When you think of preservatives, you likely think that they’re a “bad” ingredient to watch out for. And while some ingredients used as preservatives can be harmful or even toxic for humans, they were actually invented to keep you safe!

Let’s explain the science of preservatives and learn the types that are safe to use in skincare.

What is a preservative?

You see the word preserve in preservative, which means to keep (something) in the original or existing state.

The preservation of foods has helped humans survive long periods of time, especially during cold winters before the invention of modern-day cold storage and refrigeration. Preservatives create an environment that bacteria can’t live in, keeping your products fresh. Natural ways of preserving foods include using sugar, salt, spices, vinegar, and alcohol. For example: using vinegar to preserve vegetables raises the acidity above what bacteria can survive in. Without preservatives, microbes and bacteria recognize food as a form of nutrition and will eat the foods, spoiling them quickly. Some of these bacteria, if consumed, can cause sicknesses in the human body, which is why you never want to leave food out too long as you can get food poisoning. 

With science comes new ways to preserve food and other products like cosmetics and skincare: using artificial preservatives to keep them as fresh as possible. In skincare, most water-based products need some sort of preservative to keep them shelf stable. Water attracts and grows bacteria easily because it’s an environment they can thrive in. Without preservatives, products like creams and moisturizers won’t even last a week on the shelf. On the flip side, oil-based products are more shelf stable and some oils are naturally antibacterial (like jojoba oil), so unless you introduce water into the mix they’re completely safe without any added preservatives.

As we become more connected worldwide, it’s pretty amazing that we can now consume goods that have been made on the other side of the earth, but at what cost to our bodies?

Why preservatives can be harmful to humans

Parabens are now widely known as chemical preservatives to be avoided since our body recognizes them as foreign substances which can cause allergic reactions in the body, are endocrine disruptors (decreasing hormone function), can cause cancers, and affect the birth size of babies. You’ll see parabens used in a variety of products, especially those with high water content like hair care but they can be used in everyday personal care products like toothpaste, shaving cream, sunscreen, deodorants, makeup, and of course, your skincare.

The controversy with parabens is that they are considered “safer” to use as preservatives than other ingredients that release formaldehyde as a form for preservation and cover a wide range of preventing all types of harmful microorganisms making them an effective ingredient for preserving products.

Ingredients like DMDM hydantoin and Imidazolidinyl urea preserve products by releasing small amounts of formaldehyde (a.k.a. Formaldehyde releasing preservative or FRPs) into a formula. Formaldehyde is used to keep dead bodies from decaying and it’s in a lot of haircare and skincare products. Brilliant preservative, but it’s really bad to be exposed to these types of chemicals and they can compound over time.

Triclosan and triclocarban, antibacterials that were once widely used in the healthcare industry because they pose harmful risks to humans are two ingredients that are now banned for use. These chemicals have also been seen to have negative environmental impacts when entering our waterways after we wash them down the drains when we bathe.

Unfortunately, the FDA isn’t regulating the use of preservatives in cosmetics and skincare, and preservatives don’t need approval before being used in those types of products. If the main objective of preservatives is to keep the general public safe from mold and other harmful bacteria, then it’s easy to see why this ingredient is overlooked in our policies. Without regulation, it’s up to us consumers to understand and know the ingredients to look for when shopping for personal care products.

How to identify preservatives in your skincare

Take a look at the ingredients in your products. Preservatives will usually be at the end of the list since only a small amount is needed to be effective. The EWG lists these types of parabens as the six most commonly used for skincare. We recommend keeping a list of these ingredients with you when you’re shopping for skincare products.

Parabens:
Methylparaben
Ethylparaben 
Propylparaben
Isopropylparaben
Butylparaben
Isobutylparaben
Other -paraben

Other ingredients to avoid in personal care products:

Even at low doses, unfortunately, the ingredients that keep you safe can also harm you. It’s best to avoid these ingredients as many studies have shown the use of them over time can build up, causing detrimental effects on your body in the long run.

The preservatives we use at Botnia

The way we approach preservatives is to use them at the lowest possible percentage for the safety of our customers while still keeping the potency and longevity of the organic ingredients in our skincare. We believe it’s actually healthy and natural if skincare starts to turn a little off over time—that means it’s alive, just like fresh food! You can tell our ingredients are active this way. Think of the ingredients in our skincare like the freshest organic produce—the colors are more vibrant, the fruits and vegetables more flavor-filled and nuanced—and also prone to spoilage, by design. That natural potency is what makes Botnia’s plant-based skincare so effective.

Now that you know why preservatives are used, let’s shine a light on good preservatives and how they work naturally to prevent the growth of bacteria or mold in organic skincare. 

Food additives like vinegar help to raise the acidity of the environment preventing an enzyme bacteria needs to grow. It’s why you can pickle foods and keep them shelf stable for long periods of time. Potassium sorbate is the ingredient we use that works like vinegar, creating an acidic environment that prevents the growth of microbes.

Leucidal, a lactobacillus ferment derived from radish root works as an antimicrobial that interacts with the microbe cell wall and it creates an opening of the pores so that there's an imbalance in the microbes and leads to cell death.

Phenethyl alcohol, a naturally occurring aromatic alcohol that’s found in a range of essential oils is used at Botnia as an antimicrobial. It’s found naturally in many plants including roses, carnations, orange blossoms, ylang-ylang, and hyacinth, is a volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) substance that acts as a plant's natural defense system against bacteria.

We also use potassium sorbate which is a potassium salt of sorbic acid which is typically derived from rowan or european mountain ash (a shrub), that prevents the growth of yeast and mold and is used in both skincare and food products. It lowers the pH of a microbial cell, creating an acidic environment that prevents the growth of microbes. The potassium sorbate we use is a synthetically derived ingredient made in a green lab and has the same molecular structure and works on the skin just as well as the naturally derived version. In some cases, synthetic ingredients can be more sustainable if plants are being over-harvested or going extinct.

Rose geranium hydrosol, naturally antibacterial, is another ingredient we use as a natural preservative in our water-based products.

A common ingredient you see in both foods and skincare is tocopherol, or Vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps to prevent free radicals. We love this for both our skincare and your skin! While not a preservative, its antioxidant properties help to protect products from oxidation and delicate oils from becoming rancid quickly.

Another myth is that essential oils can be used as preservatives. While some EOs might have antimicrobial properties, we use them sparingly, not at high enough percentages for them to work as preservatives. Additionally, using EOs at higher strengths can be desensitizing or even dermotoxic for the skin in high doses.

When you think about plants’ natural defense systems against nature, it makes sense why our skin assimilates plants so easily into our system and uses the plant's benefits to help heal itself. It’s also why it’s so important that we use plant-based preservatives to protect you against bacteria and growth in your products. It’s also helpful to know how to take care of organic skincare to minimize any contamination.

It’s not realistic for most consumers to keep products stored in a fridge outside of the bathroom, which can be a breeding ground for bacteria and mold as they love wet humid environments. When you think of organic skincare like food, you probably won’t keep the yellowing kale in your fridge to use in your salad for dinner. Preservatives help to lengthen the natural degradation of organic ingredients that we use in our skincare so that it’s safe for you as the consumer to use over a period of time.

Xo, Botnia