Is Phenoxyethanol harmful as a preservative?
The greatest concern over cosmetic ingredients involves the use of preservatives in skincare products and questions around if they are harmful for your skin.
What is Phenoxyethanol
Phenoxyethanol a preservative used for skincare products which has been deemed a safe ingredient. Made from Earth uses Phenoxyethanol in some of our products, and the ones that do use it, contain less than a 1% concentration of it in our formulations. The main purposes of Phenoxyethanol is for the purposes of keeping bacteria out of our organic ingredients. Without a good preservative, the bacteria that can grow on a skincare product is more harmful than the chemicals themselves. What makes Phenoxyethanol so valuable and healthy, is that only a small amount is required to fight bacteria - that way, there is are more potent ingredients in the products, as oppose to preservative.
The US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the safety of Phenoxyethanol and approved its use as an indirect food additive. The Citywide Immunization Registry Expert Panel reviewed the safety of Phenoxyethanol, and concluded that it is safe for use as a cosmetic ingredient. Their study further noted that it was nontoxic via oral and skin administration. This was confirmed in their panel review in 2007, as part of their annual evaluation of ingredients.
phenoxyethanol is actually a preservative that can be approved for use in organic beauty products via the soil association. It has a very very good toxicology report. It is also the only preservative that organisms did not become tolerant too.
This is the first time I heard about this chemical. I was totally clueless about this! However, it's nice to know that there are still products with less concentration of Phenoxyethanol since this is harmful in large amounts. Now I start to wonder if other products have the same concentration approved by US FDA...
I agree on you Rick. I noticed there are many products in the market containing Phenoxyethanol. I think it's not really harmful when used in minimal amounts. Good thing, Made from Earth stated how much Phenoxyethanol is present in their products. There's no need to worry now.
Phenoxyethanol is only harmful when its excessive. When used properly its actually very effective. Actually, most skin products have it anyway.
Phenoxyethanol is actually in so many daily products that you dont even realize it. The right concentration is 100% safe and even efficient.
I wanted to add that Phenoxyethanol is actually an excellent alternative to the standard, potentially harmful formaldehyde-releasing preservative. Its also used in sun tan lotion and insect repellent for the same purpose of protecting your skin. Interesting I came across this article because I was just educated by some friends about the advantages of this. Great article, it was very informative. Its a good feeling to be know what your applying will not have a long term affect.
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