Extracts as Preservatives?

Essentials

Hi all,

I've come across a lot of "natural" product line that have various extracts in them but not any type of preservatives from what I can tell. Below are a list of ingredients listed for a curl enhancing cream for the hair. Since water seems to be the main ingredient as it's listed first, I assume some sort of preservatives are needed. Could the essential oil blend and extracts serve as their preservative or are they not being forthcoming with all of their ingredients listed below?

Water
Shea butter
Mango Seed Butter
Avocado Oil
Coconut Oil
Aloe Leaf Extract
Silk Protein
Neem Seed Oil
Carrot Seed Oil
Essential Oil Blend
Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Lonicera Flower Extract, Japenese Flower Extract
Vitamin E

Here's another example for a moisturizer for the face.

*Organic Rose Hydrosol, *Organic Aloe Vera, *Organic Rosehip Seed Oil, *Organic Evening Primrose Oil, *Organic Sunflower Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Extracts of *Organic Lavender, *Organic Green Tea, *Organic Comfrey, *Organic Seaweed, *Organic Marshmallow and *Organic Lemon Balm, *Organic Beeswax, *Organic Sea Buckthorn Oil, *Organic Shea Butter, Wheat Germ Oil, *Organic Soy Lecithin, Borax, Olive Squalane, Essential Oil of Bulgarian Rose, Xanthan Gum, Vegetable Glycerin, Vitamin C, Vitamin E. (*Certified Organic)

Your input is appreciated,

Novice formulator!

Duncan

Yes, at appropriate levels essential oils can have a degree of antimicrobial effect. There are some non preservatives, with claimed antimicrobial effects that are labelled as "Parfum or Fragrance" depending on which side ofthe pond you sit.

Now wether or not some of those materials have preservatives added, I'm not sure. Its quite probable that they do, as most extracts are water based and will grow bugs at the slightest provocation (Glycerin or Oil based extracts get around this by having very little free water.

Do the manufacturers know the full breakdown of the materials? I'd hope so, but experience tells me at times that they sometimes turn a blind eye to the fact that preservatives are present and treat them as "process aids" which don't need declaring. That in my opinion is not on, but it does happen.

Are these products microbially sound? Depends on many things. Free water content, and also pH. I've seen properly preservative free handwash on the market. The pH was 10, the same as soap, and therefore bug unfriendly, but I wouldn't recommend that as it was harsher on the skin than cheap soap.

My advice would be to ignore the fact that these products are "Preservative free", formulate stuff yourself with proper recognised preservatives, declare them, and make sure that the formula passes a standard challenge test

Essentials

Hi Duncan,

Thanks so much for your quick response.

Kind regards,

Essentials

Eclectic

Such a risky game to play for marketing sake! Personally, I wouldn't risk using such a product.

Duncan provides sage advice.

PerryR

Great points. Hopefully, there will be a time when saying your product is "preservative free" will be a bad thing. I do not encourage any formulator to strive for preservative free formulations.

Tincture

I would think this product has a high chance of getting rancid, with little or no shelf life. If you want a natural preservative I like Glucamate. I have to agree with Perry and Eclectic.

Tincture

Correction. Sorry, it was the end of the day exhaustion-as a natural preservative I use- Optiphen Plus. Glucamate is my thickner.

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