Preservatives

[van_yulay]

Ok.. I need to know if anyone has been sucessful in using a non paraben presevative, such as Liquid Germall Plus. their lotions. Or anything like that preservative. Especially if you use emu oil. I can not land a huge account because of the Germaben that I use. Although I dont have any growth in my products.. they will not allow parabens. Please only respond if you have tested your products for neg & pos gram bacteria, fungus, and yeast. Because if you have not tested your products.. you cant see the little buggers.

Thanks in advance.

[LuminousBoutique]

I use liquid Germall plus in my whipped body butter. I sent that off to sagescript, (APC and Fungal/Yeast) it tested just fine. I have another to send off to them that contains ALOT more water... we'll see how that one does.

Optiphen which is also PB free in my sugar scrub tested fine too.

[LuminousBoutique]

PS I dont use emu oil, sorry! I can imagine that being a challenge.

(I accidentally type EMO oil first... haha.. "sad oil".)

[van_yulay]

Between , the paraben thing, Vegitarian thing, and the emu thing.. I am banging my head.

[van_yulay]

Is anyone coming across this problem with suppliers and only wanting all natural? Because the preservatives that are out there are not all nautral... but just not parabens.

[ah-soy]

I've been using optiphen and optiphen plus for my lotions, creams and scrubs...it's paraben free BUT while reading the manufacturers specs recently I discovered they tested it on bunny eyes and that makes me want to chuck it!

Lotioncrafters has a new preservative that is paraben free and not animal tested. It's in powder form and should be mixed with part of the water %...I haven't tried it yet. I did email them asking if I could substitute it for the optiphen in my formulas, but never heard back.

If you go to their preservative page you can read up on it...

Never used emu oil so can't help you there

Should add that I test my stuff using the chek-it kits from Snowdrift...I don't send them away anywhere yet.

Edited February 18, 2010 by ah-soy

[LuminousBoutique]

I've been using optiphen and optiphen plus for my lotions, creams and scrubs...it's paraben free BUT while reading the manufacturers specs recently I discovered they tested it on bunny eyes and that makes me want to chuck it!

.

Oh that makes me so sad to know!

[van_yulay]

I have been looking into the optiphen. To bad people have to test that way. I get my agar on line. Here is a link about the testing supplies and different agars

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/MicroBio_Agar.shtml

[CandleMama6]

I was just getting ready to order a sample of the Optithen but bunny eyes???

Keep us posted as to the results.

[DREWSMOM]

I too use the Germall Plus in my lotions. It's worked fine for me so far. I only use the Snowdrift check it kits too to test right now. I don't send anything out yet either. I use this at 1% up to 74% water ratio. If I use any higher than 74% water, up it to 2%. I found this out the hard way when a facial lotion I was experimenting with had black fuzzy mold in the container after 3 days in my jar in the bathroom. Yuck!

[van_yulay]

OMG.. I have been testing lotions at all these health food stores. Almost all 99 % of them are testing possitive. Not only Possitive Gram, but Neg Gram Possitive... Red Beastys.( Staf, Ecoli, Samonlia, Fectal) Are you kidding me!! One company Pure Life Soap Co is full of colonys. I cant believe all this. I am terrified. I have opened a huge can of worms!!!

[LuminousBoutique]

OMG.. I have been testing lotions at all these health food stores. Almost all 99 % of them are testing possitive. Not only Possitive Gram, but Neg Gram Possitive... Red Beastys.( Staf, Ecoli, Samonlia, Fectal) Are you kidding me!! One company Pure Life Soap Co is full of colonys. I cant believe all this. I am terrified. I have opened a huge can of worms!!!

I'm not shocked. and I would contact them, too. If only to get your money back that you spent buying them to test, but also to let them know that its not acceptable.

The "preservative free" movement irritates me to no end. I constantly hear "well its preservative free..."

Uh.. HELLO PEOPLE... if it does not have a preservative, you are putting yourself at HUGE risk!!! Just the other day I was chatting with a lotion maker from my home town, honestly hoping to get some tips... and I brought up production. how I dont like making lotions as often as soap because I have to sterilize every square inch of my work room, all my equipment, and wear my lab coat so on and so forth.. and shes like "wow I just use my kitchen stuff..." then she goes "Is that not right?" Turns out, she doesnt use a preservative. Doesnt sterilize anything, not even her containers. She just takes them out of the box, and pours her lotion right in. Makes her lotion using her KITCHEN blender, her KITCHEN microwave, her KITCHEN Pyrex and bowls... yikes.

And she sells TONS of this stuff! GAH! Raw chicken juice in your lotion anyone? Maybe some ground beef with that body butter?

[cdesousa5]

For those of us who don't have the luxury of a separate work area and want to make lotions, can you not clean the microwave & then wipe with a bleach solution. Boil the beaters of the mixer & wipe the mixer down with bleach sol. the same with bowls and utensils? And how do you sterilize your jars, boil them or put them in the dishwasher?

[ah-soy]

I think many use their kitchens to manufacture products. Home crafters often have no alternative, BUT there are necessary steps that need to be taken to ensure a clean environment, equipment and procedures.

