Anhydrous formulations continue to gain momentum across personal care categories, from lip balms and cleansing balms to sticks and solid bars. Their appeal is clear: minimalist formulations, water-free formats, reduced preservative requirements, and opportunities for more sustainable packaging solutions.
Yet many formulators discover that creating a stable anhydrous product is not as straightforward as it seems.
A formulation that looks perfect in the lab can behave very differently during scale-up, storage, transportation, or consumer use. Changes in texture, bloom, oil separation, or unexpected variations between batches can appear long after development is complete, making root-cause identification both time-consuming and costly.
So what causes these issues?
In our latest Academy webinar, Åsa Berry, Cosmetic Technology Specialist at AAK Personal Care, explores some of the often-overlooked factors that influence the stability and texture of anhydrous formulations. From the impact of ingredient selection to the role of cooling and storage conditions, the session reveals why seemingly small variables can have a significant effect on final product performance.
One question explored during the webinar is whether ingredients with the same INCI always behave the same way in formulation. The answer may surprise many formulators.
The session also examines how crystallization behaviour can influence texture and stability, and why understanding your process can be just as important as understanding your ingredients. Through practical examples and formulation trials, the webinar demonstrates how processing conditions can affect the development of your final product and why documenting critical parameters can help simplify troubleshooting and scale-up.
For formulators working with butters, oils, waxes, balms, sticks, or other anhydrous systems, these insights can help identify potential risks earlier in development and support more robust product design.
What you'll learn in the webinar
Why ingredients with the same INCI may behave differently
How butter composition and crystal structure influence stability
The role of cooling, filling and storage conditions
Why some stability issues only appear over time
How a time-temperature approach can support scale-up and troubleshooting
Want to discover the factors that can make or break the stability of an anhydrous formulation?
Register for the on-demand webinar Securing Stability in Anhydrous Formulations: From Ingredient Selection to Scale-Up and gain practical insights that can help you create more stable, robust and scalable formulations.