Preservatives in Skin Care

Everything rots….sometimes that’s a good thing- something breaks down, and returns to the earth.  But if it’s a nice serum or skin cream that’s not such a good thing.  A little mold is one thing, but unpreserved products can spread bacteria and diseases that can cause very serious harm.  So, we use preservatives

 Preservatives are tricky.  You have to make sure you have the right preservative- one that fits with the products you’re making, does its job, and isn’t just a big bottle of toxins is probably one of the toughest.   It took me almost 2 years of research, and experiments to settle on the one that we use.

Specifically we use a blend of gluconolactone, and sodium benzoate.  The amount of sodium benzoate in our finished products is actually miniscule- less than .5%.  Legally we don't even have to declare it on our ingredients list, but if we declare everything because it's your right to know exactly what you're putting on your skin.

It kills molds, yeast, fungi, bacteria, and all of the other stuff you don’t want to rub into your skin in the morning.  It’s naturally derived, and Ecocert approved for use in organic products, and because it’s food safe we can use it in everything.  

It does have its drawbacks.  The biggest one for most of us is that the pH of it lowers over time just ever so slightly, and it takes over 6 months for it to happen.  That’s why we say our skin care products, and cream eye shadows have a maximum shelf life of 6 months (3 months for Vitamin C serums because the Vitamin C starts to break down).  In truth, I’ve used serums that were much older than that and for the most part they were fine.  It’s not a big drop, and it doesn’t hurt the effectiveness of it as a preservative.  

The other drawback is if you combine sodium benzoate with vitamin c (ascorbic acid)  it can produce benzene.  Benzene is a gas that can cause cancer, and it’s around us all the time.  Your biggest exposure probably comes from pumping gas, but it’s also in the air just naturally. 

Exposure to very low pH’s- like around 2 (waay too acidic to use on your skin), light, and heat help the reaction.  As the pH of a product increases the risk of forming benzene is lower.  In all reality though you’re still getting exposed to more benzene on your average trip to the gas station, and the WHO says occasionally drinking a soda that’s been preserved with sodium benzoate isn’t really a huge risk.

At Silk Naturals we use a different form of vitamin c- magnesium ascorbyl phosphate because it’s a better form for your skin, it’s more shelf stable, and it has a nearly neutral pH so it doesn’t sting when you put it on.  It doesn't make benzene when combined with sodium benzoate.

  In short, sodium benzoate makes our products safer, and it’s not going to form benzene because we don’t use ascorbic acid in our products.  Just make sure you use up your products within 6 months.

As always we leave it up to you to do your own research, and make the best choices for you.  Here's a link to the Wikipedia article if you'd like to learn more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene_in_soft_drinks

 

This article was published on Tuesday 06 August, 2013.