NICE MILLIMAGGI, MARINA PELLEGRINO
ROELMI HPC, Origgio, Varese, Italy

Abstract

Do you remember where we left off in 2018 regarding preservatives use in the cosmetic field? Actually, we discussed and documented (1) what experts have defined “crisis period” for this ingredient category. What happened then in the past two years?
It seems like these ingredients have remained in the eye of the storm, involved in new scientific researches and under the pressure of misleading marketing trends; in addition, the Annex V of the Cosmetic Regulation 1223/2009 (which lists all molecules allowed for preservation of finished formulations) has been updated (we will take a deeper look at it further on).
In lights of this all, two years after our first analysis, we decided to take stock of the situation.
Let us see together how and if the use of preservatives is evolving and which is the status of the art.

MARKETING TRENDS

Although it should be well recognized that preservatives have an essential function in Cosmetic products, some misleading messages keep being conveyed to end users from marketing.

As already discussed in our previous article (1), the pressure that Free From claims exerted on preservatives played a significant role in the demonization of some of them (e.i.: Paraben Free).

As a consequence of the Official Technical Document which clarifies the guidelines regarding the improper use of Free From claims, dated July 2019 (date of entry into force of the Technical Document, required by the Regulation (EU) n° 655/2013 on the claims), it is expected that negative pressure on preservatives will decrease. At a different level, consumers will need to “detox” from the marketing concept “FREE means SAFE”, it will be very interesting then to observe how long it will take.

Another market phenomenon which has exploded in the last years and that seems constantly growing (2) is linked to Organic/Natural products. People are getting more conscious of what they use and expose their bodies to, and cosmetics are no exception. C ...