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“Does not contain preservatives” – this inscription on the package reassures everyone who is afraid of the so-called “chemistry”. Although it should be a concern. The fact is that without preservatives, the formula of cosmetics loses its stability.
Why are preservatives needed in cosmetics?
There is no need to be intimidated by the letter E with a three-digit number in the list of ingredients. Often, it hides well-known substances – vitamins and antioxidants. Then why suddenly E? This means that the substance is approved for use in the European Union. But the degree of safety of the product is determined by the concentration of such components.
The letter E in the composition means substances that are well known to us, such as vitamins and antioxidants.
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Varieties of preservatives
Why so afraid of preservatives? Perhaps because of the name. It is generally believed that this is an additional ingredient that the skin does not need, but comes into contact with it and (hypothetically) can harm it, as well as cause an allergic reaction. At the same time, they forget that often components of natural origin are also allergenic.
Since manufacturers are interested in consumer loyalty, their positive emotions when using cosmetics, they try to reduce the number of auxiliary ingredients in the composition. And today, three paths are clearly traced.
Packaging Innovation
This direction is being actively developed by manufacturers of hypoallergenic pharmaceutical cosmetics for hypersensitive skin in order to minimize the amount of components in the product. All these built-in dispensers, pipettes, tubes with a hole with a diameter of 1 mm, portioned masks are not only a tribute to ease of use and optimization of the consumption of cosmetics. First of all they:
- ensure minimal contact of the product with air, which causes oxidation;
- exclude (limit) the access of microorganisms. Not without reason, spatulas are attached to some creams – so that we do not put our fingers into the product.
Thermal water is perhaps the only cosmetic product that does not contain preservatives, stabilizers and other excipients.
Useful 2-in-1 preservatives
The role of a preservative can be full-fledged ingredients of a cosmetic product, including those necessary for the skin. Garnier expert Marina Kamanina gives examples:
- deodorizing agents in soap;
- anti-dandruff ingredients in shampoos;
- salicylic acid and its salts (0,5% for acid), propionic acid and its salts (2%), benzoic acid and its salts (0,5%);
- zinc pyrithione (in hair care products 1% and other products 0,5%).
Also, known antiseptics should be added to this list:
- hexetidine 0,1%;
- triclosan (international non-proprietary name) 0,3%;
- imidazolidinyl urea;
- hexamethylenetetramine (urotropine) (international non-proprietary name);
- chlorhexidine (international non-proprietary name) and its digluconate;
- diacetate and dihydrochloride (0,3% in terms of chlorhexidine);
- formic acid and its sodium salt (0,5% based on acid).
As you can see, for some of these substances, we sometimes go to the pharmacy when we are fighting an infection. We are already used to seeing others in the list of ingredients as a proven active ingredient.
Natural preservatives
They can not be called “extra chemistry”. Often they are the main highlight of the product, ensuring its effectiveness. These are wonderful natural antimicrobial compounds that have become the prototypes of many modern synthetic preservatives. Some of them are still successfully used.
Natural preservatives include natural antiseptics:
- essential oils.
- extracts of some plants with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties (eucalyptus, grapefruit, birch);
- products of beekeeping.
Our instinctive love for everything natural is naive: many natural substances are no less, and sometimes even more toxic and allergenic than those synthesized in laboratories.
The main complaint about preservatives in cosmetics is that it is an additional ingredient that the skin does not need, but comes into contact with it.
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What about parabens?
Once the most common cosmetic preservative overnight became persona non grata. Tells Marina Kamanina:
“Parabens actually come from nature. Parahydroxybenzoic acid, abbreviated as PHBA, is found in carrots, cherries, blueberries and onions, as well as in the human body, as it is formed from the breakdown of certain amino acids.
Parabens, which have high antifungal and antibacterial activity, have been successfully used as food and then cosmetic preservatives since the 1920s, until researcher Philippa Darbre suggested—speculated, not proven—that they could cause breast cancer. This has been a bombshell since the majority of cosmetics users are women who take care of themselves and are very sensitive to the topic.
Cosmetics manufacturers did not even try to convince consumers and prove that these are unreasonable assumptions, but began to develop and use other substances.
Today, the world scientific community, as well as the internationally recognized authority of the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) stopped analyzing the data and came to the conclusion that parabens are absolutely harmless. In the course of independent studies, it has been proven that they are very quickly destroyed in the body and completely excreted.
Parabens are actually of natural origin. For example, found in cherries.
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Safety measures
Of course, preservatives are not the most useful components of cosmetics, unless they are “part-timers”. But in some products (for example, for hair and nails), it is not yet possible to do without additional ingredients – in particular, formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers. This toxic gas, unfortunately, is quite widespread: it is emitted, for example, by plastic, from which many details of home and office interiors are made, and in the interior of a car heated by the sun, the concentration of formaldehyde can go off scale – a characteristic smell is familiar to everyone.
As for cosmetics, it is believed that, in addition to the properties of a preservative, it has a beneficial effect on the structure of hair and nails (there is no blessing in disguise). “However, all finished products containing formaldehyde or substances that release formaldehyde must be labeled with a warning sign “contains formaldehyde” if its concentration in the finished product exceeds 0,05%,” explains Marina Kamanina.
You can read more about ingredients, production processes, quality and safety requirements here!