Yes, We Have No Parabens!!
by Linda Quiring on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009Almost every day, we get questions about parabens….Yes, we no longer use them. Almost every body care company now markets their products as ‘paraben-free’ and ‘sulphate-free.’
When I researched this a couple of years ago, a chemist told me he had done two years research and hadn’t come up with one legitimate study showing parabens to be more harmful than anything else….and that parabens are naturally occurring in things like grapefruit. This accounts for their being ubiquitous in our bodies. Personally, he felt that manufacturers of newer more expensive preservative systems were behind the drive to ban them, although they’ve apparently been used quite safely for decades.
However, we’ve moved away from parabens. Just in case! Recently, someone asked me about the label on a shampoo and conditioner from a small company that markets itself as ‘organic.’ I wasn’t wearing my reading glasses, and couldn’t read the shampoo label, but the conditioner listed, between a lot of nice herbal extracts, the word ‘dehydroacetic acid.’
It is a a pyrone derivative, fungicide and bacteriacide.
Inobviously, it’s the preservative. It wasn’t the last ingredient either! Also, seems to be used industrially as a ‘plasticizer’ and is basically, a “ketone.” This is the dreaded ingredient they’re trying to eliminate from nail polish remover!! In an ‘organic’ product??!!
The European Union has banned it, although it is listed as safe for use in the U.S. and Canada, but of course, so are parabens.
Sometime ago, I checked out a website on this, I forget which one, but the Dr. reporting believed that a truly 100% safe natural preservative that works just doesn’t exist yet!
Currently, we are using ‘gluconolactone’ which Skin Deep rates as a ’1′ or ‘low hazard.’
Better still, MOST of Saltspring Soapworks products are made fresh, daily, in small batches, and sold by us, ourselves. No agents, distributors or big warehouses. So, our soaps and lots of our other products like bath salts and scrubs, just aren’t preserved and will last for months, and with soap, basically for years!
And, best of all, we are so small that every time a newer, better preservative becomes available, we will have it S.A.P.
Meanwhile, like I always say, “JUST READ THE LABEL!”
Linda
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TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING??
by Linda Quiring on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009I spoke recently with James…a cosmetic chemist I consult with from time to time on my formulations. He’s young and green enough to not allow parabens and sulphites in his lab.
“I want a 100% organic shampoo and conditioner,” I said, “not just 100% natural and maybe some organic!”
Here’s what we came up with:
a) The shampoo felt thin and watery. It had no body.
b) It didn’t lather well. I used three times my normal amount, but it didn’t ‘sudz’ well. (I know, I know, suds are drying!)
c) The conditioner felt thick and rich….but after applying, I couldn’t really feel it.
The results were really disappointing. My hair felt dry and kind of bushy, not smooth and silky. I reported back to James, who said, basically, (I’m paraphrasing):
Industry just hasn’t kept up with consumers’ demands (19% of us) for ‘clean’ and ‘green’ products. Our consciousness has changed more quickly than manufacturers and suppliers have been able to keep up with. In many cases, organic ingredients just don’t exist, or work as well as current natural or synthetic ones.
Companies like Saltspring Soapworks are really limited in their choice of ingredients and in many cases, insisting on 100% organic means compromising features and benefits. Like what? Well, quite often organic preservatives don’t preserve well, nearly as long, leaving us vunerable to icky microbes and bacteria!
Changes are coming, and as more of us demand change, it will happen. Years ago, suppliers reassured us that parabens were safe, but consumers insisted we not use them. So we insisted our suppliers come up with something better, and they did! (more on this later) Trade publications and the internet assure us that everyone in the industry is working diligently to provide the new and more pure ingredients we demand. Growers are growing things, chemists are testing things. But until more of the industry suppliers ‘go green’, 100% organic doesn’t necessarily mean a better product.
Let us know what YOU think! Are you willing to sacrifice the results you want for 100% organic?
Linda
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