preservative

I've never used preservatives before and am wanting to be sure I order the right thing. I'm making sugar scrubs, just sugar, oil and e.o. Will Germaben IIE do the job?

TIA

I would read the materials safety data sheet (MSDS) from your supplier to determine what is best for oil-based products and the % to use. Lotion crafters has great information on its site about various preservatives.

The Swiftcraftymonkey blog also has a preservative chart. I have it downloaded on my computer and printed out in my notebooks.

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1020026/preservativechart.pdf

Preservatives can be a confusing topic.

Here's a review of 27 preservatives including those which are Ecocert "natural" which should make the process easier - http://makingskincare.com/preservatives/

It's not as simple as just putting a preservative in your product you also need to know how to formulate to help your preservative and the link above includes tips on this eg how to reduce water activity, chelators, packaging, identifying and reducing "bug food".

If you're using oil based products then you may want to consider Optiphen. This is a paraben and formaldehyde free preservative and it is also globally approved. I have used it with great success in my lotions and scrubs.
Cheers!
Anna Marie

I think that Optiphen is for use in water soluble products. The Swiftcraftymonkey preservative chart states that Optiphen is not for use in anhydrous products. Liquipar or Phenonip would be a better choice.

Hmmmm. I'm now confused. Lotion crafter lists optiphen as being appropriate for anhydrous products. I've seen it in recipes, and I make an emulsified sugar scrub and understood optiphen to be a good choice for it. Maybe you could enlighten me;-)
Cheers!
Anna Marie

I was going by what the chart says, but you are right, The Herbarie and Lotioncrafter state Optiphen can be used in anhyrdrous products. I wonder why Susan stated that it was not for anhydrous products. I will have to do some researching on her blog to see if I can come up with an answer. Thanks for pointing this out.

Here is what Susan has to say about her stand on Optiphen. I don't think it makes it any clearer though.

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=optiphen

Yes this is what was confusing to me too when I came to write my article on preservatives http://makingskincare.com/preservatives/

So I posted the question in the Society of Cosmetic Scientists discussion group on linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?v...57fbb8003&trk=groups_search_item_list-0-b-ttl

I asked what preservatives I could use in an anhydrous scrub which will get water in it from the shower/bath.

One cosmetic chemist (Martin) said "You may not need one? If it is truly anhydrous... If it does not have any dried naturals and is oil based likely not. If it is PEG based likely not. Full of salt definitely not."

Another chemist (Gay) "salt is a preservative, Sugar is also a preservative. Most of the commercial scrubs, whether sugar or salt based, only add tocopherol for an antioxidant to keep the oil form going rancid. Look at your food for a clue - things that are sufficiently sugar, salt or acidified do not require any other preservation and are shelf stable. Take a look at the package ingredient labels and warnings on these types of products."

Another chemist: I agree with Gay, If you have salt/sugar as your scrubbing agent in an anhydrous system, you wont need a preservative --- just an anti oxidant to prevent rancidity.

I replied saying that despite their advice I know crafters might still want to use a preservative as water will get in.

Martin elaborated: However bacteria, moulds & yeasts in general grow in the presence of water. A product without water does not need preserving. Aaah perhaps we should add some in case of contamination from bath water? There is no point as a) you need one that is active/soluble in water whilst locked in oil and b) contamination be in drops and not mixed in evenly so the preservative will not get to it. From the point of view of open jar scrubs, these should be fine if salt based (Or sugar or PEG) but put a low PAO. You can add a preservative if you like but it is likely just extra cost...

I asked again if people still want to use one, despite the above what could they use:-

Danielle, a chemist said: You can try Optiphen (phenoxyethanol/caprylyl glycol blend).

Kay, another chemist said: Use Optiphen , and can be used up to 1% , but this high is not necessary in anhydrous. Its oil soluble, or you could use phenoxyethanol on its own. Challenge test to be confident.

It was a useful discussion and following that discussion, I managed to get make some useful contacts and gain some very useful advice from some of the chemists and microbiologists on preservative combinations and strategies to help preservation including whether the more "natural" and Ecocert approved preservatives such as leucidal etc are effective. (Swiftcraftymonkey made comments on my article here - http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/weekend-wonderings-how-to-preserve.html )

Ruthie, lsg and AnnaMarie hope this has cleared things up.

Lol! Talk about trying to get a direct answer to a question! I appreciate the info and will tuck it away. I am always open to learning!
Cheers!
Anna Marie

By the way, I use Optiphen for scrubs and lotions and am very pleased with it! I have had zero problems using it.