Selecting the most appropriate preservatives for a cosmetic formula is already not an easy challenge. But when on top of that the range of substances available by regulation and/or acceptable to marketing is shrinking, things get even more complicated. Should we wait for the salvation of new molecules? During the Cosmébio Ingredients and Packaging meetings held on 26 and 27 October 2022, Pierre Grascha, consultant and trainer at SPG-Actions, reminded us that this option is not necessarily to be conjugated in the present imperative…
**We need more preservatives and we would like them to be as natural as possible,“* began Pierre Grascha…
This is indeed the trend of the moment… and this has not always been the case.
The problem of preserving beauty products has always existed. Already in ancient times, ointments, creams and make-up were part of everyday life. At the time, little was known about the toxic effects of certain compounds used, such as the lead salts that the Egyptians added to their kohls to protect their eyes from infection, and the women of the Middle Ages added to their facials to make their skin as transparent as possible. And never mind the lead poisoning, anaemia and neurotoxic effects they caused…
Those days are long gone, and if we still want to keep cosmetics today, it is by freeing ourselves from the toxicological component.
What if the solution was to take inspiration from nature?
“Today, plant antimicrobials represent an inexhaustible source of research,” proposed Pierre Grascha. We can think of terpenes in essential oils, lactoferrin in breast milk, lysozyme in tears (an enzyme with bactericidal effects), esters of plant fatty acids, beta-defensins in keratinocytes, antimicrobial peptides that regulate skin flora… yes, all …
