We are increasingly questioning the artificial preservatives, emulsifiers, stabilisers and other additives in food products, but many people don’t realise how rife they are in our bathroom cabinets too. In fact, we are so accustomed to long lists of ingredients in our personal care products, that we often see natural products as a novel innovation or part of an organic lifestyle trend.

Functionally, any personal care product – such as a moisturiser or lotion – that contains water as a primary ingredient also needs to contain a host of chemicals to stop it from spoiling. You can check out any cream or lotion you have in your cupboard or on shop shelves – if the first ingredient is water (aqua), then these additives will be there. While water does help the oil to spread on your skin, it is typically added to reduce manufacturing costs, diluting the more expensive oils and minerals (such as jojoba oil or vitamin E), literally watering them down to make cheaper formulas.

Only once you’ve added water to oils, there are issues. For one, water and oil just don’t mix, and so to combine them, manufacturers rely on emulsifiers such as sodium lauryl sulphate, benzalkonium chloride and cetearyl alcohol. These chemicals can remain on the skin after the water has evaporated (our skin is waterproof!). Studies are beginning to show that they may be harmful to our skin’s protective layer and, just as in our gut, our skin’s natural microbiome.

After you’ve emulsified your oils and water, you need to thicken this watery mixture so it resembles a cream or lotion. In go fillers and thickeners such as cetyl alcohol, xanthan gum and behenyl alcohol. While not as damaging to bodies or the environment as emulsifiers and preservatives, fillers and thickeners (some of which are also emulsifiers) rarely benefit your skin. They can cause harm by blocking your pores, and can also have a drying effect on the skin. For some, this leaves skin chronically dehydrated by the very products they’re using to moisturise.

Having emulsified and thickened your product, you’re left with a creamy lotion. But, because of the water, this mixture will spoil within days without preservatives. So, in go chemicals like parabens, formaldehyde, methylisothiazolinone and phenoxyethanol – biocides that kill any bacterial growth, but can also harm the beneficial bacteria on your skin that forms part of your body’s natural microbiome (its defence against infection, pollution and drying out ).

Not all of the additives used in water-based skincare are equal – some are more harmful than others – but the point is that none of them are added because they’re good for us or beneficial for our skin, hair or nails, they’re simply there to enable water to be added and, cynically, to turn a profit.

On top of all this are effects on the environment: the production of these additives and the impact they have when they enter our water systems when we wash them off, the carbon impact of packaging and transporting products that are between 60 and 90% water, and the water used in production itself.

So, what’s the alternative? The good news is that natural, water-free alternatives are not only kinder to the environment but usually much better for our skin. When you don’t put in water and all the ‘bad stuff ’ required to sell this water, you’re left with potent, powerful products that work with your skin’s natural functions, rather than against them. Here are a few tips for when you’re looking for natural personal care products:

• Choose oils, balms and salves over lotions and creams. 
• Look for brands that use 100% natural ingredients. Soil Association natural and organic certifications are a good indicator.
• Always read the ingredients. A good rule of thumb is, if you wouldn’t eat them, why are you rubbing them into your skin and washing them into our watercourses? (The largest ingredient will always be at the top of the list, factoring down to the smallest ingredient at the bottom.)

Ingredients Decoder

If water, ‘aqua’, is listed in the ingredients then emulsifiers, preservatives and thickeners will be there too. Below are some of the most common additives. See if you can spot them on ingredient decks. You won’t see these in most balms, salves and oils, which are water-free.

The most common emulsifiers 
Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) 
PEG-20
Stearyl alcohol
Benzalkonium chloride
Behentrimonium methosulphate
Cetearyl alcohol
Stearic acid
Glyceryl stearate
Ceteareth-20
Polysorbates
Laureth-4
Potassium cetyl sulphate

The most common preservatives/biocides 
Parabens
Formaldehyde
Methylisothiazolinone (MI)
Potassium sorbate
Triclosan
Triclocarban
Phenoxyethanol
Alcohol
Benzyl benzoate
Zinc pyrithione
Benzalkonium chloride
Benzyl alcohol
Dehydroacetic acid
Sodium benzoate

Fillers and thickeners 
Cetyl alcohol
Stearyl alcohol
Carnauba wax
Stearic acid
Locust bean gum
Xanthan gum
Gelatin carbomer
Salt (sodium chloride)
Magnesium aluminium silicate
Silica
Bentonite (sometimes these are used as exfoliants)
Tetrasodium EDTA
Tetrahydroxypropyl ethylenediamine 

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Julie Macken has a chemistry degree and spent 25 years working for companies including Unilever, GSK and Abbott Healthcare. Realising there were more fulfilling ways to utilise her skills, she founded Neve’s Bees, creating a unique range of waterless skincare. The natural products are made with sustainable ingredients blended with Oxfordshire beeswax, promoting healthy skin and a healthy ecosystem. Julie is also two years into a six-year course in herbal medicine and traditional apothecary. She lives with her husband, two children, three cats, four hens, five beehives, a six-acre wildflower meadow, and Bella the dog. nevesbees.co.uk and on Instagram and Facebook @nevesbees

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Published in issue 92. Accurate at the time this issue went to print.