CSR: Reducing Water Usage In Cosmetics Industry
World going through water crisis is not breaking news. In times when water could end up turning into a luxury, the cosmetics and personal care industry is turning to waterless products.
Water or Aqua is the first ingredient in majority of the cosmetics or personal care products which accounts to almost 70% to 80% of the volume of a formula. Since it is one of the best universal solvents and easily available at a very affordable price, it is used in almost all the products to increase its volume.
Last year Mintel’s key beauty trends for 2025 included water as “the new luxury,” suggesting brands need to limit dependence on it. Apart from this, there was rising demand from the customers for more concentrated products. The brands have thus started working towards the sustainable cause by catering to the audience by introducing more water free products.
L’Oreal have pledged to reduce its water consumption by 60% by 2050 since 2005. It has succeeded in reducing it by 48% between 2005 to 2017. Hindustan Unilever has also launched water smart initiative to reduce its water usage up to 55% since 2008. Unilever is working towards developing “fast-rinse technology” in hair conditioners. It has launched a product with this technology in the US so far. This revolutionary product will reduce the use of water in rinsing the conditioned hair.
Brands such as Bobby brown, Maybelline, Oriflame, NYX, Makeup Forever, etc. are including stick based solid foundations in their line of products. Several brands of deodorants are already available in solid format.
Apart from the sustainable reasons, water is also a good medium for bacteria to multiply. In order to increase shelf life, the cosmetics that contain water also has a lot of preservatives. Reduction of water print in them would also be helpful to reduce the use of these synthetic chemicals. This would only result in better skincare. Several brands, inspired by that are coming up with more water less beauty solutions.
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The CSR Journal Team
