Preservatives are, without question, an important part of any cosmetic you buy. This is especially true for products that contain plant extracts—just think about how long a head of lettuce lasts in your refrigerator before it becomes a moldy, bacteria-laden mess.

Whether it is a cleanser, lotion, toner, blush, foundation, or mascara, without preservatives these everyday items would become overloaded with microbes you don’t want on your skin or near your eyes. But what makes a good preservative or a bad one? In the cosmetic industry with insanity prevailing these days, it’s getting harder to tell as most websites want to scare you to death about the ingredients in beauty products.

In reality, the amount of an ingredient is everything. What is dangerous at a 100% concentration or when it is fed to rats or injected under their skin doesn’t often, if ever, apply to a 0.1% concentration in a skin-care or makeup product. It is also important to understand that one person’s allergic reaction doesn’t speak to the millions of other people using it safely (just because you are allergic to cats doesn’t mean everyone is).

Let’s look at the ingredient/dose issue. Take salt for example. Salt is NaCl, sodium (Na) chloride (Cl). Sodium and chloride by themselves are corrosive, but together they become a tasty seasoning for chicken. But consuming too much salt can be a serious problem for high blood pressure, but not necessarily for those who don’t have high blood pressure. It works this way for each and every cosmetic ingredient as well.

One other point: Because preservatives, natural or otherwise, exert their action by killing microbes they can also have an irritancy reaction on skin. However, because preservatives are often used in such small amounts they generally pose minimal to no risk for most people in that regard.

Trying to hone down this complicated issue isn’t easy, but here is a brief summary for some of the more typical preservatives you may find on an ingredient label:

Parabens. While natural cosmetic companies love vilifying parabens, it turns out parabens in the form of butylparaben, propylparaben, methylparaben, and ethylparaben are some of the more effective and gentle preservatives used in cosmetics. They were originally derived from plants and are mostly manufactured synthetically.
Concern over parabens made headlines because of research showing that they are endocrine disrupters. This research involved both oral administration and injection into rat skin which did show evidence of a weak estrogen effect on cells in a way that could be problematic for binding to receptor sites associated with proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. That is scary sounding stuff.
Current research investigating how parabens act when administered orally, topically, and subcutaneously to rats has shown that parabens are metabolized rapidly in living organisms and therefore cannot exhibit any adverse effects. Parabens are fully metabolized before they enter the blood stream. (For more information on parabens, visit www.cosmeticscop.com and use our Ingredient Dictionary.)

Formaldehyde. Is a very effective anti-microbial agent and can be used in a very low concentration in cosmetics. However, even in small amounts it can be irritating and when combined with amines (such as triethanolamine), can create nitrosamines. Formaldehyde in its pure form is a suspected human carcinogen.

2-bromo-2-nitropane 1-3 diol. Is a formaldehyde-releasing preservative but is not associated with the same problems as pure formaldehyde.

DMDM Hydantoin. Is a formaldehyde-releasing preservative but is not associated with the same problems as pure formaldehyde.

Imidazolidinyl Urea. Is a formaldehyde-releasing preservative but is not associated with the same problems as pure formaldehyde.

Phenxoyethanol. Is a preservative that breaks down into phenol, which is one of the reasons it is such a good antimicrobial agent. When ingested it can be problematic and exposure to the environment such as its effect on fish shows some concern, but when applied topically research shows it does not affect skin in any negative way for wound healing or other toxic reactions.

Benzalkonium Chloride. Is a relatively safe and effective anti-microbial agent.

Sodium Benzoate. Is considered to be a mild preservative with no known problems when applied topically. It is also used as a food-grade preservative.

Benzoic Acid. Is an effective preservative found in nature that contains a form of parabens. For cosmetics it is almost always synthetically derived.

Methylisothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone. Are known to be sensitizing and are not recommended in leave-on products. They are not known to have any other problems associated with their use in cosmetics. A toxicology and medical literature search shows no other issues with these two ingredients.

EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid). Is a chelating agent used in cosmetics to prevent metals such as copper or salts in water used in the formula from causing changes to the texture and efficacy of the product. It is not known to have any problems other than skin sensitivity. It must be used with other preservatives to be effective. Phytic acid is a possible natural alternative to EDTA.

Plant-based Preservatives. While certain ingredients have potential for preserving cosmetics, there is very little research showing they can carry the burden or remain stable to keep a product free of microbes over the life of the product. Further, because plant-based preservatives require larger amounts to preserve a product they also can become irritating or cytotoxic to skin. Plus, many of these extracts have limitations and are not without their own “scare” factor. Much research is being done on this issue.

Clove extract (eugenol). Can cause respiratory problems when inhaled.
Eucalyptus extract. One of the components of this plant is cresol, a possible carcinogen.
Cypress extract. Is a natural emission of methanol, which can cause irritation.
Sorbic acid. Can be found in nature, but is more often synthetically derived.
Tree lichen extracts. Are effective against mold and fungus, but not bacteria.
Lonciera Japanese. Is better known as honeysuckle and is a natural source of parabens and therefore can be an effective preservative.

When all is said and done, there is truly no reason to be scared of the preservatives in your product. The alternative is not a pretty picture, and natural ingredients are not without their risks. Beautiful products stay beautiful and effective when a safe level of preservatives is used in the formula.

I know I’m about to piss a lot of people off with this blog entry but let me just preface what I want to get off my chest by saying I am an environmentalist and have been for years. I live in the Pacific Northwest and as a community and personally we have been ecologically aware for decades. I know polluting our world is a serious problem and we all need to do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint, but I have had enough with the fear mongering, propaganda, and outright brainwashing the organic and natural skin care product lines throw at consumers. Even mainstream companies have gotten in on the act (L’Oreal actually advertises their Everpure hair-care line claiming it is better because it doesn’t contain sulfates, which is a bunch of crap because all of their other products from Garnier to Kerastase contain sulfates. Why didn’t they stop selling those if sulfate-free is so much better?).

Let me just say this up front: skin care products are not killing us, causing cancer, or any other dire condition. Women have no more higher incidence of cancer then men (breast cancer doesn’t count as men don’t have estrogen in the first place and women don’t get prostate cancer for obvious reasons as well). The insane, misleading information about mineral oil, petrolatum, parabens, and even toluene in nail polishes is just bizarre. The research doesn’t exist to prove any harm is being done, not even remotely. Not to mention natural and organic products contain problematic ingredients that effect the environment and our health as well.

I’m not sure how this all got started but the natural organic fanatics want you to be very afraid and, of course, only buy their products because they are pure and won’t harm you (forget the fact that there isn’t any research showing their products are effective and that many aren’t all that natural in the first place). Even more obnoxious is their blatant hypocrisy. I am fairly certain almost every single owner, employee, or lobbyist for any organic/natural cosmetic company in the world uses computers, talks on cell phones, drives cars, flies in airplanes, mostly lives in cities, and myriad other things that are far more problematic for the environment and health then any cosmetic could ever be. Breathing auto exhaust fumes and adding to landfills with outdated cell phones and computers (and all manner of outdated electronics) are where the concern should be, not the cleanser or moisturizer you are using.

But back to skin care. I want to remind all of you that I have a ton of research on my web site about all this, including these links:

http://www.cosmeticscop.com/skin-care-facts-preservative-problems-risks-benefits-of-parabens.aspx?filter=itemtype%3acontent

http://www.cosmeticscop.com/skin-care-facts-sodium-lauryl-sulfate-sodium-laureth-sulfate.aspx

http://www.cosmeticscop.com/skin-care-facts-mineral-oil-safety-nonirritating-moisturizer.aspx

If you want to send this rational, documented information to your friends and family that would go a long way to helping them make better decisions about what skin care and makeup products to buy. Right now I am just overwhelmed and the voice of reason is drowned out by the endless garbage (brain pollution) the natural/organic cosmetic industry can’t help spilling into the minds of women like an oil slick that can’t be cleaned up. Just in case you’re still not willing to believe that cosmetics aren’t killing us, below are some rational, voice-of-reason quotes from respected sources.