Bleach solution, rubbing alcohol, hot soapy water are your friends. Proper attire including clothing, hair nets, sterile gloves are absolutes. Sanitary handling and storage of ingredients, containers and equipment...really so much is involved blah blah blah.... not the least being long term testing before anything goes out the door!

I often wonder, with so many suppliers out there, how each handle and repackage the raw ingredients we order from them.

Everyone making personal care products for gifting or sale needs to educate themselves. Lotioncrafter.com has some wonderful articles linked on their education page. This forum has many threads that can be searched not to mention other invaluable info on the net...make google your best friend. Don't just read blogs with recipes and procedures and accept it...hit the science and chemistry sites.

Educate yourself and ahere to the physicians oath..."first do no harm"...

ha ha...aren't I prolific tonight!

[cdesousa5]

Living in Florida I can't make lotions for sale but do make them for personal use and I have made them in my kitchen, but certainly it wasn't a sterile environment. I did boil the utensils & wipe everything down with bleach solution wore aprons & gloves but although I would call that clean process it certainly wasn't sterile. I think the next time I make a batch I'll send it off to be tested just to see what is in it.

After reading what Van Yulay found in the store bought stuff it makes me not want to use any lotion!

[TexasBrat]

PS I dont use emu oil, sorry! I can imagine that being a challenge.

(I accidentally type EMO oil first... haha.. "sad oil".)

That is just way to funny.....sad oil.:laugh2:

[ah-soy]

Living in Florida I can't make lotions for sale but do make them for personal use and I have made them in my kitchen, but certainly it wasn't a sterile environment. I did boil the utensils & wipe everything down with bleach solution wore aprons & gloves but although I would call that clean process it certainly wasn't sterile. I think the next time I make a batch I'll send it off to be tested just to see what is in it.

After reading what Van Yulay found in the store bought stuff it makes me not want to use any lotion!

Is it against the law to sell homemade lotions in Florida?

[cdesousa5]

Yep, it's true it's against the law.

Edited February 27, 2010 by cdesousa5
finish thought

[ah-soy]

Wow, that sucks...when did they pass the law? Was there some type of problem that caused it?

[LuminousBoutique]

Yeah I didnt mean to say lotions made in kitchens cant be fine... they certainly can, but with a sterile enviroment. Sadly the woman I spoke with didnt sterilize anything, just used whatever was around without cleaning it.

Bleach solution I think is the best, but I also keep rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle for wiping down surfaces that might get contaminated.

[LuminousBoutique]

And how do you sterilize your jars, boil them or put them in the dishwasher?

I do the bleach solution on them, then let them air dry. Its not 100%, but its better than nothing. All I can picture is a moldy damp storage facility... or a rat climbing around on the boxes... lol, so I think its something that must be done.

[cdesousa5]

Yeah I didnt mean to say lotions made in kitchens cant be fine... they certainly can, but with a sterile enviroment. Sadly the woman I spoke with didnt sterilize anything, just used whatever was around without cleaning it.

Bleach solution I think is the best, but I also keep rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle for wiping down surfaces that might get contaminated.

You can't have a sterile environment outside of an O.R. , you can only achieve a very clean environment. In fact after I spoke with Kelly Bloom from Southern Soapers I almost decided against making lotions completely with all the bugs that can grow in them. So if the lady you talked to is not even using very clean practice she is putting herself & customers at risk!

Ah-soy~ I am not sure when this was put into law, but I think it's been around for awhile.

[LuminousBoutique]

You can't have a sterile environment outside of an O.R. , you can only achieve a very clean environment. In fact after I spoke with Kelly Bloom from Southern Soapers I almost decided against making lotions completely with all the bugs that can grow in them. So if the lady you talked to is not even using very clean practice she is putting herself & customers at risk!

Ah-soy~ I am not sure when this was put into law, but I think it's been around for awhile.

Yeah, thats why I was so angry... she has over 7,000 sales on etsy, and she sells at markets and shows. thats more than 7,000 people she could be sued by because her lotion gave them ecoli or something. Its really REALLY scary to me that she had NO CLUE that she needs to sterilize her equipment (beyond washing them with warm soapy water!) and her containers before she makes lotion. She swears none of them have ever grown mold but as we all know, the bad stuff you cant always see.

Could be because of tthe nurse that was killing people (obviously accidentally) by using lotion that was full of germs in the OR. I dont remember where exactly that was.. but could have been FL.

[cdesousa5]

Could be because of the nurse that was killing people (obviously accidentally) by using lotion that was full of germs in the OR. I dont remember where exactly that was.. but could have been FL.

I don't know where that nurse was from but as far as I know she was giving the patients MRSA but I had not heard any had died, just that they had infected incisions.

[LuminousBoutique]

well thats good to know. im sure to some degree the story has reached urban legend status. I want to try and find it... the orignal article, because I am considering doing a blog post about preservatives, why they are important. I've had people ask why I use them, and I hate typing the same thing out time and time again. It would be nice just to have one place to direct them to.