Get to Know, Waterless Vitamin C Skincare

What Is Waterless (aka Anhydrous) Skincare?

In many skincare and personal care products, water is the first ingredient. This not only dilutes the potency of the powerful active ingredients, but also decreases the shelf life of the product. Although many formulas need water to activate the product, the water doesn’t necessarily need to be in your product’s bottle. Enter Waterless (aka anhydrous) Skincare! Waterless personal care can help preserve the potency of a product’s active ingredients, make your skincare last longer, and help reduce water waste.

What are the Benefits of Waterless Skincare?

Because waterless skincare products are formulated without water, they provide a multitude of benefits to your skin and the environment.

1. Increased Product Potency: Because these formulas do not contain water, this leaves more room to pack in powerful active ingredients at higher concentrations, making the product more potent and efficacious.
2. Ideal for Sensitive Skin: Due to their longer shelf life, waterless products often require fewer or milder stabilizing ingredients compared to water-based formulations. This makes the product less irritating and more ideal for sensitive skin.
3. Barrier Function Enhancement: The rich and occlusive nature of waterless products helps reinforce and repair the skin's natural barrier. This can aid in preventing moisture loss and protecting the skin from external aggressors leading to more supple, youthful skin.
4. Good for the Environment: The lack of water in these formulas helps preserve water. Additionally the increased shelf life and concentrated product allows you to use less product which reduces the environmental impact of packaging, production, and shipping.
5. Helps Save You Money: Due to the product's higher concentration, you will need to use less of it which saves you money because you will not have to repurchase the product as often.

What are the Benefits of Waterless Vitamin C?

1. Stability: Waterless Vitamin C is more stable than water-based Vitamin C as it is less prone to degradation from water and air which breaks down the Vitamin C. While contact with water is important to help activate the Vitamin C and work it into your skin, sitting in a bottle filled with any amount of water will break down the Vitamin C before you even apply it.
2. Longer Shelf Life: Because Waterless Vitamin C is stable, as long as the product is in an airless container it won't activate prematurely thereby increasing the shelf life of the product.
3. Concentrated Active Ingredients: Waterless Vitamin C products contain a higher concentration of Vitamin C because there is no water to dilute the formula. This leads to more potent and effective skincare with intense brightening effects, increased collagen production, and greater fine line and wrinkle reduction than water-based Vitamin C.
4. Enhanced Skin Penetration: Waterless Vitamin C can penetrate the skin more effectively than other forms of Vitamin C. This delivers skincare INTO the skin versus ONTO the skin and helps repair the skin barrier, which makes it particularly effective for dry, sensitive, or dehydrated skin types.
5. Better Blemish Care: Due to its enhanced skin penetration and greater concentration of active ingredients, waterless Vitamin C helps care for and reduce acne, blemishes, and dark spots better than water-based Vitamin C by delivering healing ingredients deep into the skin.

Should I Stop Using Water-Based Skincare?

You don’t have to toss all of your skincare that contains water. Vitamin C is an extremely unstable active, but other active ingredients won’t degrade as quickly when introduced to air and water.

In terms of Vitamin C here is a good rule of thumb for what you should look for:

• Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate has a shelf life of less than 3 months when exposed to water or air and unlimited shelf life when it is waterless
• L-Ascorbic Acid has a shelf life of less than 1 year when it contains water, and an unlimited shelf life when it is waterless
• Methylsilanol Ascorbate has a shelf life of 3-years when exposed to water or air, or an unlimited shelf life when it is waterless

Be sure to pay attention to the type of Vitamin C listed on your skincare products. We are always happy to help should you have any questions. Just email info@dclskincare.com or direct message us on Instagram.

Try DCL Skincare Anhydrous Vitamin C Nightbooster

Our best-selling Vitamin C Night Booster 30 is waterless. The product is a 30% Vitamin C Night Serum that you must apply to a damp face in order to activate the anhydrous formula. Try the Night Booster and see for yourself the power of waterless Vitamin C.