“FDA believes that at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about the use of cosmetics containing parabens.”

— Food and Drug Administration

“[The 2004 Darbre Study] did not prove that parabens cause breast tumors. The authors of this study did not analyze healthy breast tissue or tissues from other areas of the body and did not demonstrate that parabens are found only in cancerous tissue.”

— National Cancer Institute

“There is no sound scientific evidence that cosmetics as they are typically used cause cancer.”

“Parabens have a long history of safe use and have been specifically recognized as safe by the FDA.”

— American Council on Science and Health

“… The technical accuracy of the initial reports [linking parabens to cancer] have come under challenge,” noted Sandra Porter, Clariant. “Recent reports published and available in the public domain indicate that there is no conclusive evidence of harmful effects from parabens in cosmetics at typical usage levels.”

— Household and Personal Products Industry Magazine

I also want to share this letter I received from a physician on this issue; it succinctly sums up the manipulation we suck up like water in the desert without any benefit:

Paula,

First of all thank you for speaking up about a topic that has been very important to me for a long time. In fact I created a blog simply to address this issue: http://parabenmyth.lexli.com/
My frustration with philosophies such as this stem from the fact that I treat patients with breast cancer on a daily basis, and am very cognizant of what is good or not for them. I have spent a long time researching the paraben issue and found the same conclusions as you have. Such negative, panic provoking tactics against ingredients has almost become a norm for a number of “big beauty” marketers. Unfortunately, it works on consumers who may be unaware of the whole picture, and in many cases do not have access to in-depth scientific facts. To condemn an ingredient just because it might, possibly, might, remotely mimic, seem like, maybe etc. is incredibly unjustified. The evidence linking paraben absorption via skin care products, mimicking estrogen and in turn affecting breast cancer rates is extremely farfetched at best. I suspect your chances of taking in estrogen like substances is higher from food intake of animal and plant products, such as cow’s milk! But, obviously certain negative marketing, using scant scientific findings and manipulating it is much more potent at molding the human mind than presenting the facts. I applaud you on your ability to go against the flow and try to reach the truth.

I was recently in our local Nordstrom store, checking out some new philosophy makeup products. Because fall is upon us and lots of cosmetic companies are gearing up for big launches, the philosophy salesperson was eager to inform me of what was coming to the counter soon. Along with a new foundation and some other potentially intriguing makeup items was the claim she kept repeating: “…which will be paraben-free.” At one point I stopped her and asked what was so bad about parabens (I was curious to see what she’d say). Her reply was “Well, they cause cancer, especially breast cancer.” I replied that from the research I’ve seen there is no definitive link between breast (or any other type of) cancer and parabens. I asked where she got her information, to which she replied “That’s what they tell us in training.” Sigh. Cosmetic companies love using scare tactics to sell their products.

As I continued to take notes on the new makeup items, I asked her what was so bad about parabens. She admitted she didn’t know for sure, but philosophy is moving away from using them because “it’s just better for the products”. “Besides”, she said, “parabens aren’t natural.” Without wanting to further the debate since I was done with my research, I just smiled and nodded. So that’s what she was getting at all along. Never mind that parabens are, in fact, derived from a natural source (berries) the real theme is that philosophy is changing their marketing message to the familiar theme of natural = good, synthetic = bad, health-threatening, toxic, insert-your-own-unpleasant-adjective-here.

If I had more time to spend discussing this with her (she really was helpful and quite earnest in her fervor for philosophy) I would’ve mentioned that it would be far better if philosophy took an inventory of all the irritating ingredients in their formulas, many of which are natural, and removed those instead of parabens. But such a move would never happen because most consumers are convinced beyond a doubt that any natural ingredient is preferred to one of synthetic origin (often referred to as “chemicals” even though everything in our world is composed of chemicals). The truth is there are good and bad ingredients of either origin, not to mention that most cosmetic formulas wouldn’t be nearly as elegant or effective without the synthetic ingredients that play integral parts-and that includes parabens and other preservatives.