What are the preservatives in Yes^® products?  And why do you use them?

Yes oil-based has no preservatives in it, only Vitamin E which acts as an antioxidant and extends the shelf-life.

Yes water-based has two preservatives in it.  Both occur in nature, both are synthetically produced. They are Phenoxyethanol and Potassium sorbate. We have to buy the synthetically produced versions as a. we don’t use animal body parts and b. we cannot find commercially available plant extracted sources. They are approved by the FDA and UK/EU bodies for food and/or cosmetic applications, as well as by our Organic certifier: The Soil Association. To date we have found no naturally occurring preservative package that is safe, non irritant and effective.  Used correctly (not above 1%) both these preservatives do a brilliant job without being skin irritants or having any other concerns associated with them.  In the absence of chemicals know to be penetration enhancers, like Propylene glycol, they are not pulled thought the skin into the blood stream.  Yes products contain NO penetration enhancers.

We are often asked why we use preservatives in our natural products, when we have striven to make our products as natural as possible. Unfortunately preservatives of some kind will always be needed in water-based products. Water is the basis of all life, and that includes bacteria, fungi and moulds. Products without preservatives will have a very short shelf life, even if refrigerated (think of milk or orange juice).  Products that are not properly preserved, even if made in a very clean environment, will become a health risk when exposed to the microbes present in life. So we preserve our products to give them shelf life and to ensure they are hygienic - to protect you.  And as registered Medical Devices our products also have to meet strict preservation standards.

If you follow the link and read our ingredients page www.yesyesyes.org/ingredients then you will know that we are on a permanent hunt for a more truly natural and effective preservative.  This page says:

Preservation and product cleanliness are critical. We tested all commercially available natural and “natural” preservation systems and found that none were secure, reliable and safe enough to meet our criteria.  For instance Grapefruit seed extract is a known eye irritant at low concentrations. We finally chose a combination of natural and synthetic preservatives for Yes Water-based to deliver the performance required.

Both Yes products are certified organic by the Soil Association in UK, this supports our ingredients policy, in that we can only use certain approved (gentle) preservatives (e.g. no parabens).

Yes products are the only range of certified organic lubricants available – anywhere. This makes Yes the purest and the most natural range of personal lubricants and vaginal moisturisers.  One of the great things about Yes is that performance is NOT sacrificed in the pursuit of purity – check out our Yestimonials at http://www.yesyesyes.org/testimonials.htm