydrosols and their multiple benefits.

Hence to keep the products clean – chemical and preservative free – it is important to retain their natural property.

And that’s when the brand started making a conscious effort in educating the customer in choosing the right chemical free healthy product. In the course, SNAANA found that consumers, a lay man if often lured by fancy attractive green & organic labels and choose their skin care product not by ingredients or solely by benefits but their buy majorly depends on the product fragrance and preferably a non- greasy texture.

Conscious and health savvy consumers are the torch bearers in appreciating and promoting the brand SNAANA for its clean work in the skin, health & wellness industry.

Products at SNAANA are prepared the traditional way and hence there is a close association with farmers cultivating herbs and cash crops to produce pure raw material to ensure a quality and effective product.

SNAANA online store is a unique shop for skin, health and wellness products to cater and suit almost all your needs.

Return to yourself to a healthy – beautiful you with SNAANA