Waterless products and formulators' challenges

Waterless is the buzzword of the time and anybody who is somebody in personal care is trying to throw some waterless products into the market.

Balms are one of the product sections where small/indie and artisanal manufacturers are above and beyond the mainstream industry.

I have had the privilege of working with small manufacturers in over 100 countries around the world during the last 11 years while they have been creating awesome balms and butters and lotion bars from regional oils and butters as well as macerated regional plants with deep cultural roots.

Actually balms and salves are not a new invention. People have been making home remedies for thousands of years by macerating plants in oils and fats and storing them in clay pots and jars to be used for all possible and impossible ailments from a broken heart to a snake bite.

With the invention and big-batch production of emulsifiers as well as the availability of plastic containers in huge quantities, creams and lotions pushed the balms to the sidewalk of the personal care industry and waterless products became the specialty of herbalists or remained confined to home remedies.

Balms are enjoying a renaissance and a prominent status on the shelves of the drugstores during the last decade because of the increasing popularity of plant oils and extracts at one side as well as the increasing awareness about the scarcity of water, apathy for preservatives and public attention to carbon footprint and sustainability of personal care products.

Some 20 years ago one could sell the ugliest product with the most unpleasant optic, scent and skin feel on local farmers' or souvenier markets by just claiming they are "natural" and made with this oil and that butter.

This approach is now passee and the consumer demands are growing and become more complicated. Sustainability, waste reduction, green and natural sell like freshly baked bread but the majority of the consumers are still not ready to trade a pleasant skin feel and sensory/olfactory experience with the heroic action of saving the planet. And we all know that the FEEL and the EMOTIONS are the main decision makers when it comes to marketing anything and specially when it comes to personal care.

During the last 11 years I have experienced that the main challenge of our customers (who are the manufacturers and advocates of natural personal care) is the transition period when consumers who have been using conventional skincare for decades convert to "natural" cosmetics. Their first objection is the skin feel , lack of flow and greasiness of "natural" formulations compared to the mainstream conventional products (and we are all aware of their content).

Long story short:

when it comes to replacing creams and emulsions with waterless formulations:

• we can enjoy the ease of the manufacturing process (this is something that the small manufacturers do gleefully)
• we usually do not need a preservative (what a blessing for those who, justified or unjustified hate preservatives and think they are the evil in the jar)
• we need less complicated and less wasteful packaging material

BUT

• we are filling 100% of the formulation with oils, butters and other lipids and we need to create something that does not feel heavy, sticky or greasy over the skin. The consumer must not feel as if she has applied the oil from the frying pan over her skin
• we need to please consumers who are living in hot and humid climate. Those who usually do not have a tendency to apply heavy creams. Balms and butters are generally more appealing to dry skin or cold and dry climate
• we need to create something that easily melts over the skin with a nice flow and pleasant feel but does not melt and fall apart in summer in the purse of the consumer.

This is all not impossible but the mainstream industry with the old-school formulators from the paraffin and silicone oils era are not yet mature for this mission.

This is a very daring claim but at least in this case the industry shall swallow its pride and have a look at the artisanal formulations. They don't have the state of the art laboratories and test equipment of the industrial facilities yet they can create the most amazing balms and lotion bars.