Optiphen revisited...

In this post and this post, sfs asks: Could Optiphen be used in an anhydrous product? Both Lotioncrafter and the Herbarie list it as a preservative for all types of products.

In this post, Sciarretta Farms said: Are you sure that all the preservatives in the Optiphen family are only for water soluble products? A lot of people use Optiphen to preserve their anhydrous scrubs.

Is Optiphen suitable for anhydrous creations?

I checked out the Herbarie's listing for Optiphen: Optiphen is suitable for anhydrous formulations and emulsions, such as creams, lotions, salves, body butters, and body scrubs.

I checked out Lotioncrafter's listing for Optiphen: Optiphen can be used in a wide variety of personal care products including aqueous and anhydrous systems and emulsions.

And I've checked out these brochures published by ISP, the makers of Optiphen...
ISP product guide (page 22) - nothing listed about being suitable for anhydrous products.
Preservative Data Sheet (page 12 or 22, not sure) - looks to be the same sheet, so that really doesn't help much.
Mild preservative data sheet (page 4) that says, "Optiphen® is applicable for use in a variety of personal care preparations such as aqueous and anhydrous systems, as well as emulsions."
And Preservation Breakthrough (page 7) that says, "

So there you have it. Apparently all the Optiphen products can be used in anhydrous formulations.

But wait...on page 4 of the mild preservation data sheet, the company writes this about Optiphen Plus...
"Optiphen® Plus can be used in a wide range of aqueous and emulsion-type personal care formulations, such as creams, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, mousses, and wet wipes." There's nothing about using it in anhydrous products. And on page 5 it says this about Optiphen ND..."Optiphen® ND/RokonsalTM ND has proven to be an effective preservative system for rinse-off products such as shampoos, shower gels, and foam baths. Optiphen® ND/RokonsalTM ND is recommended for use in creams, emulsions, lotions, and gels with acidic pH. Suitable for oil/water and water/oil emulsions."

I'm getting more confused by the minute! In the Preservation Breakthrough document quoted above, it states that ALL Optiphen products can be used effectively in "aqueous and anhydrous systems as well as emulsions". But then we see Optiphen Plus to be used in "aqueous and emulsion-type personal care formulations" and Optiphen ND suggested for "creams, emulsions, lotions, and gels with acidic pH". Hmm...

What do I think? When the company is putting out information that contradicts other information, I get confused and annoyed. With two references from the company and chemistry that backs it up, I think it's safe to say that Optiphen is suitable for anhydrous products - which makes sense because phenoxyethanol is soluble in both oil and water - but I can't say anything about the other Optiphen products.

As a note, I'm linking the three posts on Optiphen to this post, I'll update the PDF on preservatives with this information this weekend (time willing), and that's my final word on Optiphen. Unless I can get some definitive, non-contradictory information about this line of preservatives, I won't be commenting on anything relating to Optiphen in the future.

As a disclaimer: I use liquid Germall Plus, Germaben II, and Phenonip as my preservatives of choice. I haven't used Optiphen or any of the variations in my products and I'm not planning to do so, and part of that decision relates to the lack of good information about this ingredient. The other reasons including not finding it locally easily and not wanting it to curdle my lotions! 


EDITED TO ADD: I think I need to clarify my statement about Optiphen. I'm not knocking it and I'm not putting it down - I have no opinion on this preservative. I'm not going to be writing about it in the future unless I can find something really definitive from a source that I trust for fear that I'm spreading misinformation. I owe it to you, my wonderful readers, to be accurate, and I don't feel I have enough information about Optiphen to write anything further on it.

I can't use every single ingredient out there as I simply don't have the time and I can't afford to buy one of everything. I'm making my decision based upon my personal preference. Just as some people choose not to use silicones, some choose not to use parabens, and some choose to make organic products, I'm choosing not to include Optiphen in my workshop.

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Creating products: Packaging and preservation

Originally posted on October 14, 2010...

I've written a lot about packaging in the past, but I'd like to share with you a study I read recently on the value of packaging and preservation.

When we're packaging our products, we need to think of the end user, how she will treat the product once it reaches her house or car. We need to consider how she might contaminate the product, especially those found in jars or screw top containers.

This study used poorly and well preserved products to maximize the contamination of the products. The chart on page two of the PDF should make you shudder. The contamination of both the unpreserved lotion and shampoo on day one found levels too numerous to count!

This study tested the contamination of shampoo with three different caps - the screw cap, the flip top, and the slit cap (or disc cap). The screw cap containers had the most contamination (29%) followed by the slit cap (21%) and the flip top (0%).

The study also tested contamination of lotions with three different caps - the screw cap, the flip cap and pump. The screw cap tested very poorly (79%), the flip cap tested poorly as well (39%), and while the pump tested the lowest (10%).

So what does this mean for us? It means we need to preserve our products well with a good and reliable preservative, add an anti-oxidant to retard rancidity, and follow good manufacturing practices like heating and holding for everything we make. And it means we need to choose our packaging well. Leave the screw caps for maple syrup and other cooking goodies, and go with the disc cap, flip top, or pump every time. Malibus might be a good choice - they didn't study those - as it's unlikely your end user will leave it open for the beasties to feast!

An aside on cap types...originally posted July 16, 2009

Again, form should follow function when it comes to caps. What are you dispensing?

Disc cap: Ah, the humble disc cap. It's good for pretty much every product with its tiny opening that allows surfactants, lotions, toners, and all your other products to come out with a squish! It's not great for thick lotions - like a foot lotion - or sugar scrubs.

Good for: Thin to medium lotions, surfactant mixtures, toners, serums, shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner.

