AQUA

Name / description

Water

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Function(s) of this ingredient in cosmetic products

FRAGRANCE FUNCTIONAL

Functional ingredient (excipient) of perfume oils and / or flavours

SOLVENT

Dissolves other substances

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Occurrence in cosmetics

Creams, deodorants, lotions, cleansing products, shampoos, conditioners, hair tonics, facial toners, aftershaves, perfumes, mouthwashes, etc

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Occurrence in other products

Foodstuffs, medicinal products, homecare products etc

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Background information on use in cosmetics

Water (H2O), the foundation of life on earth, is a chemical compound of the elements oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H). Water is the only chemical compound in the world which occurs in nature as liquid, solid and gas. The name water is used for the liquid physical state. Purified water serves as solvent for many substances in cosmetics and hence constitutes the basis for many cosmetic products. In O / W creams it constitutes the outer phase, in W / O creams the inner phase of the emulsion. In hydrogels it is a carrier of the gel structure. Through the addition of water creams obtain a supple, soft appearance and can be applied better as a rule than water-free products which are perceived as too oily. According to the origin of the water it is distinguished between eg tap water, demineralised (distilled, deionised) water, spring water (mineral water), ground water, surface water (from rivers, seas, etc), rain water, thermal water and seawater. With the exception of the demineralised and rain water all types of water contain more or less large amounts of dissolved salts. Fragrances or mixtures of fragrances are often referred to in the cosmetics area as "perfuming agents" or "perfume oils" or "parfum oils". On the cosmetic products they are declared with the INCI name "PARFUM". These are undiluted individual substances or their mixtures which originate from natural raw materials or can be produced (semi-) synthetically. They are starting materials for the production of perfume, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne and other perfumed cosmetic products. The average content of fragrances amounts in perfume to 15-30 %, in eau de parfum to 10-14 %, in eau de toilette to 6-9 %, in eau de cologne to 3-5 % as well as in skin creams, shampoos, hair and deodorant sprays to approximately 0.2-1 % and approximately 1-3 in deodorant sticks. The perfume oils include essential oils, resinoids and absolutes. The sources are, amongst others, flowers, leaves and stems, fruits and fruit peels or roots of plants; woods, grasses or herbs, needles, resins and balsams. Moreover, only compounds isolated from natural products such as aldehydes, ketones, esters, alcohols etc. are used (geraniol, citronellal, citral, eugenol, menthol) as well as semi-synthetic (citronellol, geranyl acetate, jonone) and synthetic scents (eg phenylethyl alcohol and linalool) are used. Scents of animal origin such as musk and ambra are only rarely used.

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Information on safe use

For the production of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products purified, germ-free water is always used. This can be distilled water or water demineralised by ion exchanger or reverse osmosis.

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Belongs to the following substance groups

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Regulating cosmetics

Cosmetics Ingredients are subject to regulation. Please note, different regulations may apply to cosmetic ingredients outside the EU.