MARINA PELLEGRINO
Formula Protection Product Manager, ROELMI HPC

In 2018, when skin microbiota was the personal care word of the year, and everyone seemed to be involved in this topic and related new discovers, we decided to investigate whether cosmetic preservatives, which are known and used for their antimicrobial efficacy, could have any impact on the microbial population inhabiting our skin. What we obtained, after an experimental trial involving several preservatives and boosters and twenty female volunteers, has been shared in an article on HPC Today journal (1).

Beside the results, what we realized thanks to this first experimental approach on preservatives and skin microbiota, are pros and cons of the method. We approached what we defined an in-vitro method: basically we isolated and identified some skin-resident bacteria (cheek and forehead) and then put them in contact with different substances (preservatives and boosters) through the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) protocol. Doubtlessly, this approach has several advantages. First, it does not require excessive participation from the volunteer, indeed they are not requested to undergo any skin treatment and the sampling method (sterile soaked sw ...