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preservatives used in Simplicité products. Home > news > Robin’s Blog > preservatives used in Simplicité products.

Wednesday, 03 August 2011 17:25

Unless they are refrigerated, skin care products such as creams and lotions must be ‘preserved’ to ensure consistent quality. There have many debates over the past few years about which preservatives are the ‘right’ ones to use - and some wild claims made!

For Simplicité the only issue about which preservative to use can only ever be which is best for skin health.

David Lyons, naturopath, herbalist, and formulator and co-founder of Simplicité Skin Care, explains his philosophy on preserving products with skin sensitivity in mind (and debunks the wild claims as well).

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David Lyons:
"Many of the preservatives used in the skin care industry are renowned for causing skin sensitivity. This sensitivity can occur when a preservative is too harsh and/or is used in very high levels. It can also happen when the preservative is not very effective – such as the 'natural' preservatives, citrus seed extract and grape seed extract. These must be used at very high levels in order to be effective - the problem then is that at these high concentrations these 'natural' preservatives are very likely to irritate the skin.

I use natural Vitamin E as the main preservative in Simplicité products, followed then by the large amounts of aromatherapy essences that all Simplicité products contain. As a final safeguard for customers, I also add a very small amount (0.02% - which is 1/10 of the industry standard) of DMDM Hydantoin. Though this is, strictly speaking, a synthetic preservative, it contains nitrogen from the air plus elements found in plant cellulose.

In the 20 plus years I have been making Simplicité products and using this tiny amount of 'synthetic' preservative we have never had any issues with skin sensitivities. This appears to be because the skin is protected by the large amounts of nutritive, healing, skin-friendly and highest quality plant extracts used in every product.

In any formula it is important to look at the synergy of the ingredients rather than the action of just one ingredient.

About DMDM Hydantoin
These concerns have been raised about DMDM Hydantoin: that it causes skin sensitivity; that it causes cancer; that it is a formaldehyde donor.

The origin of these concerns appears to be from companies trying to draw attention away from their own ingredients – the major offender being a US multi-level skin care/homecare company.

False Claim 1 –DMDM creates Skin Sensitivity.
Does DMDM cause sensitivity reactions?

No.

A 20% solution of DMDM Hydantoin has been applied directly to sensitive skin with no effect whatsoever.

Simplicité uses DMDM Hydantoin at a 0.02% concentration.

I suggest that when examining the ingredients list on a skin care product container do not pick out the one ingredient that you don't like whilst ignoring the  first 12 or so other nutritive, soothing, antioxidant, healing ingredients made from organically-grown and more importantly, high activity, plants.

Take for example Simplicité's sunscreen. I'm not much of a fan of sunscreen chemicals but to be registered as a sunscreen by the government authority in Australia a sunscreen must contain certain chemicals chosen from a short list of their approved ingredients. We don't like chemicals but we need the sunscreen listing number from the TGA!.

That's why we've 'wrapped up' their approved chemicals in 16 of the most anti-toxin, soothing, nutrient-rich, protective, healing, skin friendly, plant extracts you will find anywhere - to temper any possible negative effects on the skin.

False Claim 2 - DMDM Causes Cancer.
There is no evidence whatsoever that DMDM causes cancer. Any 'evidence' appears to be in the same realm as saying women should stop wearing lipstick because in a lifetime they will swallow about 2kg of known 'cancer causing' ingredients. If you ate 2 kg of lipstick over a 2 week period or injected it into a cancer-prone laboratory rat then you might have a chance or making into the record books as being the first person to develop a tumour by eating 2 kg of lipstick. This however is again vastly different to small amounts absorbed over 40 years!

There are many substances identified in fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts and herbs that in large enough doses might be carcinogenic. That is, if you swallowed the lifetime dose over a 2 week period! Small amounts are easily managed by the various systems of the human body when spread over a lifetime rather than a 2 week period.

