The Best Natural Skin Care

The best natural skin care products have natural preservatives to extend their shelf life while also remaining pure and natural. This article will explore preservatives as a component in all natural skin care, and look at which natural preservatives are the most effective. Just like the name implies, a preservative is a natural or synthetic substance that is added to a product to extend shelf life and delay mold, decay, rancidity, or other decomposition. Preservatives are not only added to skin care products, they are added to food, paint, wood, and other products with organic ingredients that are at risk of decomposition.

Most preservatives are synthetic, very unnatural ingredients that may have toxic effects on human health. Common preservatives include parabens and those derived from urea, which release formaldehyde. These preservatives have effects on humans that are either known to be negative, or are unknown. Therefore, the best natural skin care products do not include paraben- and urea-derived preservatives.

What are the alternatives? The best natural skin care products include preservatives that are as natural as the rest of the product. Here are some types of natural preservatives used in skin care products.

First, antioxidants. Antioxidants are a class of vitamins and other active organic compounds that reduce damage caused by aging by neutralizing free radicals. Antioxidants are found in brightly colored fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Antioxidants are also used as natural preservatives in natural skin care products. Besides being very healthy for your skin because they reduce aging, they also reduce decomposition of the beauty products themselves. This makes them doubly useful as the best natural skin care ingredients.

Second, essential oils. Essential oils are very concentrated oils from natural herbs, fruits, leaves, and other plants. Many essential oils have antibacterial and/or antimicrobial properties that will inhibit the growth of bacteria or microbes that would spoil the skin care product. The trouble with essential oils is that to capture their antimicrobial properties you have to have them in such a high concentration that they are not good for your health. Essential oils are so strong that they must be used very cautiously. So to use essential oils as a natural preservative usually requires combining them with another natural preservative. Neem oil and tea tree oil are two essential oils that are especially known for their antimicrobial properties.

Lastly, grapefruit seed extract. The pulp and seeds of grapefruit have preservative properties, though they are weak. Grapefruit seed extract is generally used in conjunction with other natural preservatives such as essential oils and antioxidants. 

Natural preservatives can be very effective when used in the best natural skin care, though not as effective as preservatives from synthetic ingredients. By definition they usually have a shorter shelf life than synthetic preservatives, which means that you need to be careful to only buy what you can use, to use the products regularly, and to rotate them so that you are always using the oldest product first. In addition, it can help to try to keep the products clean and free of contamination from dirty water, air, or insects. Always cap the products, and try to wash your hands before you use them. This way you will be able to use the best natural skin care products and to have them last for a long time.