Debunking DIY: How to Spot an Unsafe Skincare Recipe

Whether it’s the power to address a specific skincare need, the desire to free yourself from unhealthy chemicals, or a call to remove products that aren’t in alignment with your personal values, formulating your own skincare products offers you a chance to truly customize what you put on your body. Taking what you’ve made and sharing it with the world can be an amazing way to develop a business that meets a need and makes a difference.

But for many just starting out on the path to creating their own products, it can be difficult to quickly and easily assess if a DIY recipe is safe. Here are some quick tips to get you started.

Consider the Recipe’s Source

This may be the most important consideration: Who created the recipe? Common misconceptions abound, and it can be difficult to sort through all of the conflicting opinions and know who to trust.

Books can be a great resource, but they also can go out of date when new research is available. They may not list all of the information you need to know to create the specific products you want.

Recipes gleaned from websites, blogs, YouTube channels and even Pinterest links may have been created by well-intentioned people who are accidentally passing on inaccurate information.

Think Safety First

On the surface, safety can include a wide range of potential issues. Not every seemingly-unpronounceable ingredient is by default harmful, and not every edible ingredient is good for your skin. Too many safe ingredients, in the wrong combinations or proportions, can lead to an unsafe result. As you build your skills and knowledge about ingredients and interactions, you’ll be able to spot specific potential problems and troubleshoot them, but broadly, safety considerations can be easily narrowed down into a few key categories:

For many people with a goal of using more natural products, preservatives tend to get a bad reputation. The function of preservatives is simply to prevent microorganisms, bacteria, mold, and yeast from growing. It is true that parabens, a collection of synthetic esters widely used as preservatives in many cosmetics and other body-care items, have been linked to harmful effects on female reproductive health and endocrine disruption.

However, there are safer, natural options. Using the right kind of preservative is essential for a safe and long-lasting product.

If the DIY recipe you’re considering contains water in any form (including aloe vera) and doesn’t include a preservative, it is going to be unsafe—even if you intend to keep it in the fridge to extend its shelf life.

It’s also not uncommon for DIY recipes to mistake antioxidants for preservatives. While antioxidants such as Vitamin E, rosemary extract, and grapefruit seed extract can extend shelf life by preventing oxidation in oils and butters, they do not stop the spread of bacteria, yeast, and mold. In fact, many commercially-available grapefruit seed extracts contain additional ingredients, even preservatives, which may be affecting your end result in unexpected, harmful ways.

Essential oils

Oil and water don’t mix. And even if you agitate them, they very quickly separate, often leading to a result that is both aesthetically displeasing as well as functionally less effective. If you attempt a recipe that uses both oil and water, it will require some kind of emulsifier or solubilizer to maintain the consistency desired, and to prevent separation. Which one you choose depends on what kind of product you are making.

Shaking a bottle every time you use it is great for a vinaigrette, but there are better options out there. When making toners, room sprays, and mists, keeping the smaller amounts of oils from separating out requires a solubilizer. When considering a recipe with a larger amount of oil, an emulsifier will be essential to hold that emulsion.

As a fairly commonly-available ingredient, beeswax tends to be used in DIY recipes such as lotions in place of an emulsifier, but it is not. Beeswax is a wonderful thickener which can soften and soothe the skin, but attempting to use it as an emulsifier will only result in a separated product, no matter how long or how carefully it’s mixed.

Good practice

There are many factors to consider when approaching a new DIY recipe, and it can feel intimidating to know where to begin, and how to separate out the good advice from the bad. But like any skill, it gets better the more you practice, and good information is available, once you know where to look.

You can expand your skills today by signing up to learn more about the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation. The course includes 14 in-depth modules and over 80 videos that you can explore at your own pace, and teaches you everything you need to know to take your passion for natural beauty from a hobby to a business.

Armed with this knowledge you’ll know exactly how to spot an unsafe DIY recipe—and how to fix it!

Join our FREE webinar: How to make your own organic lotions and creams for a fraction of the price of store bought brands!

To be blunt, there is a lot of incorrect information circulating around online and in books.
It is so difficult to know what is right and what isn't.
A lot of this bad advice relates to making creams and lotions.

That's why in this FREE training we are going to teach you:

• How to go behind the label: discover what is REALLY in the products you buy and how you can make your own at home for less.
• 4 common myths that are all over the internet (so you don’t fall for them).
• How to avoid problems like creams that separate, lotions that are too runny or too thick, or products that can cause irritation and inflammation.
• How to make safe, stable, and beautiful lotions that are 100% natural & organic!

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References

“New developments in the extraction and determination of parabens in cosmetics and environmental samples. A review.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25597796

Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, 2nd ed.