water is not a “filler” ingredient
Is water a “filler” ingredient?
You've probably seen a number of water-less or anhydrous products by now. There can be various tactics to sway consumers to believe that water-less is superior to water-based products. However, the answer is no. Water is not a filler ingredient, and here’s why.
Water is the universal solvent
This is something that we all learned in science class. A solvent is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. Water is used to dissolve other substances, and in this case, other ingredients in a formula.
Ingredients have various solubilities. They can be soluble in other solvents like ethanol or glycols.
However, some of your favorite ingredients are probably water soluble:
niacinamide
ascorbic acid (vitamin c)
sodium hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid
What ingredient is needed to make most products?
That’s right… water!
Emulsions make up a great portion of the products on the market: milks, lotions, creams, conditioners, you name it! Emulsions are the combination of water, oil, an appropriate emulsifier, whether it is oil in water (o/w) or water in oil (w/o), and preservative. No water, no emulsion, and there goes majority of the products that are on the market.
You may ask, “But doesn’t water take ~70% of a formula?”
But isn't the human body mostly water? How do you think you function?
This is actually a very good question, and in some cases, yes, but it really just depends on the formula, ingredients, aesthetics, and stability. The ratio of water to oil is just one factor for the stability of emulsions. The % of water can vary depending on the type of emulsion and the type of product being created.
More water = less potent
This is actually false, and it also depends on the product and formula. Just because there is more water in a product does not mean that it is "less potent" than water-less products.
Many ingredients DO NOT need to be used at high levels to be effective. Some are effective as low as 0.1%. Examples can include some of your favorite ingredients:
sodium hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid
ceramides
Therefore, there is plenty of room to include ingredients at effective levels in a water-based formula. The % of an ingredient that is used heavily depends on any restrictions that a brand may provide, which includes price.
Is waterless actually waterless?
Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no.
Have you ever seen "aloe barbadensis leaf juice" in a product marketed as water-less? This is dependent on the region that the product is sold in and the regulations of certain regions, but there are some concentrated aloe powders that can be added to water to be reconstituted as aloe juice. And so, if you've seen "aloe barbadensis leaf juice" on an ingredients list and not "water", well... there's your water!
This doesn’t mean that the product listing aloe juice instead of water is bad. Aloe can provide various cosmetic benefits and for a product to consist of a high % of aloe juice would likely indicate to a consumer that it would be efficacious. However, it can be misleading to state this kind of product as “waterless” when the formula very much starts with water + aloe powder.
Conclusion
Water is crucial in formulation to create various products and to be a carrier for various cosmetic actives. There is nothing wrong with waterless, but there's nothing amazing about it either. Being conscious about water consumption is one thing. Misleading marketing tactics are another. Instead of thinking that waterless is superior to water-based, just think of waterless as just being without water.