The deepening climate crisis means the pressure to take meaningful action as an industry has never been greater. While carbon emissions often dominate sustainability conversations, there is a growing awareness that water, one of the planet’s most vital and vulnerable resources, also demands urgent attention.

From formulation and manufacturing to consumer use and ingredient sourcing, water flows through every part of the beauty value chain and yet, its abundance has long been taken for granted. With Water Saving Week spotlighting the realities of water scarcity, we wanted this blog to centre on the areas where there’s scope for beauty brands to re-evaluate their relationship with water.

As full-service private label manufacturers for leading global skincare and haircare brands, we believe this presents an opportunity for bold innovation, embedding sustainability into the heart of beauty product development and production. By embracing water reduction across every stage, from raw material selection right through to product routines, brands can simultaneously improve environmental performance, elevate their sustainability credentials, and connect more meaningfully with the values of today’s more eco-minded consumer.

Here, we explore five key areas where brands can take the lead in creating a more water-responsible future.

Waterless Beauty at the Consumer Level: Rethinking Routines for a Thirsty Planet

While water is one of the most overused and undervalued resources in the beauty industry, it is often overlooked in sustainability conversations. From lengthy shower-based rituals to water-heavy product formulations, the beauty routine has historically relied on easy access to clean water. But with growing concerns around water scarcity and consumer appetite for eco-conscious solutions, a new era of low-water beauty is emerging.

• The Rise of Waterless Routines: Environmental footprint is firmly on the radar for lots of beauty consumers, and for many, this starts with the sink.  As water scarcity becomes a more visible global issue, beauty users are actively seeking products and formats that minimise the need for water in both product use and production. This shift opens up a significant opportunity for brands to reimagine routines, positioning waterless innovation as both a luxury and a necessity.
   
• Solid, Stick, and Powder Formats: From cleansing powders and solid shampoos to balm cleansers and concentrated serums, anhydrous formats are no longer niche. These compact, travel-friendly products offer a unique blend of sustainability, efficacy, and sensorial appeal. The move away from traditional emulsions and water-based cleansers also allows brands to reduce packaging, prolong shelf life, and streamline supply chains. 
   
• Cleansing Without Compromise: Traditionally, rinsing has been a key part of skincare and haircare but it’s also one of the most water intensive. Quick rinse formulations or rinse-free micellar products, dry shampoos, leave-in conditioners, and biodegradable wipes are helping users cut down on water without sacrificing results thanks to high-performance, rinse-free alternatives.
   
• Concentrates and Drops: Minimalism Meets Efficacy:  Minimalist skincare continues to trend, and concentrated formats are leading the way. From booster drops to multi-use oils, these higher-potency products are designed to do more with less. Sustainably conscious consumers appreciate the reduced environmental impact, but they also love the control and flexibility that concentrated actives bring. When paired with refillable or reusable packaging, the water-saving story becomes even more compelling
   
• Consumer Education: Redefining “Clean”: Foam and lather have long been associated with cleanliness, but they’re also often a sign of water-heavy, surfactant-rich formulations. Brands now have an opportunity to challenge these long-held associations. Through education, smart storytelling and transparency around formulation, brands can shift perceptions and build trust with customers who want to make more planet-friendly choices.

Innovation in Formulation: Less Water, More Impact

Water might be the most common ingredient in traditional cosmetics however, as more and more consumers rethink their relationship with the planet, it’s also coming under greater scrutiny. For brands choosing to formulate more responsibly and with consumers growing ever curious about what’s really inside their products, the case for low-water and waterless formulations is gaining traction.

At THG LABS, we’re seeing a clear shift toward formulations that are not only water-conscious but also high-performing, sensorially rich, and future-facing.

• Why Water is Often a Filler and How to Replace It: With many conventional products, “aqua” (in the context of INCI) simply acts as a vehicle, diluting formulas or creating texture, rather than delivering active benefit. While this makes water an easy and inexpensive base, it contributes little functionally. By reducing or removing water from a formula, brands are free to hero more impactful ingredients therefore increasing potency and improving sustainability credentials. Oils, butters, esters, and biotech-derived actives can all step in to bring real performance and storytelling power.
   
