WILMINGTON, Del.—Ashland Specialty Ingredients introduced a web-based tool to assist manufacturers select preservatives best suited for skin care and hair care formulations.

“A number of regulatory and marketplace dynamics are changing around the world to the point where it is no longer intuitive to determine a preservation strategy that is universal, consumer-preferred, regulatory compliant and formulation appropriate," said Eric Lippay, global marketing manager at Ashland Specialty Ingredients. “At the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) Suppliers’ Day in New Jersey, we demonstrated how the new selector tool allows formulators of personal care products to find a range of preservation starting points based on criteria relevant to today’s market and regulatory realities."

The tool utilizes “dynamic criteria" so formulators can select the pH range of the formulation, countries of use, product application and chemistry choice before pulling up a list of applicable preservatives. This allows the formulator to more easily navigate regulatory requirements per regional market.

Earlier this month, Ashland won the Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch Award for its HydroSheer™ II.