Not good for: Thick lotions, sugar scrubs, anyhydrous creams or butters.

Downside: Could be hard to get every drop of lotion out of the bottom.

Upside: Readily available, works with almost every product.

Verdict: A staple of your bottle collection as it will work with almost everything.

Pump bottle: You can generally find two types of pumps at the supply shop - the treatment pump and the regular pump. The treatment pump is intended for smaller bottles and products you might want to use sparingly - serums, facial moisturizers, expensive lotions - and you'll generally find them on bottles 4 ounces/120 ml or smaller.

The larger pumps are great for thin and thick lotions, surfactant mixtures, and anything else you want to dose out. They work well when you might be going back for more - for instance, for foot lotion - because you don't get the container incredibly messy! They are simply not suitable for something like a toner - something primarily made of water - because they won't pump it out properly.

Good for: Lotions, creams, surfactant mixtures, hair care products.

Not good for: Watery creations, sugar scrubs, anhydrous butters.

Downside: More expensive than disc caps. Not suitable for thick scrubs.

Upside: Get out every last drop.

Verdict: Pump bottles are great, but can add up to $1.00 to the cost of a bottle.

Spray cap: I do love the spray cap. It's ideal for thin, water creations like summer or cooling sprays when you want to cover a larger area or don't feel like rubbing something in all that well. I love it for toners and other facial products - spray on, wipe off, you're done! If you want to monitor your dosage of the product - leave in conditioners, for instance - it's a great way to ensure you don't use too much as you get a little tired pumping the spray! They're great for products using oil or cyclomethicone bases (like perfumes or body sprays) as well.

Good for: Water creations, like thin lotions, leave in conditioners, anti-frizz serums, perfumes, all liquid oil creations (like an after bath spray).

Not good for: Medium to thick lotions, sugar scrub, anhydrous butters.

Downside: Sprayers can be expensive. Not suitable for thick creations, like lotions.

Upside: It sprays!

Verdict: Sprayers are fantastic for products that contain at least 80% to 90% liquids.

You can use turret caps - the ones that you have to lift up - for various things, but I find them a little hard to find. I like to use those for very liquidy things like toner or thin lotions. And orifice bottles, which are suitable for dispensing essential oils or serums.

And this brings me to jars! I love jars for my body butters, intense conditioners, scrubs. and whipped butters, but there's a good chance the end user - which is mostly me and my friends - will contaminate it somehow. Good instructions on your jars - wash hands before using, do not let water drip into the scrub, do not let the dog lick it - can help ensure your end user is using the product the right way. But let's be honest, there have been times when you want to slather on a little body butter before going to bed and you haven't washed your hands in a few hours...what do you do there? Good preserving won't wash away all your sins, but it will certainly ensure you see numbers that aren't too numerous to count when it comes to contaminant counts!

Packaging links...
Choosing the right container for your product. 
Alternatives to bottles.
Closures.
Non-container options and labelling.

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Thoughts for a not-so-warm Tuesday morning

I haven't had time to write up posts for this week, so you're going to get things off the top of my head for the next few days! Sorry! 

Fellow enjoyers of sewing - When did we stop calling ourselves "sewers" and started using the word "sewist"? According to WordSpy, in 1964. I don't care how old the word might be, sewist just sounds silly. And yes, I grant you that sewer might look like sewer (as in where waste water goes), but sewist? There's something really weird about that word. I've tried saying it a few times, but it just sounds wrong. Sewist. I don't know - I'm not going to use it!

How do you know which preservative to choose for your product? In general, you'll want a broad spectrum preservative (one that fights bacteria, fungus, and yeast) and something suitable for the application at hand. If you have a lotion, shampoo, or anything else with water, you'll choose one suitable for water containing applications. If you have an anhydrous product, like a scrub, you'll choose one suitable for anhydrous products. Here's the handy dandy chart on preservatives I've created to help you make those choices!

So what're you making this week? Are you planning out your Christmas gifts yet? I'm hoping to get into the workshop on Saturday and make some shampoo bars (one left!) and a ton of body wash!

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Question: Organic products and preservatives

In this post about preserving scrubs, Drei said...i think its better that there should be no preservatives. in my opinion, one there is a preservative in one's product it just make it less organic. thus there is also a some effects if you put some preservatives in it. that is why some people get allergies.

I appreciate your opinion, but I think I'd rather have a well preserved and safe product that uses 0.5% to 1% of a proven, broad spectrum preservative than an organic product that could be contaminated the moment I open it. Some people are allergic to preservatives, but I would argue that the small chance of an allergic reaction to a small amount of preservative is preferable to exposing someone I care about to contaminants that could cause serious health effects.

Besides, an organic product needs only to be 95% organic, so you could use a good preservative at 0.5% and still have something that is organic, but you'd have something that is both organic and safe. (Although the word organic is thrown around so much, it's really a useless descriptor these days!)

I know there is some debate around preserving scrubs, but if you're going to add water to a product - even water from your hand (or should I say especially if it's water from your hand!) - you need a preservative. I don't think you can really go wrong with a good, broad spectrum preservative in a product that might not need it! If you give the product to a friend and they have a reaction, then try another preservative. I'd rather have a friend suffer an allergic reaction to a safe, well preserved product than feel the guilt of having exposed them to some sort of contamination that could have long term health effects (or, worse yet, if you're selling products, having them sue you!). 

