Keep It Fresh: Expert Insight on Preservatives 

Preservatives are key components in a personal care formulation. And, R&D teams are always on the lookout for novel ingredients when it comes to creating a product that is safe and effective. What’s more, sustainability is increasing in demand from beauty consumers. 

Happi tapped industry experts—featured alphabetically by company name—to talk about the latest developments in preservatives for 2026 and beyond. 

Happi: What are today’s R&D customers looking for in their preservative ingredients and why is this important to the industry as a whole?

Mary Beth Rogalsky: Today’s R&D customers are being shaped by evolving market dynamics and increasingly informed consumer expectations. Demand has surged for preservative solutions that support broader formulation goals around sustainability, wellness, and holistic product design. Rather than focusing on a single active or isolated ingredient claim, formulators are now expected to deliver complete systems that align with rising standards for efficacy, transparency, and environmental responsibility. At the same time, digital platforms that rate and scrutinize ingredient safety have elevated consumer awareness and intensified pressure across the value chain. For the industry, this shift is significant—it is accelerating the need for suppliers to rethink innovation, uncover new functional benefits, and deliver solutions that meet both technical formulation requirements and market-facing brand demands. This often includes leveraging advances in technology, including AI and machine learning (ML), to respond faster to emerging market needs.

Sabrina Behnke: Formulators today are looking for product protection ingredients that combine performance, safety, regulatory peace of mind, and a more sustainable profile, all without compromising the sensory or aesthetic qualities of the finished product. There is a clear preference for non-controversial chemistries that align with clean, minimalist, and transparency-focused brand positioning, as well as ingredients that offer formulation simplicity through multifunctionality, for example, chelation, antioxidancy and skin conditioning delivered through a single drop-in ingredient.

This matters to the industry because product protection sits at the intersection of consumer safety and brand trust. As consumer scrutiny intensifies and regulators tighten use levels on long-established preservatives, the industry needs a broader, more modern palette of solutions to keep products safe, compliant, and commercially viable.

Pat Lutz: Customers are marketing products as ‘preservative-free’ or ‘self-preserving,’ but still need microbial protection. It matters to the industry consumers because their perception increasingly drives formulation decisions.

Customers also want sustainability in their ingredients. Lincoln MFG’s new Linatural MAX is an example.

Happi: What are the newest preservative technologies available from your company? Share with us the benefits and why these are great options for formulators.

Mary Beth Rogalsky: Ashland launched two new ingredients this spring: phyteq raspberry plus multifunctional, the next evolution of the phyteq platform, and effisin em natural multifunctional, a new-to-industry antifungal solution. Together, these innovations give formulators more flexible, high-performing options to support preservation, product performance, and streamlined development.

Phyteq raspberry plus multifunctional builds on the proven performance of phyteq raspberry i multifunctional by moving from a solid format to a cold-processable liquid while also delivering broad-spectrum protection. This synergistic, patent-pending blend helps defend formulations against microbial spoilage and adds meaningful skin care value through benefits such as barrier support, well-aging, antioxidant performance, and anti-irritation properties. Its wide pH compatibility and formulation flexibility make it an easy choice for formulators looking to simplify development without compromising performance.

Effisin em natural multifunctional is a 100% natural, water-soluble antimicrobial booster designed to make formulation easier and more cost-effective. It offers straightforward incorporation across a wide range of systems, broad pH stability, and effective performance at very low use levels. These benefits help formulators standardize antimicrobial strategies across product lines, reduce formulation complexity, shorten reformulation timelines, and manage raw material inventories more efficiently.

Sabrina Behnke: Our most recent innovation is the Geogard NEU multifunctional system, a patent-pending, solution-ready and easy-to-formulate technology based on hydroxyacetophenone and copper gluconate. It is designed for cost-sensitive personal care formulations across rinse-off and leave-on formats and is particularly effective up to neutral pH (6 to 7), where many traditional organic acid systems begin to lose efficiency.

The system works at exceptionally low use levels of 0.02 to 0.08%, which is 10 to 30 times lower than many conventional multifunctionals. That means minimal impact on viscosity, texture, pH, or formulation cost. When paired with co-preservatives such as sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, sodium dehydroacetate, or phenoxyethanol, it boosts overall preservation performance and significantly reduces the use level of these co-preservatives alone, showing true synergy. The naturally derived gluconate portion also delivers intrinsic chelation and antioxidant activity, which can reduce or replace EDTA and simplify the ingredient list, while the hydroxyacetophenone component contributes skin conditioning and soothing properties that support mild and sensitive-skin positioning.

Practically, formulators will appreciate how easy it is to work with. Because it is water-soluble, it can be added at virtually any stage of the formulation process while showing excellent heat stability if heating is a requirement. It also brings strong sustainability credentials, including a renewable carbon index of around 52%, a natural origin content of approximately 42% calculated according to ISO 16128, and certifications covering vegan, GMO-free, and China-approved status. Together, these attributes give formulators a flexible, future-ready tool that addresses cost pressure, regulatory change, and consumer expectations in a single ingredient.