• The Role of Humectants and Biotech in Water-Conscious Formulation: Glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and newer sugar-based humectants like pentylene glycol can help retain moisture even in low-water or anhydrous formulas. Meanwhile, biotech ingredients, engineered through fermentation or cellular agriculture, allow formulators to bypass water-intensive farming methods entirely. These next-generation ingredients not only offer a lower environmental footprint but also provide highly consistent quality and traceability, and greater supply chain resilience in terms of disruption that can arise from climate and geopolitical disruption.
   
• Anhydrous Innovation: Oils, Balms, Sticks, and Emulsifier-Free Systems: Anhydrous formulations are no longer confined to lip balms and cleansing oils. The market has seen a rise in oil-based serums, pressed skincare, sticks, powder-to-foam cleansers, and water-free SPF innovations. These formats offer greater formulation flexibility and open the door to ultra-concentrated, multifunctional products that reduce packaging, enhance stability, and travel more efficiently through global supply chains.
   
• Formulation Challenges: Balancing Efficacy and Sensoriality: Removing water isn’t without complexity. Formulators must work harder to balance glide, absorption, spreadability, and texture, all without the typical emulsion structures. At THG LABS, our Innovation and R&D teams are exploring innovative delivery systems, slow-release actives, and smart texturisers to ensure that a waterless product doesn’t compromise on consumer experience.
  We must also strive to ensure these anhydrous products do not require significantly more time to rinse or lather. In this case, the bar is not always the best – concentrated or even powdered formulations may perform better.
  Another consideration with waterless formulating is the amount of water used within agriculture to produce the oils, butters and waxes in anhydrous formulations.
   
• The Cold Process Advantage: Saving Water and Energy: Beyond the formula itself, how a product is made matters. Cold process manufacturing — which skips the heat-intensive emulsification steps — significantly reduces water and energy use in production. It also speeds up batch time and supports actives that are heat-sensitive or degrade with traditional processing. For brands seeking to reduce their environmental impact across the entire value chain, cold processing offers a tangible, measurable benefit.
  One pot emulsions will also save the water usually used for cleaning vessels due to not needing a separate phase pan to heat the oil phase.

Sustainable Sourcing: The Hidden Water Footprint of Ingredients

When we talk about water conservation in beauty, the conversation too often starts and stops with the formula however, some of the greatest water impacts lie upstream, hidden in the supply chain. From irrigated crops to extract-heavy processing methods, ingredient sourcing plays a pivotal role in a brand’s overall water footprint.

• Blue Beauty and Beyond: Thinking Holistically About Water Use: The rise of Blue Beauty has helped spotlight the need to protect oceans, waterways, and aquatic ecosystems. It's also encouraging brands to take a deeper look at their impact on freshwater resources. From rain-fed farming to aquifer stress and greywater pollution, the water burden of an ingredient often goes unseen. By prioritising water-responsible sourcing, brands can support biodiversity, reduce environmental harm, and build more resilient supply chains.
   
• Upcycled Ingredients vs. Virgin Actives: One powerful way to reduce embedded water use is through upcycling. By repurposing by-products from food, agriculture, or forestry industries, beauty brands can tap into high-performance materials without the intensive water demands of primary farming. Ingredients like upcycled grape seed oil, spent coffee extract, or seaweed derivatives (such as those developed in our collaboration with Carbonwave) offer both functional benefits and powerful sustainability stories.
   
• Agriculture and Irrigation: Behind the Botanicals: Botanical actives remain consumer favourites, but they can come with hidden costs. Many of these crops require intensive irrigation, and their environmental impact varies drastically by region, season, and farming method. Choosing ingredients grown using rain-fed, regenerative, or hydroponic techniques can dramatically reduce water use while supporting soil health and carbon sequestration.
   
• Biotech Ingredients as a Water-Saving Solution: Biotechnology presents a transformative opportunity and is an area we’re hugely passionate about at THG LABS. Rather than growing plants over acres of land and watering them for months to extract a fraction of a useful molecule, biotech ingredients are grown in closed-loop systems using microbial fermentation or plant cell culture. These processes are not only scalable and traceable but also require significantly less water, land, and pesticide use. They offer a futureproof alternative that aligns with both science-led and sustainability-first brand strategies.
   
