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Preservatives
I am working with a company to create and Ayurvedic skin care line. We’ve been in R&D for almost 2 years. The products currently to contain 0.5% Nipaguard SCE and I was given the option to substitute to either:
Terastat N - 0.6% (Water Soluble)
Tocopherol - 2.5% (Oil Soluble)
Our product line includes the following:
-facewash
-day cream (aloe Vera gel based)
-night cream (made by distillation)
-water based day serum
-oil based night serum
1. Any suggestions on which of these preservatives is superior and why?
2. Which of these is in line with our ethos of creating a clean and safe product.
3. Can each of the listed preservatives be used in all of the products listed above?
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7 Replies
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I don’t think any of us work in ‘Brand Names’. A preservative LOI would be a wee bit helpful.
Vit E…is an antioxidant….why is that mentioned in this context?
As well…. preservatives tend to be formula specific….I doubt many of the brain trust will commit without a full understanding of the formula. To do otherwise….might be a bit foolish.
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Thank you for the clarification. I will repost my question with the full list of ingredients and methods used in formulation.
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1. To find out which is one “superior” you’ll have to analize every component of both preservatives and find out if any of your preservatives cover ALL of these: gram+, gram-, and mold/fungi. I’m pretty sure you’ll find none of those two do that.
As @Graillotion said, tocopherol is an antioxidant- it might be useful in your formulations, or not- nobody can tell without knowing the ingredients you’ve used.
2. Regardless of your ethos, you should bring to the market ONLY safe products, and that is not a claim, that is inherently expected from any product on the market.
“Clean” only relates to the definition of “clean” given/implied by your market segment, so if you use what they think it’s “clean”, then no issue.
3. You have the answer from @Graillotion : preservatives tend to be formula-specific.
PS- I see you’re new here: to enable the members to provide help, one should use the INCI names of the ingredients (not trade/commercial names), and also provide the list of ingredients used in the product(s).
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Thank you so much for the guidance as I am new to here. I will repost with the list of ingredients in INCI names and basics on methods used during formulation. Looking forward to having more feedback.
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1) Terastat N, Nipaguard SCE are antimicrobial preservatives and neither is superlative. They target fungi (yeast and mold) but poor versus bacteria - esp. Gram negative bacteria, the most common source of micro problems. Totally useless in surfactant and rinse off products. Supplier info is BS - neither is broad spectrum, neither is natural.
Tocopherol is used as a chemical preservative antioxidant, no micro help.
2) “Clean” is just a meaningless marketing claim. Folks claiming it generally use fewers ingredients and poor preservatives such as you named.
3) As #1, don’t think they’re that effective in any product and your facewash will be the biggest risk for consumer contamination. Would need formulas, packaging and making info to calibrate risk.
Good luck.
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Thank you for the guidance and information on gram negative bacteria vs fungi, it is very useful. I’ll repost with the full list of ingredients along with basic methods used during formulation.
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With the right process and package, poor (i.e. natural) preservative systems can work but you need something for Gram negative bacteria.
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