Pat Lutz: HydroGuard MAX is a patent pending,  multifunctional cosmetic system for difficult formulations to preserve. It contains natural butylene glycol, hydroacetophenone and other ingredients with functions of antioxidant, humectant, moisturizer and skin and hair conditioning properties that protect the finish formulation from biodegradation. Benefits are multifunctional, broad spectrum efficacy, wide pH range and easy to use in difficult formulations.

Linatural MAX is a patent-pending, multifunctional, broad spectrum antimicrobial system based on all natural/naturally derived ingredients of butylene glycol from all natural renewable plant sugars, pentylene glycol from all natural sugar cane/corn cobs, phenylpropanol naturally derived from cinnamon tree and ethylhexylglycerin Eco with vitamin E naturally derived from sugarcane and palm.

Benefits are: all are naturally derived and contain natural ingredients that are multifunctional, have broad spectrum efficacy, a wide pH range and easy to use in difficult formulations.

Happi: Are there any regulatory issues of note that are impacting the category?

Mary Beth Rogalsky: Regulatory scrutiny remains a consistent factor in the preservatives and antimicrobial categories. More than many other ingredient segments, preservatives are influenced not only by evolving legislation but also by heightened public attention, which can accelerate regulatory momentum. Recent developments, including the Toxic-Free Cosmetic Acts in Washington and California, MoCRA and the proposed S2057B (the “Beauty Justice Act”), are shaping the personal care landscape with particular relevance for preservation and antimicrobial strategies.

Beyond state and federal requirements, formulators and marketers are increasingly consulting third-party ingredient safety platforms such as EWG and Yuka to inform their formulation decisions. Over the past several months, we have seen growing demand for ingredients that achieve strong ratings on these platforms, reflecting the broader market shift toward greater transparency and perceived ingredient safety by the consumer.

Sabrina Behnke: The regulatory landscape for preservatives continues to evolve. Use levels for isothiazolinone-based systems such as MIT and CMIT have been tightened over recent years, which has pushed many formulators toward combinations of phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate. While phenoxyethanol remains permitted at up to 1 percent and is safe for use, it is under heightened consumer scrutiny, and a growing number of brands are choosing to formulate away from it. At the same time, restrictions and reviews around other long-established preservatives continue to narrow the available palette. This combination of regulatory pressure and shifting consumer sentiment is a key driver behind the demand for newer systems like Geogard NEU.

Happi: Has your company made any investments into production, facilities or staff recently? 

Mary Beth Rogalsky: Under our strategy to globalize the microbial protection business, Ashland recently inaugurated new microbial protection production capacity in Asia and Latin America.  Those new lines introduce flexible blending capabilities, strengthening our ability to support customers across regions with greater responsiveness and reliability. The investment represents an important step in expanding regional manufacturing capabilities and advancing our microbial protection strategy. 

Sabrina Behnke: Sustainability is central to how we invest, and the past year has been a meaningful one for Arxada on this front. We were recently upgraded from EcoVadis Silver to Gold, which places us in the top tier of companies assessed on environmental, social, and ethical performance. To deepen the rigor behind that progress, we hired a senior sustainability specialist dedicated to Product Carbon Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment work, giving our customers more transparent and science-based data on the impact of the ingredients they formulate with.

Across the company, we earned a B rating from CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) for climate transparency and published our 2025 Sustainability Report, which sets out our roadmap for emissions reduction, responsible sourcing, and circularity.

These corporate commitments are reinforced by where we put our R&D dollars. The launch of the Geogard NEU system is a direct output of an innovation pipeline focused on lower use levels, naturally derived chemistries and formulations that help our customers meet their own sustainability targets. 

Pat Lutz: There has been an increase in powder systems. Lincoln MFG has invested in multiple tumblers and ribbon blenders to keep up with demand.

Happi: What are future trends to look out for in the development of preservatives for 2027 and beyond?

Mary Beth Rogalsky: Preservative innovation is entering a new phase. While multifunctional solutions are already gaining momentum, the next wave will be defined by targeted performance benefits supported by strong clinical validation. Customers and consumers alike are expecting more—high-performing systems grounded in science, designed with intention, and aligned with modern formulation priorities. As demand grows for ingredients that are responsibly sourced, biodegradable, and built around shorter, more streamlined INCI names, the category is poised to evolve well beyond traditional preservation. Looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, preservatives may begin to mirror the actives space—more sophisticated, more benefit-driven, and more central to product storytelling and innovation.

Sabrina Behnke: Looking ahead, we expect to see continued momentum behind ultra-low use level multifunctionals that deliver protection without disturbing formulation aesthetics or cost structure. The trend toward true multifunctional design will accelerate, with single ingredients increasingly expected to contribute preservation boosting alongside chelation, antioxidancy and skin benefits, helping formulators shorten ingredient lists without sacrificing performance.

Sustainability expectations will also continue to rise. Brands will look for higher renewable carbon and natural origin content, supported by transparent ISO 16128 benchmarks and product-level carbon tracking. We also anticipate growing interest in neutral-pH solutions that broaden the range of viable chemistries beyond the traditional organic acid window, as well as in preservative-free claim-enabling systems in regions where such claims are permitted, built on thoughtful combinations of multifunctional actives.

Pat Lutz: There will be an increase of naturally derived and natural systems with sustainable and carbon footprint claims. Lincoln MFG has developed Linatural MAX, which is made with natural/naturally derived ingredients to solve these future trends.