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Ecocert preservatives - kind of a wrap up

I hope you've enjoyed this look at three Ecocert preservatives - Leucidal, Advanced Leucidal - Aloe, and NataPres. I think my general apprehension about using these preservatives are threefold - they have short shelf lives, they are far more expensive than the preservatives I generally use now (liquid Germall Plus, Germaben II, and Phenonip), and they seem to have more restrictions.

The short shelf life worries me a lot because I might buy something today and not use it for a few months (hey, life gets really busy at times!), and I really don't want to worry about the shelf life of my preservative, of all things! If I buy it today, the longest shelf life my products could possibly have is a year, and that concerns me.  

I don't want to have to combine my preservative with another preservative to ensure it works. And I don't have the money to spend on really expensive preservatives. 

My other concern is that I want more solid information on the preservatives from the manufacturers and there seems to be less information than I'd like (for instance, can we use the Leucidals with cationic ingredients or not?) I don't know if the information is out there, but I couldn't get much even going to the manufacturer's site. (And what I've found, I've shared with you!) 

I know Ecocert preservatives they probably sound more appealing if you're a company, but I make my products for fun and my loved ones, so for me, I don't think I'm changing over any time soon.

So, Katie, to sum it all up - yes, there are Ecocert preservatives that seem to be effective. Are they natural? I don't know what that means any more, but these three apparently meet the Ecocert standards, so that might be the same thing? 

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Preservatives: NataPres (Ecocert)

NataPres is an Ecocert preservative I found at Lotioncrafter. I purchased it, but haven't used it, and that's primarily because of the need for a secondary preservative.

NataPres
INCI: Glycerin (and) Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate (and) Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract (and) Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Extract (and) Populus Tremuloides Bark Extract (and) Gluconolactone.

NataPres is a water soluble preservative that should be added in the cool down phase at 50˚C or lower. It is good against gram positive and gram negative bacteria, but the company suggests you add a little something more if you want to boost its efficacy against fungi and yeast, so it's not considered a broad spectrum preservative. (Click here for information on what beasties might live in our products!) Its suggested usage is 0.5% to 3% in the cool down phase of your product. Keep the sealed container of preservative away from sunlight, and I'd suggest keeping the finished product in an opaque container just to be safe.

We know about the leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate because we've been talking about Leucidal for the past two days, and it's the main preservative in that product (click here and here). Honeysuckle extract is interesting because it contains natural parabens, but it may not be as effective a preservative as once thought (click here and scroll down a bit for those links). The gluconolactone is added to be a chelating and sequestering ingredient (like EDTA), a free radical scavenger, and a moisturizer that is on par with about 2% glycerin. (This isn't to say that the gluconolactone will behave this way in your product.)

The Populus Tremuloides Bark Extract comes from the quaking or trembling aspen, and it can be found on its own as Natricide (click for data sheet from Lotioncrafter). In this product, you'd find it at 54% to 60%, whereas in this product you'l find it at a maximum of 20%.

I find the ratios of ingredients in this preservative interesting. The glycerin is listed at 60% to 70%, the radish ferment filtrate at 20% to 25%, with the next three extracts listed at 1% to 20%, with the gluconolactone listed last 0.01% to 10%. If we do the math, if we have glycerin at the least at 60% and the radish ferment filtrate at 20%, we only have 20% left for the honeysuckle and aspen extracts. So what is the main preservative here? It appears to be the radish root filtrate, but this product doesn't promise to be as broad spectrum as the Leucidal products - and it's from the same manufacturer - so I'm feeling a bit confused. Is it the glycerin that makes it less effective? I really don't know.

A big down side of this preservative is the need to keep it in an opaque container away from the sun. It reminds me a bit of working with Tinosan. The other big down side is the need for another preservative that is better with fungi and yeast. You might consider using an organic acid like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate as a secondary preservative, or something like Optiphen. But I don't think those things are Ecocert, so you might have a problem there.

If you want to know more about this preservative, click here for a really extensive PDF from Lotioncrafter.

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Preservatives: Liquid Leucidal (Ecocert)

Please read this Weekend Wondering post on this preservative as there are some concerns that it might not work well or at all. I know the appeal of natural can be very strong, but if it's on par with using no preservatives, we are putting ourselves and our loved ones at risk for all kinds of gross stuff! 

Yesterday we took a look at Advanced Aloe Leucidal - today let's take a look at Liquid Leucidal as an Ecocert preservative.

Liquid Leucidal
INCI: Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate

From Lotioncrafter: "Derived from radishes fermented with Leuconostoc kimchii, a lactic acid bacteria that has traditionally been used to make kimchi, this product consists of an isolated peptide that is secreted from the bacteria during the fermentation process that has been shown to have antimicrobial benefits."

Liquid Leucidal is a water soluble broad spectrum preservative best used at under 70˚C (cool down phase) at 2% to 4%. It may not be compatible with some cationic ingredients, so be careful using this in hair care products (conditioners, leave-in conditioners, shampoos with cationic polymers), body care products in which you might be using cationic polymers, or lotions in which you might use BTMS.

A disclaimer about this last sentence: I wasn't able to confirm the information about incompatibility with cationic ingredients anywhere but the Herbarie. We saw yesterday that Advanced Aloe Leucidal was incompatible with some cationic ingredients, but that doesn't mean that this product is incompatible with cationic ingredients, too. I would expect the data sheets from the company (see below) to provide some information on incompatibilities, and I didn't find anything about avoiding cationic ingredients, so use them at your own risk. In my experiments, I avoided cationic ingredients - primarily cationic polymers - just to be on the safe side. 

The company claims that 1% liquid Leucidal can increase moisturization of our skin by 10% thanks to the isolated peptide.

