And now, I’m going to explain why I brought up the subject of microbes.

A large portion of my posts are dedicated to homemade, do-it-yourself crafts and necessities. I do it mostly to save money without sacrificing quality, the trade-off being sacrificing personal time and a little effort on my part which I think is worth it. Some of the topics like cooking, aren’t so foreign to the vast majority. But other topics like homemade skin care and housecleaning seem to raise a lot of questions. Mainly, is it better? Does it work? IS IT SAFE?

I brought the subject of microbes to answer the safety question as it is one of the of the main concerns or aversions people have with anything homemade. Understandably so. Some of our concerns with contamination are misplaced and stem from our germaphobic mentality. In a public setting, then yes, it would be prudent to exercise some precautions. But in our very own home, a healthy home is one that co-exists with microbes. Again, I am not advocating living in filth. But we don’t live in a bubble. Trying to engage in a full-on war against microbes can have adverse consequences. So, the goal of homemade, whether it’s cooking, housecleaning, skin care, or some other craft, is still safety but without too much help from man-made biocides. The safety trade-off here means having a realistic expectation of what our homemade goods can accomplish. For example, in the case of housecleaning products, it means that your house will be clean but you won’t even come close to imitating a clinical, almost sterile environment. Not that this should be your goal – you’re not trying to operate on your kitchen table after all. Even in a clean house, bacteria can still spread and cause infections but again, that’s not a bad thing if you view it as exercising your immune system (provided it is not compromised in the first place). In the case of your homemade perishable goods, food and cosmetics, it means a significantly shortened shelf life. With cooking, we are accustomed to this trade-off. We know that the cupcake we bake and leave out on the counter is not going to last as long as a Twinkie. And we use our senses to determine when it’s past its prime and chuck it. Homemade skin care is also a perishable and shares many of the same ingredients you would find in food. However, it seems that we still have unrealistic expectations as to its shelf life and aren’t as accustomed to using our senses to judge when it is past its prime as we do with food. I will address this topic in detail in many future posts. For now, assume that as long as you apply the same mentality to homemade cosmetics as you do to homecooking, you should be fine.

One last point I want to make is that just like microbes, man-made biocides do have their place in our society. In a public setting, for better or worse, the public is more trustful of clinical-like environments and prepackaged, commercially prepared goods. So no homemade goodies to hand out at our kids’ soccer games. But it’s okay. A little bit of man-made biocide in our lives is not harmful. It is the cumulative overexposure that create problems. In the same manner that the dangers of the presence of germs has been blown out of proportion, the toxicity of man-made biocides has equally been overexaggerated. More on this topic in a future post. My point is to minimize, not eliminate, our exposure to biocides. How? By not including synthetic preservatives in our homemade goodies and only using germ-killing household cleaners when necessary, not as part of routine cleaning.

Humans are tough and very adaptable, whether it’s to normal levels of microbes or small amounts of man-made biocides. How else did we come out on top of the food chain and overpopulate the Earth? But if we let science over-intervene, eventually, our bodies and our environment will not be able to keep up with our science.

Everything in moderation.

Posts in this series on microbes: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

Preservatives, like disinfectants, inhibit microbrial growth. But their main purpose is to extend a product’s shelf life. In our fast-paced, industrialized world where we as consumers expect to get what we want and when we want with minimal effort, it seems reasonable that so many of our products contain preservatives. But just like disinfectants and antibiotics, microorganisms do develop resistance to synthetic preservatives. Perishable goods like cosmetics and food are not expected to be aseptic – free of microbes. It is practically impossible! As you gleam through the product recalls, you will notice that contamination also happens to preserved products.

So why use it? From a business perspective, if you are going to produce perishables for a large consumer base and need to have a long shelf life to maximize profits, legal and consumer health benefits do outweigh the risks. The demand is also there; consumers do want the convenience and availability of perishable goods and so, preservative-laden products are a fact of life. Again, just like with disinfectants, we can limit our exposure by limiting our intake of commercially prepared perishables. But unlike reducing our use of antibacterial household cleaners, limiting preserved products means significant lifestyle trade-offs: cost, time and personal responsibility. We would have to pay a higher price for quality perishables or spend more of our time making our short-lasting homemade goods and trust ourselves in our ability to make safe products at home (without adding preservatives). The latter comes with practice. But these trade-offs are hard to come to terms with. I guess the point I’m trying to make is to limit your use of preserved products for the same reasons you don’t want to overuse antibiotics and antibacterial products – too much can turn into a health risk.

Next, I’ll close off this series of posts with my personal opinions and why I brought up this topic.

Posts in this series on microbes: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

A few more references

FDA. Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM). This manual represents the agency’s preferred laboratory procedures for microbiological analyses of foods and cosmetics and is now available online to the public.

Chapman, J.S. Characterizing bacterial resistance to preservatives and disinfectants. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, 1998; 41:241-245.

Flores M, et al. Deterioration of Raw Materials and Cosmetic Products by Preservative Resistant Microorganisms. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, Volume 40, Number 2, September 1997 , pp. 157-160.

Chapman, J.S., Diehl, M.A., Fearnside, K.J., 1997. Preservative tolerance and resistance. Int. J. Cosmetic Sci. 19, l-10.