Why Natural Preservatives Matter

We like to think of your skin as part of the family. That’s why all our products are only made with ingredients we’re comfortable using on ourselves or our loved ones (and boy do we love our skin!). By that we mean NO harsh, irritating and synthetic ingredients, just honest, gentle, natural GOO-dness made with ingredients that work, of course.

One of the ways we live up to our Ingredient Philosophy is through our commitment to using natural preservatives every day of the week, in place of their harsher, synthetic counterparts. For us, it's not much of a choice, firstly for the health and serenity of our skin, but also because there are so many effective and natural options available these days that it's always a bit of a wonder why the synthetic ones are still so popular. Well, we do have an idea why...they're cheaper to use, and we're definitely not one to claim to have natural formulas and pretend that using synthetic preservatives doesn’t count. Surprisingly (or not), there are quite a few out there...you know who you are! 

So, here’s why we need preservatives, and why natural preservatives matter to us. Hopefully we can teach you a thing or two about preservatives in skincare, and a bit about the natural ones and the not-so-natural ones too. Preservatives don’t get a lot of air time in skincare circles, but he’s the scoop on why we think they’re a big deal for your skin.

Why Preservatives Aren’t Optional

Since most moisturizers, serums and cleansers have water in them (it's usually the first ingredient in the list), it can quickly become a warm, cosy home for microbes aka bacteria, yeast and mould.

Without any kind of preservation system, these little guys show up, make camp and multiply like you wouldn’t believe. Or maybe you would if you’ve ever made a DIY food-based skincare product at home and saw how long (not long at all) it lasted. 

This microbe party is pretty much inevitable, so in order to have skincare products that last longer than 3 days in the fridge and last long enough to sit on a shelf in a store or warehouse and then in your bathroom cabinet for gosh knows how long, we turn to preservatives.

Preservatives not only give us a longer “shelf life” (the length of time an item remains usable, safe and saleable), it also keeps your skincare from becoming a potential irritant to the skin, or worse, the source of infection. It’s the same reason why we put food in the freezer, to halt microbe proliferation, but without all the coldness. Basically, preservatives help products stay safe, stable and yummy for your skin long enough for you to enjoy them.

Preservatives also provide skincare products with antioxidant protection and ingredient stability. This prevents oils and other ingredients affected by oxidisation from turning rancid. This is quite common with active ingredients like Vitamin C that can be rendered useless if not preserved properly. A well-preserved product should give you the full benefit of the ingredients in it every time it meets your skin. Not an important job or anything.

Natural vs Synthetic: Why Give A Moo?

Many conventional skincare brands use synthetic preservatives such as Parabens or Phenoxyethanol to keep their products fresh. While these are certainly effective, some people like us prefer to avoid them due to questions about their long-term health effects. It has been suggested that Parabens can disrupt the body's hormonal system and are possibly linked to an increased risk of certain cancers, though research is ongoing and not conclusive. As well as being synthetic compounds, that’s more than enough for us to steer WAY clear.

Phenoxyethanol is an effective preservative widely used in skincare. It’s known to pose a risk of skin irritation, particularly with those that have more sensitive skin. This is who we make our products for, and it's a synthetic compound, so avoiding this makes double sense. The internet will also tell  you that it poses a potential risk of neurotoxicity in large quantities (how many steps are in your skincare routine?), and is considered unsafe for use in baby products. As well as being synthetic a compound, that’s more than enough for us to steer WAY clear of this one too.

Instead, we use natural preservatives in our all formulations, like Hops Extract in most of our moisturizers, for example, to help keep our products fresh without the chemical cocktail.

Other natural preservatives we use include plant‑derived acids, gentle extracts and essential oils, as well as other naturally-derived ingredients that have antimicrobial properties to help prevent long term microbial growth.

Why use synthetic preservatives when nature can give us exactly what we need? Sure, we could save a buck or two with synthetic options, but that’s not how we roll. We're sticklers for making sure all our products are suitable to be used by sensitive skin of all kinds, from skin issues to oncology care, so that means N-O to irritating ingredients, and we prefer to keep things as natural as possible.

Not every synthetic preservative out there is “bad”. For many preservatives, concentration limits are regulated, but there are still known risks and trade-offs to using them. Beyond the suspected health effects we mentioned, they are more likely to trigger sensitivities or contact allergies, especially for people with compromised skin or chemical sensitivities.

What This Means For You & Your Skin

Cleaner Formulas — No parabens. No phenoxyethanol. No cheap petrochemicals. Just natural, safe, skin‑compatible ingredients. That’s how we’ve operated for over 20 years now and we've created some magnificent, natural formulas we're super proud of. 

Gentle Enough for Every-Body — Because we avoid all harsh, questionable and synthetic preservatives, our products are designed with gentleness and skin‑friendliness in mind. This ensures that our formulas are fit for sensitive skin, babies, and anyone who like us, prefers a more natural approach to their skincare.

Real Ingredients, Honest Skincare — Sometimes, natural products can change colour and/or texture over time. That’s totally normal. This can happen due to the natural colour that some ingredients naturally have; we don’t think a cream needs to be bleached to be effective. Natural ingredients can also come with an earthy scent some people aren’t yet used to. This comes from our natural ingredients and preservatives like Hops Extract being its natural self.

A Little Reality Check

Because natural preservatives are, well, natural, they sometimes work differently than their synthetically-derived cousins. They might require more thoughtful formulation, correct concentration, and occasionally a bit of patience (like using a product faster or storing it properly). We also make sure to choose the most effective, secure packaging we can.

But the trade‑off? You get skincare that plays nice with your skin and avoids the unnecessary toxic load. So go ahead, slather on the GOO-dness, and rest easy knowing your skin is in safe hands (or hooves).