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These are personal experiments for educational use only— not instructions and not for commercial or consumer use. By proceeding, you assume all risks related to safety, testing, and regulatory compliance.
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Theory: My Formulation Philosophy (No Miracles, Just Science!)
Hello Hello! 😀 When I first started studying how to make real cosmetics at home, it was because I was tired of the “miracle” recipes I found online. You know the ones: the “firming soap” made of aloe vera, or the “acne cure” that’s just 50% tea tree oil.
After years of studying, I’ve realized that the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. Today, I want to clear the air about some of the most common (and dangerous) myths in the handmade beauty world.
1. The “Miracle” Trap
Let’s be honest: No cosmetic is a miracle. When I started, I made creams packed with every active ingredient I owned, hoping for “photoshopped magazine skin.” Guess what? I still had my skin—just a little better hydrated. Making your own products is about learning not to believe commercial marketing (or trending “DIY” solutions) anymore.
2. “Natural” Does Not Mean “Mild”
This is a huge one. I see people adding Essential Oils to products for infants because they are “natural.” This is terribly wrong. Essential oils are highly concentrated and full of allergens. They are NOT “fresh water” and can cause painful reactions on a baby’s delicate skin. If you want a nice scent for a baby product, use an allergen-free fragrance oil instead!
3. I am a Formulator, Not a Doctor
It’s tempting to feel like a chemist-wizard once you start making creams, but we are not pharmacists. If a friend asks for a cream to “cure” their dermatitis or a medical condition, the only right answer is “NO.” I always tell my friends to see a dermatologist. My creams can hydrate and soothe, but they are not a medical cure.
4. The “Synthetic = Bad” Myth
Synthetic ingredients like SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulfate) have suffered from terrible, misleading publicity. There is no scientific evidence that they cause cancer.
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The Reality: Even “natural” soap can be harsher on the skin than a well-formulated synthetic detergent!
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Concentration is Everything: People say SLS is used to clean garage floors—well, water can be lethal if you drink too much of it! It all depends on the concentration and the overall formula.
5. Preservatives Are NOT Optional
There is a massive campaign against preservatives, treating them like “concentrated evil.” In reality, they are the heroes that save your cream from becoming a bacteria playground.
The Rule: If your product contains water (or water-based ingredients), it MUST have a real preservative.
And no—Tea Tree oil is NOT a preservative, no matter what you read on the internet! 😀
Summary: The Formulator’s Code
| Myth | The Truth |
| “Natural is always safe” | Essential oils can be highly allergenic and irritating. |
| “Preservatives are toxic” | Mold and bacteria in your cream are much more toxic! |
| “It’s a healing cure” | Cosmetics are for care and hydration, not medicine. |
| “SLES is dangerous” | Aggression depends on the formula, not just one ingredient. |
I hope this helps you look at your ingredients (and those “miracle” pins on Pinterest) with a more critical eye!
What’s the strangest “miracle” claim you’ve seen online lately? Let’s debunk it together! 😀
IT'S ALL IN MY HANDS 
Hi again!
There is one dose of truth to the bad rep of SLS and its likes, and it has nothing to do with causing cancer. Nor is it really anything that most people should object to, but I thought I should point it out to you since some people looking into handmade cosmetics are those who might be affected – SLS and SLES do increase permeability of the skin since they are surfactants, and our cell membranes are made of phospholipids, which are affected by such. Now, correctly using these is harmless to most people, but people with either very dry skin, or those suffering from eczema should avoid them in favor of mild superfatted soap, which is possibly more ‘stripping’ of the fats on skin, but it does not affect the actual cell membrane permeability that I know of.
Similarly, people with very fine, weak hair should avoid them since they can cause breakage of the hair shaft (if it is already fine) for the same reason.
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Ok I didn’t know! But does this apply to ANY surfactant in general or only to SLS and SLES? 🙂
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I know for sure that it applies to those two, and I suspect it applies to any surfactant because of the chemical properties of the skin, but the degree may vary. I can research that and get back to you – I’m a food biochemist, only starting to learn cosmetic chemistry as of recently, and because of similar reasons to yours – I am sick and tired of all the clearly fake claims, urgh! Well, and because I want to make my own luxury stuff!.
While we are on the subject, I might as well comment on-topic for your post! I agree entirely – when I started looking at recipes people post online, half the time I am fit to tear hair out at the 1. claims (oh merciful gads!), and 2. people sticking essential oils as substitute for doctors’ visits (I posted a rather pointed comment re: that and allergy on one blog, and the owner went – but you can use lemon and lavender and it makes it aaaaalll better… I got so angry – people can die of an allergy, ffs.). Or people who recommend not using a preservative.. I could rant and rant, but it’s gotten long enough already! In any case, kudos for pointing that sort of stuff out!
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Ahahah yes I understand you sooo well! Me too when I started looking for recipes online I got to read so many misleading posts!
Thank you for everything!!!
Oh and in which city are you? You can reply to my email! 😀
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Replied to email! 😀
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Aha! I’ve looked it up – essentially, the ones you need to watch out for are the anionic surfactants, and detergents in general, but not all surfactants (since some are quite kind and even conditioning to skin and hair).
As far as I know, which may not be complete, SLS and SLES are the major ones used in cosmetics. If I come across any others to be careful with, I’ll let you know!
