Preservatives are used in food and cosmetic products to prevent spoilage and microbial growth. They can be either natural or lab made. Preservatives unfortunately do not have a positive impression and are often considered to be bad and/or harmful, but without them the products go rancid. They are a necessary addition to some skin and hair care products to maintain their efficacy.
In simple words, any product that contains water/aqua needs preservatives to stop microbial growth.
Same is the case with our skin. If we keep our skin moist or wear wet undergarments for a long duration, then our skin observes microbial growth as well. To some extent, our body too, produces natural preservatives to prevent this microbial growth but after continued usage you will see that it deteriorates into fungal or bacterial growth thereby leading to fungal infection. So, we need preservatives.
There are certain preservatives which we consider harmful, like parabens, Benzyl alcohol, Urea etc.
Note that: There’s still a debate going on how safe they are, but better to be safe then sorry.
WE(Bodycafé) use a preservative called Optiphen(Natural Preservative) – inci name – Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycol and Sorbic acid
As per Wiki – “Optiphen is first globally approved preservative and is an excellent choice for formulations that require a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative system. Optiphen is a unique liquid preservative that consists of phenoxyethanol in an emollient base. The combination of these ingredients provides optimized protection against microbial growth from bacteria and yeast while imparting a pleasant feel to the finished product.”
It’s a colorless liquid that is slightly soluble in water, but miscible with most organic solvents. It occurs widely in nature, being used in most essential oils, its not harmful, capryly glycol is a humectant and skin conditioning agent. Both of them have anti-microbial properties and hence suitable for preserving.
This preservative has wide pH range from 4 – 8 and temperature tolerance. In fact, it can be used in eye care, lip care and for infants too. If not for our transparent ingredients policy we would have deemed our products as preservatives free as the usage of this preservatives in the products in less than 0.5%
Best
Pooja & Tanu
www.bodycafe.in
