The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
One of the classes of preservatives we use in our products is the organic acids, their salts and esters. This group includes benzoic acid, carbamates (like iodopropyl butylcarbamate), and variations on salicylic acid and sorbic acid. The organic acids have moderate bacterial activity and great fungicidal activity. The acids have low water solubility, which is...
Preservatives come in two main groups – the formaldehyde donors and the non-formaldehyde donors. Formaldehyde donors include DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidiazolidinyl urea, and quaternium 15. Non-formaldehyde donors include everything else like phenoxyethanol and iodopropynyl butylcarbamate. The formaldehyde donors are more water soluble than oil soluble, and work by decomposing slowly over the life span...
In this post, Sarah asks: One thing I’d like to know is the specifics as to why we preserve anhydrous sugar and salt scrubs – I’ve had so many discussions with regards this (I say we should, to be safe) and would like it clarified if poss.! I know you’ve touched on it before but could...
So now that I’ve sold you on the need for preservatives, how exactly do they work? Preservatives inactivate the microorganisms in our products in a few different ways, but the primary way is to cause them cause some kind of chemical disruption that leads to death. They leak their internal fluids, they can’t maintain pH,...
Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) is derived from the seed and pulp of grapefruits, and it may contain many lovely things – anti-oxidants, flavonoids, Vitamin C, citric acid, phytosterols, and tocopherols – but it is NOT a preservative. It may behave as an anti-oxidant in our products, but it will not keep the beasties out of...