Many people today are concerned about the use of preservatives, and ReNew Organic Skin Care's Shelley Birnbaum spent a lot of time researching this very important topic:
 

The first thing I learned was if there is water present in a product it must contain a preservative. Water is the basis of life including bacteria, fungi and molds. So, if these products aren’t preserved in some way you will end up with some pretty nasty stuff floating in your products, and I guarantee this nasty soup is going to be a lot worse than a food grade preservative when absorbed into your skin. Even kept refrigerated, these products without preservatives would have a very short shelf life, and if left out over night would put you at risk.

What about companies that claim they do not use preservatives or only use natural ones? Many companies might not disclose the complete listing of ingredients or their preservative systems. Some companies, including the biggest “natural” lines on the market, list “fragrance” which does not disclose the actual ingredients and hides the preservative in the ingredient itself that acts like a broad spectrum preservative. Some companies claim they do not use preservatives or only natural preservatives such as grapefruit seed extract and essential oils.

So what about grapefruit seed extract? There are several problems with this product. First, there is no way of knowing if this is the pure grapefruit seed extract or one that contains preservatives likes parabens. It also can be made from leftover grapefruit pulp, a waste by-product manufactured from grapefruit juice production that changes its chemical composition.

As for essential oils… Although they are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, the amount needed to effectively preserve a product would be at unsafe levels. All essential oils can do is keep the oils in products from going rancid.

So what do I use? After shifting through hundreds of studies and trying out different systems I use a few different choices depending on the product. At ReNew we combine the properties of different herbs and flowers in Organic Grain Alcohol at specific levels that have created a synergetic preservative system. The preservative system is broad spectrum and stable but products must be kept in a cool dry place. In addition a few products contain Phenoxyethanol which in my testing has proved to be safe and non irritating.