Where does it come from?
Phenoxyethanol can be found naturally in green tea, but the commercial ingredient is synthetically produced in a laboratory creating what's termed a “nature identical” chemical.
What is it used for?
Phenoxyethanol is used in our products as a preservative. Please note that we are currently executing stability tests with a new formula that hosts a cleaner, healthier preservative system. Despite being a "controversial" ingredient, phenoxyethanol has a similar safety profile to other commonly used preservatives. Preservatives are necessary to kill/prevent the growth of microbes in any product which contains water, so they are not a "nice to have" type of ingredient, they are a "must have." The EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety published a final opinion on phenoxyethanol in 2016. The take home of the 102 page document: The SCCS considers 2-phenoxyethanol safe for use as a preservative with a maximum concentration of 1.0%, which is the maximum level that we are using.
Toxicologists using the GreenScreen(TM) for Safer Chemicals, a globally recognized tool that identifies hazardous chemicals and safer alternatives, assigned Phenoxyethanol the Benchmark Score™ of 2 (“Use but Search for Safer Substitutes”). This score (which ranges from 1 to 4) is based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, which takes into account hazard information on a variety of endpoints, and even the data gaps on the chemical (meaning that, for example, we do not know its potential to disrupt the hormone system, and we can't assume that no data means it is safe).
Several other preservatives used in skin care and beauty also score a Benchmark 2, but they are more likely to irritate the skin and cause sensitization, and they also are often more toxic to aquatic life. There are a handful of preservatives systems that appear to be safer/cleaner options than phenoxyethanol, but they don't always work as well for certain products. The overall chemistry of a product, its pH, the packaging, the expected shelf life, whether it is leave on or rinse off- all of these are taken into account when choosing preservative systems. So there isn't really one "silver bullet," and even if there was one perfect preservative, we wouldn't want every single product to use it because then microbes might become resistant and people might become desensitized. (Info courtesy of Credo Beauty)
