Beauty ingredient · Preservative / stabilizer
Sodium benzoate (cosmetic)
A preservative allowed in EU cosmetics with concentration limits.
- Preservative
- Expert review pending
Concern level
A minor or very limited concern, such as being an ultra-processing marker only. The concern level sets how many points sodium benzoate (cosmetic) costs on a product’s receipt.
What the evidence says
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Restricted useRegulatory
The EU allows it up to 2.5% in rinse-off, 1.7% in oral and 0.5% in leave-on products, as benzoic acid (Annex V). [1]
Evidence tiers say how sure the evidence is, separately from how much it matters. About evidence tiers.
Popular products that list sodium benzoate (cosmetic)
7 of the 17,000 most-scanned products in the US with a GoodSwap page list sodium benzoate (cosmetic).
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Coconut & Vanilla Moisturizing Lotion Native Score 93 out of 100 Excellent -
Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie Shea Moisture · 12 oz Score 94 out of 100 Excellent -
Liquid Hand Soap Pump, Aquarium Series Softsoap · 7.5 fl oz Score 86 out of 100 Excellent -
Cool Mint Listerine Score 93 out of 100 Excellent -
Daily Facial Cleanser Cetaphil · 16 fl oz Score 93 out of 100 Excellent -
Kirkland Moisture Shampoo Kirkland Signature · 1 L Score 97 out of 100 Excellent -
Axe (Phoenix: Crushed Mint And Rosemary Sent) Bodywash Axe Score 90 out of 100 Excellent
Names GoodSwap recognizes on labels (5)
- benzoic acid
- sodium benzoate
- potassium benzoate
- sodium benzoate cosmetic
- sodium benzoate preservative
Sources
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Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products
“cosmetic products shall not contain any of the following: (a) prohibited substances — prohibited substances listed in Annex II”
eur-lex.europa.eu