Is ANY preservative o.k.?

[Sensitive]

Hello!

I want to make my own shampoo and body wash with soapwort root that I have recently purchased. The recipes I have say that it will only keep for a week. They recommend some preservatives that seem VERY questionable. Can anyone recommend a safe easy to use natural preservative if there is one? Thanks!

[avendesora]

Antioxidants A, E, and C are all preservatives. The "Better Basics for the Home" says that for every 8 oz of lotion/soap/cream/whatever you're making, add any ONE of the following 1 tsp cit C powder, 1/4 tsp vit A powder, 1 Tbs wheat germ oil (has vit E). Also Grapefruit Seed Extract (just a few drops), or any essential oil that is antiseptic: orange, lemongrass, rose, clove, rosemary, lavender.

Aven

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by avendesora

Antioxidants A, E, and C are all preservatives.

But they have very little action against the growth of microbes, which is what people usually want preservation against. Antioxidants are fine against rancidity caused by non-biologic oxidation, but that's not the way something like soapwort solution is likely to spoil.

So what were the recommended preservatives that seem very questionable?

The trouble with these saponins from roots is that the most convenient way to extract them involves soaking quite a while in a lot of water, and you don't have much shelf life left by the time that's done, yet it's enough trouble that you don't want to do it often. Did you obtain the soapwort in a form that requires soaking? Also, from what I've seen, that soaking technique results in a rather dilute product, such that you practically have to put it on your hair starting dry; it's a lot of water. But maybe the prep I saw wasn't typical.

If you want to prepare enough to use for a long time, how about freezing it by the cupful or whatever, and then melting a week's worth at a time that you can keep in the refrigerator? It won't need a preservative while it's frozen, and probably not while refrigerated.

Robert

[Sensitive]

Thank you so much for the tips! I think the freezing idea will work for me.

Sorry, I can't remember what the preservatives were. I didn't write them down because I dismissed them right away. When I have time, I might go and look it up again. I have several Soapwort root Shampoo recipes this one is the most basic:

"1/2 teaspoon dired soapwort root crushed and soaked in 3/4 pint water overnight.
Boil the soaked root in it's soaking water then simmer for 20 minutes.
Cool and strain through a piece of muslin.
Bottled this will keep for a week in a cool dark place.
It can be perfumed with 2 drops of essential oil such as lavender or rosemary."

So I guess it DOES require soaking. I wonder how well this stuff actually works?

[JessicaS]

Anything that involves water and other ingredients need some sort of preservative.

Vitamins are not effective preservatives, like Mr Goodman mentioned and cannot really be used that way.

Part of the preservative ability in vitamins is from preservatives added to the vitamins. Many vitamins are also high in citric acid which has preservative qualities. I don't think you would want to dump citric acid on your hair regularly. It's natural but I don't think it would be good for your hair on a long term basis. Grapefruit seed extract is not a preservative, GSE contains preservatives and a few drops won't be effective.

Freezing the liquid by cups and then defrosting it sounds like the best solution to me.

The recommended preservatives was probably Phenohip or Germoben II which are available from soaping companies but they are parabens so many here would prefer to avoid them.

The most simple way to avoid preservatives in natural cosmetics is with refrigeration. Though, I suppose you could can it, but that would be a lot of jars for canning hair products *L

Does it need to be soaked at room temperature or could you soak it in a large container in the fridge? That would extend the life somewhat.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Sensitive

"1/2 teaspoon dried soapwort root crushed and soaked in 3/4 pint water overnight.

Wow, even more dilute than I'd thought! I doubt you'd get a strong enough solution to shampoo with this way. Think about how much water will actually stick to your hair even if you start out dry, and figure how much soapwort went into that water. The wort doesn't even all dissolve, but even if it did, can you imagine that that little soap (if you thought of the equivalent as a cake of soap) would be enough to wash your hair with? Seems like maybe a useful solution to bathe in or do other kinds of washing that involved a substantial vessel of water.

Robert

[Sensitive]

^ I wonder if you would suggest that I add more soapwort root to the water for a stronger effect?

Thanks Robert,abimommy,and avendesora! This is really very helpful to ME!

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Sensitive

I wonder if you would suggest that I add more soapwort root to the water for a stronger effect?

If that would work, don't you think its suppliers would know and suggest that themselves? So unless they have some other reason, it must be that it takes a lot of water to extract the saponins by soaking. I'm sure there are faster ways to extract it, but involving more work and stuff. There must also be ways to concentrate it after soaking in a large volume of water, but those probably involve even more work and more stuff.

Robert

[Sensitive]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

I'm sure there are faster ways to extract it, but involving more work and stuff. There must also be ways to concentrate it after soaking in a large volume of water, but those probably involve even more work and more stuff.

Robert

Thanks Robert for Dumbing it down to where I can understand.