Preservatives and Cosmetic Ingredients

Versatile and easy to use, Copperhead's preservative and cosmetic ingredients provide multiple benefits to a variety of products.

Formulated to exploit certain active botanical constituents that are utilized by plants to provide protection from microbes in the environment, these ingredients, rearranged and concentrated, are useful for preserving and improving a wide range of formulations.

Copperhead produces two product lines of cosmetic intermediate products with water-soluble glycerol laurate and lauric esters derived from coconut or palm kernel oil: Biopolysan® and Laurest®. When added to personal care and cosmetic products, these ingredients provide additional preservation, skin-conditioning, and overall product stability benefits. Unlike Biopolysan® and Laurest®, competing ingredients contain polyhydric alcohol, which can withdraw water from the skin making it dry and cracked. Copperhead has patented a process to deliver glycerol laurate and other monoglycerides as a water-soluble, liquid crystal mixture that preserves the antimicrobial nature of glycerol laurate. Copperhead recently presented the science behind its preservative and cosmetic ingredient product offerings at the Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ 72nd Annual Scientific Meeting and Technology Showcase. See our poster presentation here.

Copperhead also produces PolyLaurin®, a plant-derived bacteriostatic and fungistatic preservative additive for industrial products which is FIFRA registered and designed to be used in the preservation of paints, coatings, adhesives, film-forming agents, cleaning products, and other finished products.

To determine which of our products best meets your needs click here.

BIOPOLYSAN^® PRODUCT LINE

The Biopolysan^® products use a patented liquid crystal delivery system to deliver otherwise insoluble ingredients from plant-based lauric esters which, in nature, protect everything from the coconut palm to healthy human skin. Biopolysan® 220B, which can be made entirely from ingredients of vegetable origin, can be used in formulations where the final product claims to be “natural”.

Biopolysan^® products are versatile and easy to use. They offer many benefits to the formulator, including: water-solubility, cold process capability, antimicrobial action, emollient and humectant properties, non-ionic emulsification and mild surfactant properties, stabilization and pH modification, and can act as excellent solvents or carriers for fragrances or active ingredients.

LAUREST^® 1220

Laurest^® 1220 is unusually versatile among natural ingredients, with antimicrobial action that complements innate skin defenses, together with pleasing emollient and humectant properties in an easy to use, water-soluble ingredient. Independent studies have shown that when up to 10% Laurest® is added to a skin lotion, it reduces Staphylococcus aureus while remaining “non-irritating”. This unusual combination of qualities makes Laurest® an attractive ingredient for skin care products intended for people who are susceptible to microbial flare-ups and persistent infections but whose skin is too sensitive to tolerate other conventional or natural antimicrobials.

Laurest^® 1220, Copperhead’s new multifunctional ingredient for cosmetics and personal care products, has been approved by Ecocert Greenlife as a COSMOS-compliant natural raw material for cosmetics and personal care products. For more information on the ECOCERT/COSMOS and Ecocert Greenlife certified "natural" and "organic" consumer products please visit: http://www.ecocert.com/en/cosmos

The COSMOS product standards are the most comprehensive, uniform, and accepted standards for natural and organic products. Ecocert Greenlife has over 25 years experience and offers services in over 130 countries for product vetting and accreditation. For more on COSMOS and Ecocert Greenlife see https://cosmos-standard.org/ and http://www.ecocert.com/en

LAUREST^® 1240

With double the concentration of lauric monoesters, combined with a higher proportion of glyceryl laurate than Laurest^® 1220, antimicrobial activity in formulations and products is enhanced.

Laurest^® 1240 is a gel that will not liquefy and run at body temperature making it suitable for direct application to localized areas of skin and can be added to products without the risk of irritation. This makes it ideal for soothing and improving the appearance of skin and nails affected by fungus and bacteria.

Laurest® 1240 has been approved by ECOCERT for use in natural and organic cosmetics.

POLYLAURIN^® PRODUCT LINE

PolyLaurin^® is a patented mixture of plant-derived medium-chain lauric esters that exhibits broad-range preservation capacity. As a clear, low viscosity liquid that is soluble in water, glycol, alcohol and other solvents, and which readily forms emulsions in aqueous and lipid systems, it is versatile and easy to use. PolyLaurin® is FIFRA registered and can be used in the preservation of products such as paints, coatings, adhesives, film-forming agents, cleaning products, and other industrial products.