Bethany Paris Ramsay’s Post

I find it especially unfortunate that this happened to a sunscreen. Consumers are already struggling to wear sunscreen due to the amount of misinformation and fear mongering spread by consumers and medical professionals alike, and I feel like this is further leverage to argue that sunscreens are not safe. On a more optimistic side, I hope this is a wake up call that more we take away effacious ingredients (like many preservatives), the less safe and efficacious our products will be.

As brands pivot away from the traditional preservatives like parabens and phenoxyethanol due to consumer concerns, the scrutiny of hygiene at every step of the process should increase: raw material micro specs, PET testing standards and organisms tested, environmental monitoring at the facility, equitptment cleaning validation, etc. If you are using a less robust preservative then you should be more robust on all other areas of development and production. Unfortunately most brands aren't aware or involved enough in the process to address these concerns at their manufacturer.

I just read an article about the amount of misinformation in social media posts by dermatologists. So when a subset of individuals that ideally we think we can trust more so than the typical influencer is misleading us for likes and sponsorships, its incredibly disheartening. Bold headlines get clicks - "Dermatologist/cosmetic scientist begs you not to...." rather than the less exciting "the science is nuanced" but I think we need to do a better job of communicating the latter.

Glad it was caught on time and recalled before any adverse events. This just proves that having NPA and ECOCERT certifications doesn't always make 'clean' and effective products. This is a reverse emulsion, but still has enough water activity and plant based ingredients. The formulator might have limitations on what preservatives were they allowed to use as it clearly marketed as 'Free of' most effective preservatives. Bug identified is typically present in soil and plant based ingredients.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Beauty founders have a responsibility to continuously assess and improve upon their product’s quality and safety. Your contract manufacturer doesn’t “take care of quality”, I guarantee it. They (hopefully) make your products in compliance with applicable regulations. I’m speculating here but I’d imagine increased focus on these areas would be great places to start looking for improvement opportunities: -supplier qualification & monitoring -real time and accelerated stability data -raw material specifications + test results -facility condition + sanitation procedures We audit beauty contract manufacturers all the time and I can promise you, those facilities are not as clean and put together as they’d lead you to believe. Thanks for sharing Bethany Paris Ramsay!

Contamination can happen to all kinds of products, whether they are formulated to be clean or not. I worked at a popular brow brand when we had to recall one of our brow products out of abundance of caution for a similar reason. Brands have a responsibility to their customers and good for them for making the right decision.

It's like the wild west with the claims brands make, no wonder consumers are confused by what they see and hear. It pays to educate ourselves so when the time comes to go shopping, we know what to look for, and how to see through the b.s. of marketing claims.

I'm not a scientist or familiar with this particular case, but the amount of misinformation about certain ingredients in hair and skincare is wild. "This smoothing treatment has no chemicals." (Water is a chemical.) "Can you make me blonde without bleach?" (Yes, but why? Unspecified chemicals.)

For some reason, consumers got a message that preservatives are not good. I try to educate that without a preservative, a cosmetic product is not safe. But that is only the first step. Just because there is a preservative present does not mean it is effective in the product.

Great share Bethany. I also don't have the answer but agree with you about pushing back against certain practices which don't serve the consumer well.