Welcome to #FAQFriday! Got a Q for our founder, Tiffany Masterson? Drop it in the comments and she’ll try to respond! Q: I read online that phenoxyethanol is rated as a bad ingredient? Why does Drunk Elephant use it? A: Phenoxyethanol is a very well-researched and common preservative, among the least irritating. It is used and approved *globally* due to its exceptional safety rating. In the US and EU, for example, it’s approved up to a strength of 1.0%, though it’s often used at lower concentrations. Phenoxyethanol, at even 2.0%, has been found to be so mild and safe that it is used as an antiseptic on newborns and is preferred to alternatives like alcohol. All preservatives, by their nature, are killers. They wouldn’t be good at their jobs (or good to us) if they weren’t! The trick is finding one that is safe to us in the short and long term, but harmful to the contaminants that can grow in cosmetics. Phenoxyethanol definitely fits that description, and it’s crucial to help keep formulas free of dangerous bacteria or mold, which is why we use it in so many of our formulas. ⠀ Of course, using no preservatives whatsoever is a proven and widely documented health risk to the user, so that’s not an option. That’s the tricky thing with ingredient-rating sites or apps, especially those that tend toward the “natural = safe” narrative, is that they often miss the mark when evaluating research. Natural doesn’t always translate to healthy or safe for skin. After all, arsenic, cyanide, lead, and snake venom are all 100% natural. I should also note that in the development of our products, Drunk Elephant confers with our team of chemists, toxicologists and consults an exhaustive amount of published, peer-reviewed independent research. Without exception, we would never use an ingredient that had been remotely shown to be a health risk when used in skincare products. After all, our families use our products, too! 👍tm