IMPORTANT NOTE: when describing a substance as a carcinogen this has to be related to a dose and a duration. For example we can't say one cigarette per day for 20 years will cause a tumour but we can reasonably say that 20 cigarettes per day for 30 years will cause a tumour if emphysema or chronic obstructive airways disease doesn't get you first. We cannot say a substance is a carcinogen unless we give a dose and a time period!

False Claim 3 - DMDM is a Formaldehyde Donor.
This is another one of those wild claims based around 'if the ingredient name sounds bad then it must be bad.'

For this to happen you would first have to remove a hydrogen atom from a segment of the DMDM molecule. You could do this by mixing the DMDM with Hydrochloric Acid but please avoid the fumes and please do not apply the resultant mixture to the skin.

As most people do not mix their skin care products with Hydrochloric Acid before applying to the skin there shouldn't be too much danger of formaldehyde being formed.

It could also be said that formaldehyde is a water donor. Again, you just have to remove an atom - this time a carbon atom!

What is Formaldehyde and what are Alehydes?
Formaldehyde is produced in small amounts by most living organisms, including humans. Aldehydes (formaldehyde is the simplest form) are found in many essential oils. They are responsible for the smell of cinnamon and rose oil. They give coriander its flavour and characteristic smell. Aldehydes are found naturally in olive oil, coffee beans, butter, raspberries, lychees, maple syrup, tortillas and oatmeal. Vanilla beans and vanilla essence contain aldehydes.

High levels of formaldehyde are found in preparations used in hair salons for dying or tinting hair, and in hair smoothing and straightening products. This is easily absorbed in large amounts through the scalp. High levels are found in cigarette smoke, marijuana smoke and in the smoke from burning natural timber in open fire-places.

If you drink any alcohol at all, the alcohol is metabolised to acetaldehyde which is a far more powerful carcinogen than formaldehyde as ever been shown to be. 

As a balance point, the hazard rating for tea-tree oil is two levels above the hazard rating for DMDM in the Personal Protection category. The oral toxicity dose for tea-tree oil is 1900mg/kg; for DMDM Hydantoin you have to take over twice as much, around 5000mg/kg.

Our years of customer results have been achieved by using high concentrations of nutritive, healing, soothing, anti-toxin, medicinal grade plant extracts. An extremely small quantity of formaldehyde, including from rose petals and essential oils, is well and truly outweighed by active ingredients at 500 to 800 times that level. It seems strange to us that all of these healing, nutritive extracts are over-looked, and somehow discounted, by an alleged negative. 

More About Aldehydes.
Aldehydes are one of the simplest groups of true 'organic' compounds. For example, they are responsible for the characteristic smell and taste of cinnamon. These small amounts of aldehydes can be compared with the small amounts that are part of the molecular make up of some preservatives. Without preservatives you'd be using skin care products contaminated with mould, mildew and bacterial spoilage-  which represents significant and real health issues for human skin.

Fair enough, on the other end of the scale, aldehydes are not something that you could drink a glass full of, just as you couldn't drink a glass of essential oil of rose petals because of the phenyl ethanol content. That is to say: small amounts are perfectly well tolerated but never compare small amounts with what happens at much higher doses.

To reiterate, Simplicité uses natural vitamin E as its main preservative, followed by the aromatherapy essences in the products, followed by a tenth of the industry standard of DMDM all wrapped up in the most nutritive, healing, skin friendly highest quality plant extracts you will find anywhere.

5. The Wildest Claim – Formaldehyde is a Carcinogen.
The evidence isn't there. This is yet another wild assertion that has repeated so often it seems to have achieved the status of 'truth'. Proponents of this style of mischievous misinformation seem to dislike the approach that I am about to take, where repeatable data and supportable facts are presented (they usually claim 'conspiracy to hide the 'truth') but none the less the evidence says:

The Cancer Assessment Committee of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition reviewed the potential carcinogenicity of formaldehyde.

The agency says that any literature purporting that formaldehyde is a carcinogen is baseless. Any information suggesting that this is the case lacks critical detail, contains questionable histopathological conclusions, as well as the use of unusual nomenclature to describe alleged 'cancers'. Based on the Committee's evaluation, the agency has determined that there is no basis to conclude that formaldehyde is a carcinogen even when ingested.