This preservative would be suitable for all your products that contain water, although I recommend that you ensure your product is at 45˚C or lower before including it in the cool down phase. I tried it with lotions and twice the product seized horribly (once at 50˚C, the other at 52˚C). I've tried it with Polawax and Ecomulse (aka Ritamulse) and found no difference (in the ones that didn't seize, but that was a temperature thing).

I've tried it with a body wash and a bubble bath and found no problems in incorporating it into the cool down phase. So far, all of these products show no visible contamination.

Here's the data sheet on this product from Lotioncrafter! And here's a data sheet with information on the moisturizing properties of just 1% of liquid Leucidal. And here's a Powerpoint presentation with some sample formulae.

Join me tomorrow as we take a look at Nata-Pres, another Ecocert preservative!

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Preservatives: Advanced Aloe Leuicdal (Ecocert)

In this post, Katie posed this question: I also read that you do not consider there to be any natural preservative. Your post was from a little while ago, so maybe you have changed your thoughts on this? 

I should clarify that sentence - there are "natural"* preservatives, but I have yet to find one comparable to something like liquid Germall Plus. Each one I've looked at - and I admit that I've only been looking at those from Lotioncrafter or the Herbarie - have down sides or restrictions that make it impossible to use the preservative with more than a few products I make. Don't use in a product over pH 6, don't expose to light, don't use with cationic ingredients, don't freeze, and so on. On top of this, they all cost far more than the conventional preservatives like liquid Germall Plus, Germaben II, Phenonip, and so on.

Although having written this I realize that everything will have some kind of restriction. I guess I'm just hindered more by the three preservatives I write about below than I would be with liquid Germall Plus.

May I rant for a moment? One of the things I find with the natural movement is an unwillingness to follow good manufacturing practices like heating and holding our products (I'm not saying everyone does it, but when I see suppliers who recommend heating our lotion phases in a microwave, I start to get worried!) I'm really confused as to why this might be because it's a great way to ensure the products will last over time and not subject ourselves, our loved ones, and possibly our customers to unsafe products. If you follow good manufacturing processes, you'll make a very good lotion that will not need the maximum levels of preserving to avoid contamination!

*Footnote: As you well know, my wonderful readers, I have no idea how to define natural any more, so for the purposes for this discussion, I'm going with ingredients that are Ecocert.

Advanced Aloe Leucidal or Aloe Advanced Leucidal or Leucidal Advanced Aloe
INCI Water (and) Leuconostoc/Aloe barbadensis Leaf/ Sorbus Aucuparia Fruit Ferment Filtrate - click here for link at Lotioncrafter.

Water soluble, so not for use with oil only products like sugar scrubs or lotion bars. Recommended usage at 2% to 4% in the cool down phase (4% for really hard to preserve products) with a shelf life of 12 months. It has a pH range of 3 to 8 but works best with ingredients that have a pH of 6 or less.

This preservative is compatible with most non-ionic emulsifiers (like Polawax), cationic emulsifiers (like BTMS-50), and anionic and amphoteric surfactants, but isn't compatible with strongly anionic surfactants or emulsifiers or xanthan gum. It may or may not be compatible with Ritamulse SCG (known as Ecomulse at Lotioncrafter and Natramulse at the Herbarie), and isn't compatible with Plantamulse liquid (INCI Sorbitan Laurate (and) Polyglyceryl-4 Laurate (and) Dilauryl Citrate), Plantamulse pastilles (INCI Polyglyceryl-3 Methyglucose Distearate), or Sugarmulse (INCI Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Cetearyl Glucoside), according to the Herbarie's listing for this ingredient. Lotioncrafter notes there can be some instability over time with Ritamulse SCG/Ecomulse/Natramulse, but doesn't note it is incompatible.

My experience? (Remember, anecdotes don't make data, but I thought I'd share my opinion.)
This really doesn't work well with lotions if the product isn't ultra mega super cooled when you add it. I tried it a few times at 50˚C, and the lotion seized within a 30 seconds, whereas waiting until it reached 40˚C resulted in a non-failed lotion. The product claims to be heat stable, but I really didn't find that to be the case.

I did try this in a body wash with my normal surfactants (cocamidopropyl betaine, DLS mild, C14-16 olefin sulfonate) and in a body wash with polyglucose/lactylate blend and decyl glucoside and so far it's holding up (it's been since early June, so 3 months and no visible contamination in either bottle). Because I used a lot of aloe vera, lavender hydrosol, and chamomile extracts, I used the preservative at 3% to ensure good preservation.

If I were to use this ingredient as one of my main preservatives, I would use it in lotions with Polawax or other e-wax or BTMS-50 as the emulsifiers. I wouldn't use it with Ritamulse/Ecomulse/Natramulse because of the possibility of epic lotion failure. To be honest, I really wouldn't use this for lotions. I would keep this for surfactant based products - shampoos, body washes, bubble bath, facial cleansers - with a pH of 6 or under

With the body wash I made above with the polyglucose/lactylate blend, I started with a pH of 8 and had to bring it down slowly by adding citric acid at 0.2% at a time. If you were to use a recipe like this one, 6.51 isn't low enough, so you'd want to add another 0.1% or so citric acid to ensure you had a pH below 6.

Click here for a data sheet from the company on Leucidal Advanced - Aloe.

Join me tomorrow for more fun with Ecocert preservatives as we take a look at Leucidal Liquid.

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Question: Adding preservatives to anhydrous products

In this post about making whipped avocado butter, Katie writes: I am just wondering why you did not use a preservative in this product? I just made a whipped shea butter for the first time using sweet almond butter, shea, vitamin e, and essential oils. It sounds like its consistency is similar to yours and it too is a little greasy at first but soaks in nicely. Loving your blog! I was considering doing lotions but am honestly afraid now of all of the bacteria and such that can grow on it. 

