Heating Up the Preservative Debate

By: Katie Schaefer, Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine

Posted: October 2, 2008, from the October 2008 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

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“Preservatives are potentially aggressive to fragile or sensitive skins since their primary mission is to prevent ‘life’ such as bacteria, spores and germs,” explained Coureil. For him, eliminating preservatives better serves the consumer. According to Coureil, eliminating preservatives reduces risks such as allergies, irritation, inflammation, skin redness and other reactions due to the use of chemical or natural preservatives while maintaining effectiveness.

Coureil does concede that the only true way to eliminate preservatives from cosmetics is to use an alternative preservation technology.

“For the time being, UHT sterilization is the only natural and well proven alternative to preservatives,” said Coreil, who believes other preservative-free cosmetics are formulated with ingredients that are not classified as preservatives but serve the same funcion. Adopting the UHT processing technology in the manufacturing of cosmetics could offer formulators several potential benefits, and CL Tech is willing to share its knowledge. The technology, however, is still in its infancy, allowing it a considerable amount of time to either go luke warm or scalding hot.