6. Additional Notes about Pseudo-Science
There is an immense amount of scare-mongering that is peddled by various 'reference' books on the 'dangers' of skin care ingredients. As a Naturopath I am discerning about ingredients in skin care products. As for the alleged 'cancer causing' effects of some ingredients these are simply assertions without any basis. Avoid ingredients if they are devoid of nutrient - if they are just used as 'fillers' in a cream and have no benefit, if they cause temporary irritation, or if they can increase the rate of ageing of human skin. However, there is nothing in 30 years of studies published in recognized journals that suggests that any approved skin care ingredients can do worse than that. There isn't any record of even one person who has developed cancer from their skin care products. I'm not defending the trashy and sometimes expensive products on the market but the worst I think they will do is to prematurely age the skin, provide no nutrients whatsoever and cause sensitivity or flakiness.

There's a 'theory' that says the body absorbs the ingredients and that this 'builds up' the toxins in the lymphatic system or the liver, thereby ultimately developing a cancerous tumour 20 years later. This is just pseudo-science mixed with scare tactics to sell books about the 'dangers' of skin care ingredients. This approach is also used to sell some skin care ranges by pointing out alleged negative ingredients in other products.

It is questionable that alleged toxic ingredients 'build up' in the body, contributing to the overall cancer-causing chemical load. Small amounts of chemicals over a long period of time are vastly different from a huge dose in a short period. By a short period, I refer to the way in which alleged cancer-causing links are made using cancer-prone laboratory rats in a 2 week study! This was the method used to ban the wonderful herb comfrey from human use - because some research showed that laboratory rats developed tumours if they were injected over a few weeks with high doses of the alkaloid found in comfrey! To achieve the same dose, a human would have needed to have eaten a comfrey leaf (which is over 40 cm long!) every day of their life for 40 years!

Take Tobacco
So, as for cancer causing chemicals, there are many that are very high on the to-be-avoided list and others that in miniscule amounts are irrelevant. Take tobacco. Even though this herb contains some of the most powerful carcinogens known, one cigarette a day won't do anything. You still need to smoke 20 per day for 30 years to increase your risk of cancer. Notice how applying the herb to your skin has never been shown to cause cancer because you need to inhale deep into the tissues to get the required damaging dose. For other causes of the rising cancer rate look to the insidious danger of Hormone Replacement Therapy, not breast-feeding a baby for at least a year after the birth to build a strong immune/repair system, prolonged sun exposure and worrying about all and sundry that you think is going to give you cancer!

Some wild claims about skincare ingredients causing cancer of the liver leave me amazed. I worked in the specific treatment of cancer at the Royal Brisbane Hospital for 7 years. Cancer of the liver in most instances can be traced back to significant prior damage through alcohol abuse, hepatitis or other medication abuse.

So by all means, avoid skin care products where the first 8 or 10 ingredients are the usual nutrient less fillers based around petrochemicals. Avoid silicones, dimethicone, mineral oil, lanolin, alcohol, sorbitol, castor oil, hydrogenated plant oils, propylene glycol, PABA, carbomer 940, carbopol and TEA (Triethanolamine). Also avoid the alleged 'natural' skin care ranges where the plant/herb ingredients weren't freshly prepared from organically grown sources but instead were bought from one of the big suppliers, already made up in a propylene glycol base (which is not required to be shown on the ingredients list). In these cases it is usual that the cheapest herb available was the one used to make the extract; accountants control large companies, not naturopaths with a philosophical bent that prohibits using anything but the best medicinal-grade herbs to make up fresh extracts!

Skin care products are best sold by telling us what results we can expect. We believe in informing our customers about the combinations and concentrations of our highest quality healing ingredients; not focusing on the alleged negatives of other product ranges or by using scare tactics.

Sincerely

David Lyons Dip TR ND  Member Australian Society Cosmetic Chemists