I also read that you do not consider there to be any natural preservative. Your post was from a little while ago, so maybe you have changed your thoughts on this? 

Love that you're from the lower mainland. I am a Langley girl living in Vancouver right now. 

Hi Katie! If you're looking for supplies local to us, look to the right and down for the supply list. We're so fortunate to have so many great suppliers within driving distance! I'm familiar with them all and they are simply awesome suppliers and people! (I'm off to Langley this morning and had hoped to do a little shopping, but Voyageur is closed for the long weekend. I'm glad they give their employees that time, but I need some cocamidopropyl betaine!)

Here's the recipe for that whipped avocado butter above...
WHIPPED AVOCADO BUTTER
77% green avocado butter
22% rice bran oil
1% fragrance oil (Clementine Cupcake, what else?)

We don't need to use preservatives in anhydrous products, that is to say products that don't contain water, because water is the big bad worry when making bath and body products. (Click here for more information on water and contamination.) We can use an anti-oxidant like Vitamin E (0.25% to 1%) to retard the rancidity of the oils and butters, if we wish, but we don't need to use a preservative if we're making an oil soluble product. (I didn't use an anti-oxidant because this should have a 1 year life span, and I only made a bit of it!)

Why, then, do I need to add preservatives to scrubs? Because a scrub will be exposed to water - you'll dip your hand in during a bath or shower and oops, there's some water - and when we add water to any product, we run the risk of contamination! I know, I know, you'll be very careful and dry your hands carefully before using, but there's always that little bead of water that can run down your arm into the container that might be enough to sit on top of the scrub and cause problems! (Click here for a discussion about water activity and sugar scrubs!)

I'm so glad that you're worried about preserving your lotions - that awareness will ensure you will make wonderful products! If you heat and hold, use good manufacturing processes, and choose a broad spectrum preservative that you use at the suggested usage rates, you should be able to make an awesome lotion that is well preserved and safe. In all my years of lotion making, I have never had a lotion show any visible contamination, even in my early days when I was a lot more impatient and didn't follow the rules as well as I should have! (The words "visible contamination" are vital in that sentence because I don't have access to testing for non-visible contamination!)

I had a container of foot lotion I kept by the side of my bed for a few years. I put it in a wide mouth Mason jar and abused it like silly for science! I stuck my fingers into it when I hadn't washed my hands, I put a spoon into it after I'd licked it, I left the top off for days, and so on and it never ever showed any signs of microbial growth. I threw it away when it started to smell rancid, and I was surprised that it made it so long with olive oil, soy bean oil, and mango butter (normally about a year). The power of anti-oxidants compels you...to make an awesome lotion that doesn't go rancid immediately! 

As for the question about natural preservatives...can I answer that one tomorrow? There's so much to write about preservatives and I really want to post this today, so join me tomorrow for that topic!

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Questions: Preserving scrubs

Just so you know, this scrub uses melt & pour soap and is from this challenge (click for the post to find the recipes) as Petra and I tried to duplicate a Lush product. I used this mold from Voyageur - click here - one I use for a lot of things!

In this post, Deborah asks: I'm gonna try this recipe shortly but I wanted to ask why you don't have a preservative in this. Is it because it is one time use only? Just checking cause I've never made one and I wanted to be on the safe side. Thank you in advance.

Great question, Deborah! You know, I think there should be a preservative in here, and you're welcome to add one if you wish (more about that in a moment).

We always say that we don't need to include a preservative in an anhydrous product (one without water) and this scrub bar doesn't contain water, therefore we can make it without a preservative. But there's a caveat to that sentence - unless the product is coming near water. A scrub bar not only comes near water, but it could be sitting in a small pool of water if you leave it in an undrained soap holding container, so it's a good idea to put a preservative into it.

I generally make my bars to be used in two, maybe three, showers and I make sure they're stored in a well drained place, so I haven't worried about the preservation that much, but I think I was wrong.  I think it's better to include a preservative in the mix to be on the safe side because I don't know how long other people might keep the bar and how they might treat it. If I really don't need a preservative, then I'm adding 0.5% to 1% of something to a bar other people might consider unnecessary. If I do need it, then I'll be happy I included it!

In this post, an anonymous questioner writes: This may be a dumb question - I have never made lotions or scrubs before - I am learning all about this stuff now :) Would using Germall Plus as a preservative instead of Phenonip result in any difference in the final product? I am assuming these are just personal preference in preservative types.

Again, another great question! (I would say there are very few dumb questions, and ones about preserving our products are never ever dumb! You can never be too safe.)

You can't use liquid Germall Plus in an anhydrous or oil only product as it is a water soluble preservative. If you click here and look at the preservative chart, you'll see that Phenonip works for oil soluble products, as do the Liquipar preservatives. (There may be other preservatives out there that work for oil soluble products, but I haven't encountered them and haven't reviewed them on the blog.) The parabens are mostly oil soluble, which is why they work in scrubs or scrub bars.

If you wish to put preservatives into your scrub bars, emulsified scrubs, or oil based scrubs, follow the manufacturer's directions for usage. In the case of Phenonip, you can add it to the heated oil phase of your product.

But how much to use? A 200 gram product might have 100 grams of oil and 100 grams of sugar/salt/pumice so should you preserve it all or just the oil based ingredients? I choose go by the weight of the entire product - so oil and salts and so on - at the percentage allowed by the manufacturer (for Phenonip, that would be 1%).

