• Formulating

  Does this need a preservative?

  Posted by Cosmetic_Chemist on April 6, 2022 at 3:59 pm

  Hi Everyone, 

  I am currently working on a few gym bag sprays/deodorizing room sprays and am unsure if I need a preservative. 

  Water - qs
  Alcohol - 40% (Another type would have 10%)
  Botanical extract blend - 0.01
  Fragrance - qs

  Does alcohol negate the need for a preservative? At what concentration of alcohol can I skip the preservative? Please let me know what you think!

  PhilGeis replied 2 years ago 2 Members · 3 Replies

  • alcohol
  • deodorizing
  • formulating
  • preservative
• 3 Replies

• 

  PhilGeis

  Member

  April 6, 2022 at 4:48 pm

  20% is usually cited as an effective preservative level but alcohol per se does not justify skipping content testing unless you’ve appropriately qualified ingredients (including alcohol itself) and process.

• 

  Cosmetic_Chemist

  Member

  April 6, 2022 at 5:58 pm

  Thank you @PhilGeis for your response! 

  By content testing do you mean micro testing? Would there be a problem if I do add a preservative, Phenoxyethanol for example, to it even with 40% alcohol?

• 

  PhilGeis

  Member

  April 7, 2022 at 1:52 am

  Right - testing for viable microbes in the product to spec.  No problem that i know with added phenoxy but added cost.

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