# A Survey of Preservatives Used in Cosmetic Products
## 2 Results
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c c c c c c|} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{\multirow{2}{*}{**Preservative**}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Body Lotions**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Face Creams**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Rinse-off**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Mascaras**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Total**} \\  & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(n = 100)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(n = 100)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(n = 100)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(n = 25)**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**(n = 325)**} \\ \hline
**1** & **Phenoxyethanol** & 68 & 68 & 40 & 22 & 198 (60.9\%) \\ \hline
**2** & **Sodium Benzoate** & 36 & 31 & 66 & 4 & 137 (42.2\%) \\ \hline
**3** & **Potassium Sorbate** & **30** & 28 & 49 & 9 & 116 (35.7\%) \\ \hline
**4** & **Benzyl Alcohol** & 36 & 23 & 15 & 2 & 76 (23.4\%) \\ \hline
**5** & **Methylparaben** & **17** & **10** & 2 & 4 & 33 (10.2\%) \\ \hline
6 & Benzoic Acid & 2 & 18 & 6 & 0 & 26 \\ \hline
7 & Propylparaben & 13 & 2 & 0 & 4 & 19 \\ \hline
8 & Sorbic Acid & 2 & 10 & 4 & 2 & 18 \\ \hline
9 & Dehydroacetic Acid & 8 & 6 & 3 & 0 & 17 \\ \hline
10 & DMDM Hydantoin & 11 & 1 & 3 & 0 & 15 \\ \hline
11 & Ethylparaben & 5 & 6 & 0 & 3 & 14 \\ \hline
12 & Methylchloroisothiazolinone & 0 & 0 & 13 & 0 & 13 \\ \hline
13 & Methyllisothiazolinone & 0 & 0 & 13 & 0 & 13 \\ \hline
14 & Chlorphenesin & 2 & 6 & 1 & 1 & 10 \\ \hline
15 & Sodium Dehydroacetate & 0 & 0 & 0 & 9 & 9 \\ \hline
16 & Butylparaben & 3 & 1 & 0 & 1 & 5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Number of occurrences of preservatives according to individual product category and total amounts. Figure 5: Number of occurrences of the preservatives identified in the tested products (n = 325). The 325 tested products included 29 different preservatives belonging to eight chemical groups (Figure 5). The presented analyses show that the most common preservative types were alcohols and their derivatives, carboxylic acids and their salts, and parabens. The most common individual preservative was phenoxyethanol, which was found in 198 (60.9%) of the 325 analyzed cosmetic compositions. In addition, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate were present in 137 (42.2%) and 116 (35.7%) products. In fourth place was benzyl alcohol, present in 76 (23.4%) cosmetics. Methylparaben, the most common among all parabens, was present in 33 (10.2%). It was found that 13 out of 29 of the identified preservatives were relatively uncommon, appearing in fewer than five products. The least common preservatives included the quaternary ammonium salts cetrimonium bromide, benzethonium chloride, cetrimonium chloride, behentrimonium chloride, and benzalkonium chloride and the miscellaneous preservatives chlorhexidine digluconate, sodium metabusulfite, chloroxylenol, iodopropyl butylcarbamate, diazolidinyl urea, sodium bisulfite, o-cymen-5-ol, and imidazolidinyl urea. Of the 60 preservatives included in Annex V of the Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products, 33 were not used in any of the tested preparations. These included various acids (e.g., salicylic acid, formic acid, and propionic acid) and their salts, formaldehyde donors (e.g., methanamine, benzylhemitformal, and 7-ethylbicyclooxazolidine), alcohols and their derivatives (e.g., chlorobutanol, dichlorobenzyl alcohol, and 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol), phenolic compounds, (e.g., o-phenylphenol, p-chloro-m-cresol, triclosan), and glutaral and thimerosal. Regarding the numbers of combined uses of preservatives in a single product (Table 2), the most common group comprised preparations containing combinations of two preservatives (34.8% of all analyzed preparations), followed by single-preservative products (25.5%) and three-preservative products (19.4%). A similar trend was noted for individual product categories, i.e., two preservatives, followed by one and three preservatives. Higher numbers were also observed, but these were rarer: i.e., preparations with four (8.9%), five (3.7%), six (1.2%), seven (0.9%), or even eight preparations (0.9%).