• Mapping Your Water Footprint: Tools and Transparency: To make meaningful improvements, brands first need visibility and access to data which can be challenging. Water footprinting tools, often part of broader LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) platforms, can help quantify the water impact of raw materials and packaging. Once armed with this data, brands will be able to prioritise lower-impact ingredients, set internal goals, and communicate their efforts with credibility. It also supports more conscious partnerships with manufacturers who share their environmental values.

Packaging & Processing: Supporting Water Stewardship Across the Value Chain

When evaluating the water footprint of a beauty product, it’s easy to focus solely on ingredients or consumer use. But behind the scenes, both packaging and processing carry significant, and often overlooked, water implications.

• Water-Efficient Manufacturing: Operational Changes with Lasting Impact: Within the manufacturing process, cleaning procedures, heating and cooling systems, and equipment rinsing are major water consumers. By optimising batch sizes, investing in closed-loop systems, manufacturers can significantly reduce water use. At THG LABS, our heating and cooling systems recirculate water reducing energy and water usage and our CIPs have been optimised to use the least amount of water and chemicals whilst ensuring we clean efficiently and effectively.
   
• Packaging That Promotes Conscious Consumption: Water stewardship doesn’t end with formulation production. Smart packaging formats can play a surprisingly influential role in water use. Metered-dose pumps, twist sticks, and concentrated refills encourage mindful usage, reducing both product and water waste. Dry, solid, or waterless formats also require less secondary packaging, which further reduces the energy and resources needed for production and transport.
   
• A More Circular Mindset: By embracing circular design that reduces, reuses, and rethinks packaging and processes, brands can decrease their reliance on virgin resources, including water. Whether it’s a refill pouch that requires 80% less water to produce or packaging that can be cleaned without solvents, small changes can add up to a big difference. 
   
• Sustainability Audits: Going Beyond Carbon: While carbon footprinting is now commonplace, water audits are still in their infancy across many beauty businesses. Brands that commit to tracking their water use holistically — across raw materials, packaging production, and factory operations — are better positioned to identify savings, demonstrate progress, and meet rising investor and regulatory expectations.
   
• Claims & Compliance: Communicating Without Greenwashing: As with all sustainability claims, water-related messaging must be backed by evidence. Whether a product is “waterless,” “low-water,” or “saves water in use,” transparency is critical. Brands should ensure claims are verifiable and avoid vague language. At THG LABS, our regulatory and compliance teams help brands navigate the fine line between meaningful marketing and regulatory risk, ensuring every claim is rooted in fact, not fluff.

Whether it’s through advanced formulation techniques, ethical ingredient sourcing, operational changes, or product innovation, every drop that’s saved has a part to play. As a full-service manufacturer with cutting-edge R&D and a strong sustainability ethos, THG LABS is proud to support brands in their journey toward water-conscious beauty that performs, protects, and paves the way for a better future.

Kristal Goodman 
Head of Product Innovation, THG LABS

With over 25 years’ experience in the beauty industry and UK cosmetics manufacturing, Kristal Goodman has cultivated a unique blend of scientific expertise, creative vision, and strategic thinking to spearhead what are recognised as some of the beauty industry’s most much-loved, must-have products. 

In her role as the Head of Product Innovation, Kristal’s influence is best demonstrated in THG LABS dedication to pushing boundaries. She is the driving force behind the integration of upcycled ingredients, advanced biotechnology, and other impactful emergent global beauty trends that ensure THG LABS remains at the cutting-edge of beauty innovation. Her knowledge of actives and their benefits is encyclopaedic which fuels her talent for translating ingredient ideas and science into concepts that give each product a formula and a story consumers fall in love with. 

A member of THG LABS Eco Leadership Team and a devoted advocate for formulating sustainably, Kristal adopts a holistic approach to product development, believing that truly innovative beauty products are those that address the multifaceted needs of today’s consumers while better respecting the world around us.