An aside...safety first!

There are reasons to follow the rules in making bath & body products, the main one being that you want to make awesome products. The other one is safety. I know all these lectures on safety can get a bit boring at times - believe me, I roll my eyes at all the "you're going to die horribly if you don't do this" ads on TV - but they're necessary to create products that won't hurt our end user.

Take a look at this recall of Glittersniffer cosmetics (linked to the complaint blog). We see the use of non-eye safe ingredients in eye products, and that's led to scratched corneas and horrible infections. (This is also fascinating case of what happens when you don't follow the business rules as well as she doesn't have insurance or a business licence!) Take a look at this recall of tainted alcohol wipes used in the hospital that caused a young boy's death (which is an example of why alcohol may not be the great preservative we all think). And finally, take a look at this post by Anne-Marie of the Soap Queen blog/Brambleberry/Otion on the mouldy lotion she bought from a local spa (she did not make this herself! She believes in preserving her products well!)

There's a very good reason that I write posts like this - if you want to make products without preservatives - and I spend my time researching preservatives and ways of making our products. I do it because I want to make the safest products possible, and I share it with you, my wonderful readers, because I want you to be safe as well.

I'm not trying to be some irritant reminding you to heat and hold, follow the good manufacturing practices, or use preservatives; I'm trying to keep you and the people you love safe. (Click here for all the things I mention in this last paragraph). In two of the three cases above, the problems could have been avoided by doing one of these three things. If the company in question had used preservatives, that lotion wouldn't look as green and awful. If the cosmetics company referred to their information on what is eye safe, they wouldn't have had to recall all those products. Doing a few little things safely can make all the difference.

Ironically, I know most of the people who want to make products without preservatives are doing it for health reasons, but the problems that can occur when we don't preserve our products well are proven to be far more harmful for our health than the theoretical harm that can come from including a tiny amount of preservative.

And thus endeth the rant...