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If you make homemade hair gels (I won’t discuss other products right now because ionic-charged ingredients in conditioners or shampoos makes preserving more complicated), and you do not store them in the refrigerator – or if you usually do, but are going away from home, then you need to think about preservatives. This refers to flaxseed based gels, vegetable gum based gels (guar gum, xanthan gum), aloe based gels, or any other vegetable-based gel (psyllium, okra…). ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 How Can A Product Go Bad? Rancidity can happen to oils (aka oxidation) if you use them. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Bacteria or fungi can grow, using the sugar and nutrient-rich gel for food, also excreting their metabolic wastes into the gel causing cloudiness, fermentation, changes in thickness and texture and odor. These are the biggies, not only because they ruin your gel, but because the bacteria (or fungi) growing in your un-preserved, un-refrigerated gel could be pathogenic. Let me get up on my...

Preservatives are a common source of skin irritation or allergic reaction in cosmetics and hair products. This is a short list of common offenders to suspect if a product causes problems for you: Benzyl alcohol Imidazolidinyl urea Diazolidinyl urea Sodium Hydroxylmethylglycinate Methyl, Propyl, Butyl, and Ethyl Parabens Phenoxyethanol DMDM hydantoin Quaternium-15 Methylisothiazolinone ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Those in italics are formaldehyde releasers. Formaldehyde is an excellent preservative, but can be commonly irritating to skin and is dangerous to breathe (carcinogenic). ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013