Sustainable Beauty Takes a Dip in the Ocean

Confronting the Earth’s Water Crisis

The beauty industry is too heavily reliant on water, a precious resource (by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will be living in areas plagued by water scarcity). Acknowledging their overdependence on this currently readily available resource, shrewd brands are re-evaluating how they can better care for water and marine life.

One key direction is a more water-conscious approach to product formulation. Take inspiration from Australia’s Conserving Beauty, which has put waterless innovation at the core of its brand DNA by formulating its entire product line without water. Not only does this ensure valuable water resources aren’t wasted, it also means that pure ingredients aren’t being diluted – delivering product potency.

Solid-bar formats are also proving popular worldwide with brands seeking to cut back on water waste. In 2022, waterless shampoo and soap bars saw combined market growth of nearly $1.5bn year-on-year globally. These formats reduce water footprints, as well as allowing for lighter packaging and lower shipping weight.

So, what does the impending water crisis mean for your business? With water scarcity a global threat, beauty brands must formulate with water alternatives. As well as solid formats, why not explore options such as fruit and vegetable water waste, boosting circularity by upcycling discarded ingredients?

Marine-Derived Ingredients Boom

With science revealing more insights into the power of marine ingredients, beauty brands are increasingly looking to the sea for its potent, restorative and nutrient-rich properties.

Algae is being heralded as a powerhouse ingredient thanks to a plethora of benefits – from hydration to detoxification and protection against free radicals. See US-based Mara, which sells skincare products formulated with a blend of algae harvested in the wild. Its Flower Acid Algae Sérum strengthens the skin barrier while exfoliating, moisturising and re-texturing.

Another trending marine-derived ingredient is seaweed. With haircare brands continuing to take inspiration from skincare, intriguing ingredients such as seaweed are emerging as key elements of haircare products. Take British brand John Frieda’s Deep Sea Hydration collection, which champions seaweed and targets the inner health of the hair by binding water for hydration.

As brands are urged to consider more sustainable materials and processes, they should look to natural ecosystems and hardy plant structures for inspiration. Readily available ingredients, such as marine algae, can be easily cultivated in a lab, and provide a wealth of beauty benefits.

Blue Biotech

Striving to efficiently limit their usage of water and marine resources, sustainable beauty brands are harvesting ocean-derived ingredients through biotechnology. While demonstrating huge potential for the development of sustainable cosmetics, brands are also closing the loop and continuing to explore biodegradable solutions when it comes to products’ end of life.

Sitting at the centre of these developments is the aforementioned hero ingredient, algae. US-based Ocean Beauty harnesses the power of algae via biotech in its Bioactive Body Sculpting Marine Cream. Natural molecules are obtained from living marine micro-organisms and reproduced in a lab environment through bio-fermentation, avoiding negatively impacting marine biodiversity. Equally, Icelandic brand Örlö Nutrition is spearheading the future of biodesign supplements with algae grown in a high-tech vertical farm, powered by geothermal energy. Its production process relies on 99% fewer land and water resources than the industry standard.

Lab-grown ingredients offer sustainable solutions while creating premium-quality products .  As consumer acceptance of such alternatives continues to grow, brands have an opportunity to embrace the eco-friendly benefits of blue biotechnology – as long as it’s developed using responsibly sourced raw materials.