As a note, I will be revising my scrub recipes to include a link to this post! Great questions! 

If you're interested in learning more about preserving sugar scrubs or want to know more about water activity and preserving (which is the argument some people use in not preserving emulsified or oil based scrubs), please click here.

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An aside: Shelf lives of our products (part 1)

I'll be getting back to duplicating products in a few days, but I thought this was a really important topic for learning how to formulate and duplicate!

Will commented in this post...I use liquid germall plus in my own concoctions and haven't noticed anything go bad, but I typically use a batch of lotion within a month, so that's probably not surprising. On the other hand, I've purchased products (gasp!) and haven't used them within a couple of years, and they "seem" to be still good. I'm sure I'm not the only guy that does this sort of thing. I think many lotions are purposely made with mineral oil and such so that rancidity is less of a concern. Anyhow, knowing something may sit for a long time, here's my question -- is a single preservative like germall plus truly sufficient or would adding in a second preservative really be best? If yes, what would you recommend? Yes, I am a little bit of a germ-a-phobe.

We're all germ-a-phobes around here when it comes to lotion making, Will! It's the safest way to think!

To answer your question, a good broad spectrum preservative will last the life of your lotion, long after your oils have gone off. Most have shelf lives of two years. You can combine preservatives to create a broader spectrum preservative - for instance, adding something like one of the organic acids (which tend to be good fungal killers) with Optiphen - or you could do something like add liquid Germall Plus at 0.25% (range 0.1% to 0.5%) with 0.5% Germaben II (range 0.5% to 1.0%) to cover all your bases if you have something especially hard to preserve. I use liquid Germall Plus at the maximum 0.5%, and I've found my oils will go rancid long before I have any preserving problems, so it's not like someone's going to use it! (Believe me, if you've ever smelled rancid products, you won't accidentally use them!).

Will's question leads me to another thought...I addressed the idea of figuring out the shelf life of your products in this post, but I thought it was a good idea to re-visit it and think more about the ingredients we could use to extend the shelf life of any product.

Quick summary: The way to figure out your shelf life is to look at your shortest lived ingredient and figure that'll be the shelf life. So if you're using grapeseed oil, you'll have a three month product. If you're using olive oil, it could be up to a year. Look at each ingredient and figure out how long it has in the product. I mean every ingredient - glycerin, extracts, hydrosols, oils, butters, and so on. For the most part, the main concern will be the oils and butters as most preservatives have a two year life span. Write the date you opened the oils on the bottle so you know how long you have left. If you bought that container of grapeseed oil two months ago and opened it then, you've only got one month left. (And this is the reason I don't use grapeseed oil!)

One of the reasons we see mineral oil and petroleum in so many products is thanks to its shelf life. Both can last for years before going rancid, whereas most of our oils have a 6 month to one year shelf life. And shelf life is another reason we see a lot of our natural oils coming in at tiny percentages when they are used in a commercial product.

When we're working with natural oils we will have a year or so maximum for our products. We can add all kinds of things to extend the life span, but we're not going much over a year. For butters, most have a two year life span, but that's irrelevant if you're pairing them up with short lived oils.

Want to know the shelf life of your favourite oils? Please check out these posts on oils (under the emollients tag in the links to pages section) or the charts for more information. (If you click on the link for all the posts, you'll see charts for exotic oils and butters as well!) 

Join me tomorrow as we take a look at the shelf life of a few recipes then think about how to extend them!

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Some thoughts on storing products in the fridge

As I mentioned in this post, I'm really enjoying Cooking for Geeks, a book I originally bought for Raymond, and I'm reading a lot about safety in the kitchen. Although I'm not a fan of comparing cooking to product making, there are some points we can take from it when it comes to product safety.

When we refrigerate a something at 40˚F or 4.4˚C, we can stop the bacteria from multiplying, but we don't kill them (Click here for more information as it relates to food). The key is that the bacteria growth is only retarded, not stopped. This is why food can only be kept so long in the fridge before it needs to be thrown away. (Have we all had the wonderful experience of finding a piece of last week's chicken hiding behind the milk? Ick! No, well, I guess I was just a horrible housekeeper my last year of university!) If we want that food to stay better longer, we need to put it in the freezer. (Click here for more information on this topic!)

Let's say you make an amazing water-containing product and decide to not to preserve it because it's just for you or that you'll always keep it in the fridge. Even if you're scrupulous about taking it out of the fridge, squirting out a bit, then returning it to the fridge, the bacteria will still be growing. It might be slow, but they are growing. And there will come a point where your lotion is like last week's chicken and you can't use it any more (and no, I don't know how long...)

When you remove that product from the fridge, the bacteria will start to multiply again when it gets above 4.4˚C, which isn't that hard to do considering room temperature is around 18˚C to 20˚C. (You don't need the entire product to warm. If the surface gets warm and there's bacteria there, they'll be partying while their colder brothers are still chilling.) If you're taking that amazing conditioner into the shower and back to the fridge, imagine how warm it's getting in your bathroom!

No matter how obsessively clean we are in the workshop, there's always a chance of contamination. (Does anyone use a brand new bottle of distilled water every time you make a product?) This is the reason we use our preservatives. Not only will most of them prevent contamination in the future, but they will help us kill the nasties that might have been transferred into the product as we made it. If you aren't using preservatives, you aren't able to kill the contamination that might be in the product when we put it in the fridge, and those bacteria could eventually multiply. By using a broad spectrum preservative, we can prevent this! (Make sure you're using something that actually kills the bacteria. Something like sodium benzoate is a bacteriostatic, which will retard growth, but it won't kill it.)

