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I though a hydrosol is a botanical ingredient. It's an extract of plant material, right???

Here's a test to prove your theory -- Leave a glass of unsweetened tea or coffee on the counter for a few days. Does it mold?

A product that provides a source of water AND a source of food for microbes needs a chemical preservative or another form of preservation (sterilization, freezing, high sugar content, high salt content, high acidity, high alkalinity, etc.)

Anhydrous (no water) products don't generally need a chemical preservative, because the lack of water is the preservation method. (Once wet fingers dip into the fat-based product, however, all bets are off.)

Tea, hydrosols, aloe, and other water-based mixtures provide carbohydrates as the food source along with water. Lotions provide fats as the source of food as well as water. They all need preservation.



This means you send samples of the finished product to a lab and they test it to see if microbial organisms will grow in it.
A hydrosol is the left over water from steam distillation of essential oils. They seem to have a shelf stable life, when left on their own.
Do you recommend a company for testing?
 
Taken from Cosmetics Business:

One of the key components to take into consideration during product development is ensuring product microbiological stability and, in turn, safety.


Antimicrobial preservatives are ingredients added to products to protect them from micro-organisms that will inevitably contaminate the product during its use by the consumer and once the packaging has been opened.


The load of antimicrobial preservatives depends on the product’s microbiological risk, which can be assessed on a case-by-case basis by toxicologists and/or safety assessors during the product development phase.


Preservatives in a formulation help to protect the consumer from exposure to contaminated products; the following test methods are used to determine the preservative robustness of a product formulation:


SO 11930: This is the referral method recommended by EU cosmetic law 1223/2009, one of the most severe and structured regulatory systems in the cosmetics industry.


As with all ISO norms, it is a standard and harmonised protocol accepted globally. It refers to two different levels of acceptability criteria: criteria A, which is the preferred and the most rigid and criteria B, which is suitable only if accompanied by safety assessor approval.


USP <51> Antimicrobial Effectiveness Testing (EP and JP): This is the most widely used method to evaluate preservative effectiveness in aqueous-based products. Differences occur in the acceptability criteria showing EP as the most stringent method while the JP and USP allow for more flexibility.


CPC Microbiology Guidelines M-3 Method For Preservation Efficacy Testing Of Water-Miscible Personal Care Products: The Microbiology Committee of the Personal Care Products Council (formerly known as the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association) felt a need for an alternative test method to 51. Through industry-wide collaborative testing, M-3 was designed with a more stringent pass/fail criteria as compared with USP <51>.


PCPC Microbiology Guidelines M-4 Method For Preservation Efficacy Testing Of Eye Area Personal Care Products: In the case of eye area cosmetics, adequate preservation of the product is crucial. These products are used frequently and in the case of a product like mascara the same brush is used repeatedly to apply the product, so in effect the brush is exposed to micro-organisms and placed back in the product container until the next use.



One of the key components to take into consideration during product development is ensuring product microbiological stability and, in turn, safety



PCPC Microbiology Guidelines M-5 Method For Preservation Efficacy Testing Of Nonwoven Substrate Personal Care Products:
This method refers to products known as ‘wipes’.


PCPC Microbiology Guidelines M-6 Method For Preservation Efficacy Testing Of Atypical Personal Care Products: Some personal care products are anhydrous and cannot be tested by conventional methods. These include oils, powders and wax-like products. Anhydrous products having a low water activity may be considered ‘self-preserved’, since micro-organisms require water to grow.


This method, M-6, addresses the issues in testing these types of products.


PCPC Microbiology Guidelines M-7 A Screening Method For Preservation Testing Of Water-Miscible Personal Care Products: The time from lab bench to the market is crucial in the very competitive personal care product industry. This method is used to screen numerous preservative systems to help choose the most effective one. This method does not replace the M-3 Method or USP <51>, but does identify those systems that have a high probability of meeting the passing criteria for these methods.



All above methods involve the introduction of a controlled inoculum to the test product.


Test organisms include (but are not limited to) Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Aspergillus brasilensis.

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Testing is then done to determine the number of surviving organisms at different time points. Based on the chosen test method, a specified log reduction in the number of micro-organisms recovered must be obtained at certain time points in order to meet the criteria for passing the test.

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Eurofins Cosmetics and Personal Care
 
A hydrosol is the left over water from steam distillation of essential oils. They seem to have a shelf stable life, when left on their own.
Do you recommend a company for testing?
https://www.makingcosmetics.com/Resources_ep_41.htmlTashaBird this may be of some help. Fun & interesting site to view if nothing else. They are here in S Cal & have lots of materials' Ive found many items id love to buy' but the shipping seams a little high at the time. Best of luck on your "Skin Care Products".
 
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A hydrosol is the left over water from steam distillation of essential oils. They seem to have a shelf stable life, when left on their own....

I have to disagree about shelf stability of hydrosols if no preservation system is used. The sources I've studied about making hydrosols recommend using some type of preservation method for keeping hydrosols sanitary.

Some makers add enough ethanol to bring the ABV to about 20%. Others use a broad spectrum water-soluble preservative or freeze the hydrosol for long term storage.

"...Do you recommend a company for testing?..."

I don't have any suggestions for you, TashaBird. I know Carolyn @cmzaha has had some testing done for her business -- maybe she will share who she has worked with.
 
Also check out supplies by Catalina. They have some amazing pre made products.
I will check them out! Thank you!
Edit: OMGoddess YES! That’s reasonably priced, and customizable without any of the headache of worry about icky things growing. Thank you so much for referral to Catalina! I think I’ll use their base, add some of their extracts, bottle it up, and call it a day. My real passion is my face oil. But, it needs a wet face for best application. I’m so glad I check with you all!!! Thank you all for sharing and caring, I love this forum.
 
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...So, when I buy rose water, it has something in it that’s not on the label?

I have no idea, TashaBird. You'd need to ask the person you're getting the hydrosol from.

If it's not preserved with a chemical preservative, they should be able to tell you how they're ensuring the hydrosol stays sanitary. Could be they are using a non-chemical preservation system such as freezing or heat sterilization.
 
I have no idea, TashaBird. You'd need to ask the person you're getting the hydrosol from.

If it's not preserved with a chemical preservative, they should be able to tell you how they're ensuring the hydrosol stays sanitary. Could be they are using a non-chemical preservation system such as freezing or heat sterilization.
Thank you. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to wrap my head around. I appreciate your patience.
 
Their educational stuff looks so interesting! Have you done any?
Good morning' no I haven't but I was like a kid in a candy store looking at all they have to offer. So happy you liked it too. I was going to order a few things but the shipping cost more then the few items I wanted so didn't place order, Im going to revisit it again.
 
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