Ingredient Spotlight: Pentylene Glycol

You'll see this ingredient cropping up in quite a few of my products, so what exactly is it? Find out in this article. 

Pentylene glycol may sound like something cooked up in a chemist's lab, but actually it is also a naturally occurring compound found in plants, particularly types of sugar. It can be created synthetically in a laboratory, and it's this synthetic version that is most commonly used in cosmetics. I, on the other hand, prefer to use the natural form. The one that I've chosen is manufactured from sugarcane bagasse. This is the fibrous pulp left over after the usable part of the sugarcane has been extracted, so it makes good use of a resource that would otherwise be wasted. The extraction of the pentylene glycol then takes place in a lab in France, so it doesn't have to travel too far to bring it on to my supplier in the UK. 

The company I've chosen to source pentylene glycol from provides full traceability for its products, showing the sugarcane was harvested responsibly and guaranteeing the purity of the finished substance. It's been awarded a Silver Green Ingredient Award at the In-Cosmetics Global event in 2014. 

The really great thing about pentylene glycol is that it's multi-functional. It's an humectant, which means that it helps to attract water from the atmosphere into your skin. It also has emollient properties, meaning that it helps to smooth the skin and improve the feel of any products it's used in. But its main use is as a preservative. It's effective across bacteria, moulds and yeasts, and also acts as a booster for any other preservatives you include in the formulation. As you'll know from my previous articles, I'm a big fan of natural preservatives, as they are far gentler on the skin and less likely to trigger allergies. 

Pentylene glycol is my favourite natural preservative to include in my products, because it ticks every box: it's natural, sustainable, zero-waste and skin nourishing. That's why you'll find it in so many of my products, including the Goddess Luxury Range and Luscious Lipstick. 

Further reading:
Pentylene Glycol: The Natural Multi-Functional Preservative