Yeah, I know I harp on and on about this topic, but it's a vital one. And it's not helped by the deceptive labels that don't include preservatives on the list or hide them under other ingredients or the misinformation passed around by those who make products. Besides, it's a really interesting book that has me thinking before I go to sleep! 

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Preservatives you might not know about...

I thought I'd write a quick post on this topic because I get a lot of questions about preservatives. Almost all of our liquid ingredients will contain a preservative of some kind, especially if they contain water. I haven't met a surfactant yet that didn't contain a preservative, and you generally need to read the data sheet to find out which one. Most of our hydrosols and aloe vera contain preservatives - it's normally a selling point to note it's "preservative free" and you should see that in big letters on the container or web listing for the supplier. If you're in doubt and it concerns you that there might be preservatives in your liquid products, write to your supplier and ask.

I think preservatives in our liquid ingredients are of the good. I bought a container of unpreserved aloe vera and within a two weeks it was growing this horrible brown stuff at the bottom and I had to throw it away. Fortunately I didn't get any on my skin, and if I wasn't a big fan of preservatives prior to this, you know I was afterwards! I know I've told this story too many times, so this will be the last re-telling of the horrible Aloe Vera of Brown Ickiness and Doom, I promise! 

Our liquid cosmeceuticals also contain preservatives. I was looking into Pepha-Tight, and the data sheet notes it contains phenoxyethanol, benzoic acid, and sorbic acid at 0.1% to 1% each. So check the INCI, data sheet, and supplier information if this is a concern to you.

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Do we need preservatives in soap?

In this post, Heidi asks...My question is this.They tell us we don't need preservatives in soaps. Do you believe this is true? And if it is, why do we need a preservative in a solid shampoo bar (syndet)?And how about something without water like a body lotion bar?

Great question! Let's take a look at bacterial contamination in soap first.

Washing hands with contaminated soap bar unlikely to transfer bacteria. This is a study from 1998 and seems to be one of the most quoted ones. In essence, the title says it all.

Microbial contamination of "in use" bar soap in dental clinics. This one showed that soaps in a dental clinic can be contaminated by microbes, but it doesn't note if those microbes are transferred to other users. This sentence caught my eye: "The Center for Disease Control -1989 chapter 8, suggests that bar soaps should not be used for hand washing." I'm hoping this is just in medical settings!

Bacteriological studies related to hand washing. The conclusions in this one are interesting (last page). In quick summary, bar soaps do not support the growth of bacteria and said bacteria couldn't be passed on from one person to another. Bar soaps are anti-bacterial by their physical and chemical nature, but even if they were contaminated, this wouldn't be passed on to someone else. But this was published in 1963, so who knows if it's still relevant information?

I'm actually quite surprised there haven't been any more large, recent studies on this topic (almost everything else I found had tiny groups - say 6 people - or was about anti-bacterial soaps). Having said that, the general consensus appears to be that soap bars may harbour some contamination, but it's not being transferred to the user. Suggestions for keeping soap from obtaining more contamination are to keep it in a well drained container and to keep it dry.

As for the rest of your question, I use preservatives in my shampoo and conditioner bars because they're usually sitting in water in the shower as the silly soap holding thing doesn't drain well (I keep meaning to buy a new one, but it's not really on the top of my to-do list!). If I put them into a bag or other container, they're still sitting there wet after usage, so I think it wiser to add a preservative than to not.

As for anhydrous products like a lotion bar, every day microbes don't want to grow in oil so it's fine to leave the preservatives out of products that don't contain water and won't be exposed to water.

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If you want to make products without preservatives, then make them...

If you are going to make a product that contains water or might be exposed to water, you need to include a preservative.

If you want to make a preservative-less product or want to use alcohol as a preservative or want to store things in your fridge, do it. If you've read all that I've written about preservatives (like why we use preservatives and what kind of contamination can wreak havoc on your products) and read what others have written about them in great forums like the Dish or great blogs like the Soap Queen and you aren't yet convinced that preservatives are necessary and far better for your skin than the inevitable contamination that you'll see in unpreserved products, then make your products without preservatives.

I've done what I can to educate on the value of preservatives and I'm exhausted in fighting what seems to be a losing battle. If you don't want to use preservatives, then don't. But please stop asking me how to do it because I can't be a party to something I consider a dangerous practice.

I'm not sure how to end this rant...so I'll just stop writing.

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Preservatives: Mikrokill COS

madpiano asks in this post: I do have a question though, as we are in Europe, we have slightly different preservatives available. I mainly use one called Microkill, it's INCI is: Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Chlorphenesin. Is there anything I need to watch out for? I know there is a similar US one, but that contians an acid as the 3rd ingredient, I am not sure how that compares to Chlorphenesin. The MSDS says stable at PH 3-8, which seems to cover all the things I make that need preservative.

Mikrokill COS is an interesting preservative from Arch Chemicals is a lot like Optiphen in that it contains phenoxyethanol and capryl glycol, but they've added chlorphenesin, an anti-fungal ingredient, which makes it a broad spectrum preservative.

We know phenoxyethanol is effective against bacteria and yeast, and we know that capryl glycol is an effective bacteriostatic ingredient, but what's up with chlorphenesin? (Click for the data sheet on this ingredient.)

Chlorphenesin is a muscle relaxant with anti-fungal and some anti-bacterial properties. Its irritation potential for our skin is on par with phenoxyethanol, which is in the middle of the irritation scale, but its subjective irritation is higher, meaning that although there wasn't much physical irritation, people reported feeling it irritated their skin more. Figure that one out!

