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benzoic acid and citric acid
Hello, I recently bought a base lotion that I intend on selling from my etsy shop. All I have to do is add the essential oils. It’s made from a well-known company that supplies wholesale products. My concern is that it contains benzoic acid and citric acid. I have read numerous articles stating that benzoic acid combined with vitamin C can create benzene, a known carcinogen. Would citric acid also be a problem? I am afraid to use this lotion. If anyone knows the answer. I am not a chemist.
sincerely,Patricia -
6 Replies
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Could benzoic acid combine with vitamin C to create benzene in your base lotion? It is barely possiblehttp://colinsbeautypages.co.uk/do-sodium-benzoate-and-vitamin-c-react-to-form-carcinogenic-benzene/
But - here’s the question. Is the minuscule amount of benzene that is potentially in your lotion enough to be worried about? As Colin correctly points out, you are exposed to far more benzene each time you fill your car with gas than you ever would be exposed to benzene in your skin cream.The other point I’ll make is that making and using cosmetics involve trade-offs.There are NO preservatives in cosmetics that are perfectly safe. None. But…using unpreserved cosmetics is extremely dangerous - and selling unpreserved cosmetics is extremely illegal - go-to-jail level illegal. The folks selling cosmetics as “preservative-free” are playing tricks - they are using chemicals that act like preservatives, but that can technically be called something else.Hopefully, I’ve made the point that you need to have preservatives in your cosmetics. Now you have to choose which ones. You will need to consider the risks, and the benefits, involved with each one - and then see if you can buy a lotion base that uses the ones you prefer.
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vitamin C can reduce benzoic acid to benzene in the presence of soluble iron
without soluble iron, vitamin C is simply not powerful enough to do this on its own (if it were, it would be on every banned list in the world!)
if the base lotion has been made with deionised water, the amount of soluble iron - hence, the chance of this reaction occurring - is negligible
and with citric acid, there is even less possibility of this occurring, because unlike vitamin C, citric acid cannot act as a reducing agent
hope this helps!
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You may quite likely find that adding essential oils to a commercial cream will cause it to separate.
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Thanks for your help re the benzene question. All of my lotions are made in a lab and have preservatives. I make my own anhydrous body butters and I am told that it doesn’t need preservatives but I am wondering if I should use something anyway if I am going to sell these products. I use antioxidants like vitamin c and elderberry oil. I know that these aren’t preservatives. Because people take out the body butter with their fingers, even though it is made with just oils and butters, should a preservative be added? I don’t want to cause any harm to anyone and of course I don’t want to get sued.
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I would put preservatives in even an anhydrous product. I think that the dangers of being sued for not having a preservative are far greater than the danger of being sued because someone has a problem with the preservative you used.
Here’s another take on the benzene issue: -
thank you Bob for your input.
Trish
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