Certificate in Cosmetic Preservatives

Overview

What you will study

In the Certificate in Cosmetic Preservatives offered by the Institute of Personal Care Science, we teach both natural and synthetic approaches to formulating to ensure training is professional and comprehensive, but learners are able to focus specifically on the modality that is of most interest to them.

There is a lot to consider when making your cosmetic preservative selection, including, but not limited to:

• company philosophy – how natural, organic, or not does the cosmetic  preservative need to be?

• pH of the finished product – many cosmetic preservatives have a limited pH range over which they are effective, so choosing a cosmetic preservative that will suit your final product pH needs is crucial

• action of the preservative – your cosmetic preservative must be broad spectrum against bacteria, yeast and mould

• some preservatives will have a ‘static’ action while others will have a ‘cidal’ action – learn the difference, how to make your selections and when each type is better suited to your specific cosmetic formulas

• type of packaging and ingredients – some cosmetic ingredients and packaging types have greater cosmetic preservative needs than others, so your choice needs to be stronger in some cases

• cosmetic regulations over safe and suitable limits of cosmetic preservatives – even natural preservatives have limits!

• antioxidant and chelating agent selection criteria for different types of cosmetic formulations

This study program looks very specifically at all of these items and helps you understand how to make the best cosmetic preservative selections to suit your formulation needs, using both natural and synthetic cosmetic ingredients.