Mikrokill COS is good for products with a pH of 3 to 8, and it can be used at 0.75% to 1.5% in the cool down phase, around 60˚C. It's not good for all oil or all water products, but it can be solubilized with a 1:1 ratio of Mikrokill COS to polysorbate 20 mixture for something like a toner or a shampoo. SLS will also solubilize this preservative.

Summary of Mikrokill COS
INCI:  Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Chlorphenesin
Usage: 0.75% to 1.5% in products that contain oil and water. If you want to use it in all water products, solubilize it with 1:1 polysorbate 20.
Add it to the cool down phase when your product is lower than 60˚C.
Suggested pH level is 3 to 8.

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Preservatives: Choosing a preservative

So we've spent some time getting to know our preservatives, so let's take a look at what preservatives we might want to use and those we should avoid when creating our products.

Let's say you're making a scented body spray and you want to use polysorbate 20 to emulsify your fragrance into the water based product. Which preservative is right for this product? We know the parabens like Phenonip, Liquipar PE, and Germaben II are partially deactivated by polysorbate 20, so we might want to choose something else (say Liquid Germall Plus or Optiphen). I'd have the same problem with something like my foaming post-crafting hand wash because I use the polysorbate 20 to emulsify the d-Limonene.

Or let's say you want to make a moisturizing body wash with olive oil to help chase away winter dryness. If you're using polysorbate 80 to emulsify that oil, use non-paraben based preservative.

If you're interested in making a cream with titanium dioxide (say a liquid foundation) again the parabens are right out of the question because they can be deactivated by the pigments and the titanium dioxide.

And make sure you aren't using hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose to thicken your anionic systems - shampoo, body wash, face wash - when using something containing phenoxyethanol based preservatives like Optiphen, Optiphen ND, Phenonip, Liquipar Optima, or Liquipar PE.

If you're making anhydrous products you want to preserve - like sugar scrubs - you'll want to choose preservatives that are oil soluble, meaning the parabens like Phenonip and so on.

Here's the list of all the posts relating to preservatives, so you can choose the one that's best for you.

Cosmocil CQ
Geogard Ultra
Germaben II
Liquid Germall Plus
Liquipar Oil
Liquipar Optima
Liquipar PE
Optiphen
Optiphen ND
Optiphen Plus
Phenonip
Suttocide A
Tinosan SDC

And here's the link to the preservative chart download!

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Preservatives: Inactivation by cellulose derivatives

There's one more thing to consider when using our preservatives - inactivation by cellulose derivatives! In this study, various cellulose derivatives were tested with various preservatives to see which ones retained their efficacy. Here's the list...

Methylcellulose reduced paraben efficacy.

Methylcellulose, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose all reduced phenoxyethanol efficacy.

Gelatin reduced paraben efficacy.

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) reduced paraben efficacy.

A few naturally occurring thickeners work by protecting the bacterial cells in our creations so the paraben preservatives can't attack the beasties. These include acacia gum, tragacanth, sodium alginate, guar gum, and carageenan.

So what does this all mean? If you're using any of these ingredients, consider your preservatives wisely.

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Preservatives: Inactivation of preservatives by pigments

I bet you never though your pigments could have such an effect on your preservative system - but they do! As with the inactivation of preservatives by non-ionic ingredients, this problem is one for the parabens. If you make mineral make-up, this really relates to you! (Click here to read the entire study.)

Inorganic pigments are formed from compounds of transition elements like iron, chromium, and so on. They include the ultramarines, iron oxides, chromiums, and manganese pigments. This also includes titanium dioxide and talc.

The worst culprit is the ultramarine blue, followed by talc, titanium dioxide, red iron oxide, and yellow iron oxide. Kaolin and silica can have a huge impact on your paraben effectiveness as well, but they're lower down the list.

If you've ever tried to make your own sunscreen (bad idea!), made a soothing cream with titanium dioxide, or created a lovely clay mask, this should give you pause for thought!

How can we overcome these problems? Add a little EDTA at about 0.2% to help with chelating the metals or use another preservative when you're working with these ingredients. And consider your pH - high levels of the ultramarines can take your product from acidic to neutral or alkaline, and we know the parabens like to have pH levels of 8.0 or lower, so you can adjust the pH of your product using citric acid or vinegar.

Join me tomorrow for more information on inactivation of our preservatives by yet another ingredient - cellulose derivatives!

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Preservatives: Inactivation of preservatives by non-ionic ingredients

I mentioned in the parabens post that some preservatives - mostly the parabens - can be inactivated by non-ionic ingredients, including some of the fatty alcohols (like cetearyl alcohol), fatty acids, esters, and polysorbates, when they're used as emulsifiers (using the HLB system). The paraben based preservatives include Phenonip, Liquipar, and Germaben II, and the study to which I'm referring tested Phenonip at 0.3% in various non-ionic ingredients. (Liquipar PE and Germaben II aren't affected by non-ionic ingredients.)

Polysorbate 80 is the worst culprit, and at 2.5% in an emulsion it completely inactivated Phenonip! Polysorbate 20 partially deactivated it at 2.5% and 5.0%. Cetearyl alcohol and glyceryl stearate had no effect at 2.5% and 5.0%. Ceteareth-20 caused no problems at 2.5% but completely deactivated Phenonip at 5.0%.

So what do we do here? Obviously we can use other preservatives for products containing those ingredients or we could add another preservative to boost the efficacy of our parabens. And we can make sure we're using our ingredients at the right levels in the right products.

Join me in about an hour for inactivation of preservatives by pigments!

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