Preservative-free? Not always a good idea

Since delving into the sea of body product creation I've learned a lot! I still have more to learn I'll admit but so far so good. When I first started I wanted everything to be completely "All natural" with zero additives, chemicals, etc. Partly this is because most of us have been taught to believe that all chemicals are "bad". Even though, at it's most basic level we're all made out of chemical compounds and it's due to natural chemical compounds that we are all walking and breathing right now. Heck even water, H2O is a chemical compound because it has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.

Maybe it's time to rethink our views on "chemicals" and instead take a look at ingredient components and why they are needed, what use they serve and the benefits (if any) they bring to a product. Are some chemical compounds (naturally occuring and man-made) detrimental to our health? Yes indeed but the key again is education when figuring out just what's needed and why.

Here's a great example of when a preservative (man-made ideally) would have been a good addition to the product to the left. The container is of a fun, easy to purchase toy that acts like a "fart putty".  Since it's not a cosmetic product the manufacturers are not required to fortify the slimy stuff with a preservative; even though it's intended to be held in the hands and will most likely get used on the skin for various amounts of time. My little guy thought it was fun to lay the entire blob on his face and make a Darth Vader type mask out of it as he breathed rapidly through a makeshift mouth hole. Gross, I know..lol.. but this is what kids do, they get inventive with products and create their own uses for them. A clear example of a product being used outside of it's exact intended use; something manufacturers try to safeguard against.

After a few days of this he got bored and put the well-used slime back into it's container and forgot about it. We unearthed it a few weeks later. The perfect amount of time for the incubation of all manner of bacteria and molds to get freaky and procreate. It was a perfect storm for such an opportunity for overgrowth: moisture, excessive contact with human skin, warmth (container was sealed) and lack of a preservative). Too bad we didn't have access to a friend with a lab because I would have loved to have known exactly what we had growing in there. End result though? One unhappy kid with one seriously gross toy.

Now what's the correlation between this jar of slime and a bath product? Pretty simple really. Let's say you're in the shower where you take your favorite jar of XYZ product and we remove the .05-1.5% of preservative that's been added to keep you and it safe, then let you dip your wet, naturally bacteria-laden fingers into the jar and start using it on your skin. Once your wet fingers go into the jar the jig is up! Adding the lid back on, making a warm home for your new critters to grow, has now added to the problem. Dip back into it a day later with new goodies to add and this time you may be taking out more than just body polish or face scrub. You may not be able to see or smell the bacteria/yeast spores but there's a pretty high likelihood that they are there;  and their numbers are growing by the minute both in the container and on your skin. This could lead to a bacterial infection on your end of things..ouch!

So the next time you see ingredients like Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycolbe be very glad they are there because they are what keep the nasties from growing in your favorite products. Of ocurse if you make your own bath products, not intended for sale,  then you can go preservative-free but for those of us who sell retail we'd rather not take the risk.

Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycol are the main ingredients in a commonly used preservative system that is an excellent choice for formulations that require a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative system. The combination of these ingredients provides optimized protection against microbial growth from bacteria and yeast. At Lather Unusual we use these two ingredients at the recommended strength of 0.5% - 1.5% in our lotion and scrub formulations.