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Great point about using a “real” preservative. People often confuse antioxidants such as vitamin E, GSE, rosemary as preservatives when they are antioxidants – they extend the life of oils slightly but do nothing to prevent bacteria, mould and fungus which grow in anything containing water (inc hydrosols, floral water, goat’s milk, aloe vera which all contain mainly water).
However it’s not simply a matter of just adding a preservative. Formulation, processing and packaging is key, for example, cutting down the % “bug food”, reducing water activity, adding a chelator and using the right packaging to minise contamination in use. Tips on this, together with reviews of 27 preservatives including those which are Ecocert approved (“natural”) – http://makingskincare.com/preservatives/
There are so many products on the market which say “preservative free” that consumers often feel a preservative is unnecessary. What they don’t realise is that those products do actually contain a preservative system. For example, ingredients such as Glyceryl Caprylate/Dermosoft GMCY are known as wetting agents/emollients but are effective against bacteria and fungus but weak against mould. p-Anisic Acid/Dermosoft® 688 eco is good against mould but is listed as fragrance or parfum. Pair the two together (with a chelator) and you have a “preservative free” system. Naticide is another patented preservative which is listed as parfum/fragrance in the ingredients list.
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Exactly! 😀
Well said! 🙂
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Great article
I am guilty of most of these mistakes. I made some simple handlotions with “natural” “preservatives” n they grew awful molds in a couple of weeks. 😦
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ahahah well 😀
I have been a little guilty as well, before I started to make “serious” things 😀
I guess nobody is without guilt! 😉 ahahah
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Great article. I like that it calls out a lot of the misconceptions common in ‘natural’ product communities.
Another point about SLES, though–while the substance itself is only recognized as an irritant, it is sometimes contaminated with 1,4 dioxane–a by-product created during its production. Unfortunately, 1,4 dioxane is recognized as a carcinogen in the US. Usually it’s found in lower doses than are likely to cause cancer, but companies are not required to remove it from their SLES products, and I’m not sure how thoroughly the FDA or other agencies monitors or enforces limits on 1,4 dioxane in cosmetics or other goods.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_laureth_sulfate
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Thank you Mel!
I think this sort of issue is actually true not only for SLES, but for many more ingredients.
However it is also true that nowadays these sort of contaminations are tackled even more strictly, as they have become known issues 🙂
Of course we can choose to substitute SLES with any other similar surfactant, just to be sure 😉
Thank you for writing your comment Mel!
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Hello! Thanks for this article, it’s very helpful.
This is potentially a very stupid question, but what exactly is prevented when we use a preservative in our formulations? I am absolutely convinced that we need them, but I work at a “natural health” store, where many people are not quite as convinced- “Sure it gets ‘moldy’ but what’s so bad about that? There are bacteria all over and in our bodies, and bacteria is “natural!”‘ is the argument I’m faced with over and over again. I have no direct answers for them. I will mutter about “oils go rancid, and there is bad bacteria out there too,” but I need details. What are the most common “bad bacteria” to grow on our creams & lotions formulated without a preservative, and what are the most common or biggest risks?
Thanks muchly!
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The issues are both from bacteria and molds as well.
The biggest risks, for example, are: getting blind thanks to an eye infection caused by an unpreserved cream (it has happened to some women in Spain a couple of years ago), or even dying of a pneumonia caused by another unpreserved cream (which the woman, in hospital, shared with other patients causing a spread of the disease in already ill people…). It is really not a joke.
Tell your customers that the mold they see is just the tip of the iceberg: a ml of HIGHLY contaminated water (millions of bacteria in it) still looks and smells like fresh water… So the risks are invisible and very high.
Adding a preservative is, seriously, the lower risk they take, compared to using an unpreserved cream.
If they want to avoid preservatives, they should avoid using water: just make body butters! The oils going rancid is not such a risk… But bacteria and molds really are 😉
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Oh my I think I love you haha
I’m starting out with making my own cosmetics, mostly for environmental reasons. I struggle to find information/recipes because everything is aimed at “miraculous” products, or “natural” “chemical free” (impossible) stuff that doesn’t work. I’m about to have a dig through your other posts!
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Hello Anthea, thanks for the nice comment!
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You are my new favorite person!! I’m a recently retired Registered Nurse and I have become fascinated with making lip balm and body butters. And YES, I made the awful mistake of giving some of my “Anti-Aging” Body Butter to a couple of friends, who loved it initially and then VOILA….they “broke out”. I am now obsessed with skincare formulation and I want to do it the right way!! I am currently enrolled in a Natural Skincare course so that I don’t ever make that mistake again!! I totally agree with what you say about preservatives…They are an absolute must!! And with this all natural craze, people just don’t understand this. I am in the process of creating a website and I really want to create an all-natural line, knowing that I do need to use preservatives and emulsifiers in order to create a safe and effective product.
And even more infuriating to me is the fact that, here in the US, there is also an essential oil craze going on. There are two large MLM companies here that tell people they can apply it undiluted to their skin, they tell everyone that their Essential Oils are “pure” and every other brand out there has watered down Oils!!. They go as far as telling everyone that they can ingest them!! They have an almost cult following and their followers believe all of this!
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Will definitely try this out. I have oily skin
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