I didn’t know organic distilled alcohol is less drying…very interesting. But compared to alcohol (whether organic or otherwise), would potassium sorbate be less drying?

1) Beeswax is an alternative but makes your skin waxy after application. Some people would not like that. Cetyl alcohol makes your skin soft.
2) Gums, clays and starches are also possible to thicken your cream and can be organic (except clays) but the texture is not as great as creams made with cetyl alcohol. Good for hardcore organics, but most consumers would not like such a gummy texture.

So far I havent found any replacement to cetyl alcohol, this is why organic brands use it.

1) Alcohol is used as preservative, 7% is necessary to make bacteria not grow, 15% is necessary so that molds do not grow. Synthetic non-organic alcohol is drying yes. Organic distilled alcohol is less drying.
2) Potassium sorbate, another preservative, creates allergies, it is synthetically made (no one extracts it from the sorbus berries nowadays which is a pity). Other preservatives are even more chemical and toxic.
3) Grapefruit seed extract (GSE) at 3%, if certified organic (only glycerin used in extraction), is a weak preservative. Molds can grow, shelf-life is short. Its good but not enough to garantee safety.
4) Certain essential oils and extracts (thyme, oregano…) also preserve your product but are not 100% effective against bacteria and molds. And some people are allergic to essential oils (likewise for the alcohol).
5) Lactoperoxidase and glucose oxidase could be two other “natural” options, but I dont know how effective these are, and how safe.

This is why many organic brands use alcohol. However it might be possible (although risky) to use other options above, to preserve your product.

I’ve been trying for years to find an option to alcohol or potassium sorbate, but EVERY single preservative out there is dangerous. Why? Because to preserve water it has to be strong, and able to kill bacteria and mold.. And anything that has the ability to do that can also do a load of damage to you.

Also, just because alcohol is listed second on an ingredient list does NOT mean there’s a large amount in the product, for some of my products I use 15%, which is NOT drying to the skin. But necessary to keep the water in the product preserved. Tried and true on my insanely sensitive skin. But even at 15% it can occur second on the ingredients list, it’s just how it works. It’s because the other ingredients in the product are all needed to be distributed in much smaller amounts. If there are lots of ingredients listed on a product, and alcohol is at the top, that does NOT automatically mean there is a large amount of alcohol in the product. Organic companies use JUST the necessary amount of organic alcohol needed to preserve their water portion in their recipe. They wouldn’t use more than necessary, that would be pointless and unnecessarily costly.
The only way to avoid alcohol..or in other choices, a dangerous preservative… is to NOT include water in your products. Water is so darn hard to keep bacteria and mold from growing in, but it is a source of life.. makes sense. But that is impossible with lotion, because lotion is by definition an emulsion of water, oil, and an emulsifier to bind the two together.
The other option to buying a lotion would be to buy a solid lotion bar, or a body butter without water, but those can be very greasy. Water is what cuts away the greasiness of oil and butters.
So, in conclusion, if you find a product that does NOT use organic alcohol as a preservative, it either:
A. Does not contain water, and there for doesn’t require the use of a preservative.
B. Contains another form of preservative, and there are associated health risks of EVERY OTHER SINGLE preservative option besides organic alcohol out there. THAT IS WHY every top organic company uses alcohol to preserve their products, they are choosing the safest choice of preservative. Like Dr. Bronners for example. Or Nourish, the first USDA certified lotion in the states. They know what they’re doing. Now I will assure you there will be MANY that will tell you there are safe preservative options besides organic alcohol, but I, through extensive research over the years, will not use anything in my products or on my body that has an possible health concerns. And that omits any preservative for water besides organic alcohol. (I’ll mention that vitamin E, grapefruit seed extract, and rosemary extract are meant for preserving OILS, they don’t work for preserving water.)
The biggest possibility of alcohol harming your body, (IF used in too large of a quantity,) would be dry skin. Every other preservative option has INSANELY worse possibilities, and all, I believe, contribute to mutations of some sort, which means, cancer. Like I said, my opinion, you’ll have many tell you differently, but all of the top caring organic companies would agree with me.
So, that’s my beliefs. Thought I’d share them with you. I’m very passionate about this stuff as you can tell. It’s been a huge part of my life for at least 10 years. So this is definitely coming from someone who cares, and someone born with very sensitive skin and due to that has exhaustively tried and tested it all, and confidently come to my firm opinions.
Ashley

I found a cleanser that is 100% all-natural that includes ingredients such as algae extract (supports collagen), Sea Buckthorn Oil (rich in beta carotene) and Stabilized Vitamin C. And…it’s PH Correct with NO alcohol.

If you email me, I will be happy to email you a document of all the ingredients which are all-natural. And the cost is pretty reasonable considering what is in it.