Introduction
Ensuring your cosmetic containers are throughly sanitised is very important and you want to make sure you are doing it correctly. This blog takes you through the necessary steps to effectively sanitise your cosmetic containers. Not adequately sanitising your cosmetic containers reduces the safety of your formulation, decreases the life span of the product and the overall quality. It is very important to understand sanitising is not optional it is imperative for yours and consumer safety.
Definitions
Sterilisation - describes a process that destroys or eliminates all forms of microbial life and is carried out in health-care facilities by physical or chemical methods. (Rutala & Weber 2008)
Disinfection - describes a process that eliminates many or all pathogenic microorganisms, except bacterial spores, on inanimate objects. In health-care settings, objects usually are disinfected by liquid chemicals or wet pasteurisation. (Rutala & Weber 2008)
Cleaning - is the removal of foreign material (e.g., soil, and organic material) from objects and is normally accomplished using water with detergents or enzymatic products. Thorough cleaning is required before high-level disinfection and sterilisation because inorganic and organic materials that remain on the surfaces of instruments interfere with the effectiveness of these processes. (Rutala & Weber 2008)
From this we can conclude the differences between sterilising, disinfecting and cleaning and that it is not all the same thing.
NOTE: Do the following process each time before you plan to use a cosmetic container for a formulation you are about to create. Do not do this for all your containers and store them. As many of us will not have the proper facilities to store sanitised items, and potentially rendering the sanitisation process done redundant.
1) PPE
Wash and dry your hands thoroughly. Ensure you are wearing PPE, at the very minimum gloves to protect your hands from the cleaning detergents and to ensure you do not transfer any bacteria from your hands to the cosmetic containers. Ensure you are wearing gloves during all of these steps.
2) Manual Clean
As cited above sterilising and disinfecting will not be as effective if you do not first clean your cosmetic containers. Firstly disassemble all the part of the container - remove the lids, dropper etc, you want to ensure the entirety of the container is being fully immersed. In a bucket of warm water add a mild detergent and allow your containers to soak for around 20 minutes, this will allow any residue to loosen. Then get a sponge and remove all the dirt visible to the eye. You will need to invest in a special cleaning brush that allow you to clean small dropper bottles that cannot be reached with a normal sponge.
3) Rinse & Dry.
Rinse each container under running water ensuring the cleaning agents are completely rinsed off. After this ensure the container is thoroughly dry, either by allowing it to dry on a drying rack or using a clean towel to dry each container.
It is very very important the containers are dry because even a single droplet of water can cause microbial growth and effect the safety of your cosmetic product.
4) Sterilise
A sterilising machine uses UV light to kill germs and bacteria. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is an established means of disinfection and can be used to prevent the spread of certain infectious diseases. (Reed, 2010).
Place the containers into a suitable sterilising machine the most common is a UV sterilising machine. Alternatively you can use a baby bottle sterilising machine, these tend to be cheaper and more readily available.
5) Disinfect
Isopropyl alcohol is a colourless liquid with a sharp, musty odour. It is used in making cosmetics, skin and hair products, perfumes, pharmaceuticals, lacquers, dyes, cleaners, antifreezes and other chemicals. (New Jersey Department of Health, 2016)
The effectiveness of isopropyl alcohol drops sharply when diluted below 50% concentration, and the optimum bactericidal concentration is 60%–90% solutions in water. I recommend using a 70% solution and storing it in a spray bottle.
Spray the isopropyl alcohol all over the containers ensuring you get everywhere. This should dry relatively quickly. Once fully dried your containers and ready for you to put your formulations into them.
Conclusion
Now it is worth mentioning the last two steps are not entirely necessary, if you follow the first three steps that should be effective in ensuring your cosmetic containers are fit for storing your formulations. However I do recommend you follow all the steps, especially if your serious about being a cosmetic formulator. This process is an example of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), which is a legal requirement before you sell cosmetics on the market. I am aware that sterilising machines can be expensive, use a baby bottle steriliser as any alternative, or skip this step and disinfect the containers with isopropyl alcohol this is inexpensive and has multiple purposes in cosmetic formulation aside from being an effective disinfecting mechanism. I hope you found this blog useful.
References
Nicholas G. Reed. (2010). The History of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation for Air Disinfection. Date Accessed [14/11/2023]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2789813/
New Jersey Department of Health. (2016). Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet. Date Accessed [14/11/2023]. Available at: https://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/1076.pdf
William A. Rutala and David J. Weber. (2008). Guideline for Disinfection and Sterlisation in Healthcare Facilities. Date Accessed [14/11/2023]. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/pdf/guidelines/disinfection-guidelines-H.pdf
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