Cosmetic Preservatives List: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
If you’re into clean beauty, you may be on the hunt for an easy-to-comprehend cosmetic preservatives list. Something that helps you quickly assess whether a preservative checks out or if you should ditch the overall product altogether.
With a constant flux of new research overwhelming the cosmetics industry, the topic of cosmetic preservatives and other synthetic ingredients are being evermore scrutinized.
It is a well known fact in health circles that the FDA regulates as little as eight ingredients in all certified cosmetic products across the board. As soon as it was scientifically proven that a few commonly adopted preservatives were harmful to our skin or carcinogenic, many health enthusiasts began to boycott the use of preservatives entirely.
While some synthetic preservatives are harmful for your skin, not all of them are and not all natural preservatives are healthy either.
Why Do We Need Cosmetic Preservatives?
Humanity has been using preservatives in all sorts of preparations since the discovery of fire. Smoking food, drying nuts and fruits, salting meat and storing perishables in honey or vinegar are all ancient ways to extend the shelf life of these goods.
Without preservatives, cosmetics, food items and many other similar products would perish before you could make use of them. Unless you have the privilege of being able to create your own cosmetics, and can make a fresh batch every time you need to use them, then you’ll need to make use of preservatives.
Using the wrong preservatives OR ignoring their use entirely in cosmetics both can result in adverse health effects, such as: