PRESERVATIVES

Preservatives are vital for all water-based skincare products. Full stop.

Unfortunately, preservatives in skincare that kill dangerous waterborne microbes continue to work after they’ve left the bottle. Residual from preservative can disrupt the skin’s endocrine levels and its healthy balance of microbiota and mucous membranes.

This this article in Nature is a good one for translating the science and research.

If your skin is in a consistent cycle of reaction and you’re using a water-based moisturizer, try something that doesn’t have preservatives in it. It won’t contain water, but that’s okay.