Glass cosmetic jars are used to package a wide variety of cosmetics and natural skincare products, ranging from factory-made to handmade. These glass containers can store makeup, creams, powders, body butters, moisturizers, and more. 

Typically, glass cosmetic containers come with airtight lids that protect the product from contaminants. Of course, that’s mostly the extent of what ordinary cosmetic glass jars with lids can do. However, glass jars and bottles like the ones from Infinity Jars can do much more to keep cosmetic products fresh, protect them from degradation, and prolong their shelf lives without the need for preservatives.

So what’s so special about Infinity Jars products? The answer is simple: ultraviolet glass. These jars and bottles aren’t made of ordinary clear glass, or even amber, blue, or any other kind of colored glass. Ultraviolet glass can do so much more to protect your products and keep degradation at bay.

UV Glass Cosmetic Jars vs Preservatives

Preservatives have gotten a bad rap over the years. To be fair, however, preservatives aren’t harmful by default. They’re meant to prevent the degradation and spoilage of food and other biodegradable products. Skincare and cosmetic products, no matter how they’re made, are biodegradable and are therefore inevitably subject to decay and degradation due to the presence of microbes. Preservatives, at their core, are antimicrobial agents that extend the shelf life of various products by inhibiting the growth and proliferation of microbes.

Eating spoiled food full of bad microbes can be harmful and is certainly not recommended. It follows that once a cosmetic product contains too many of these bad microbes, using it on your skin can be harmful as well. It can cause skin irritations, infections, and skin allergies.

Thus, there’s a reason why preservatives can be necessary, and there are many reasons why they can be useful. However, in recent years, certain types of preservatives have sparked debate across the globe in various communities. For example, there are studies that claim that parabens, a very commonly used type of preservative, can disrupt hormones and are linked to cancer growth. However, the US government also contends that parabens are perfectly safe to use.

Regardless of which side of the debate you’re on, you might be interested in avoiding the use of preservatives in your natural skincare products for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, Infinity Jars offers glass cosmetic jars that can protect your products from degradation and inhibit the growth of microbes even without the help of preservatives. Because they’re made of ultraviolet (UV) glass, they can hinder the growth of microbes as well as block harmful UV light rays that can also contribute to the degradation of biodegradable materials.

What You Need to Know About UV Rays

Before anything else, however, it might be best to first discuss the effects of ultraviolet light rays. We’ve all probably heard about UV light in one context or another, especially in terms of how it can affect the skin. UV light rays certainly have been associated with skin diseases, such as skin cancer, but they’re not always harmful. Thus, it’s important to know that there are three types of UV light rays. These three types of UV rays are differentiated based on their wavelength, and each type affects biodegradable materials differently.

UV-C

UV-C rays have the shortest wavelength, and they’re also the most harmful. Luckily, the Earth’s atmosphere can completely absorb UV-C rays before they can reach us.

UV-B

UV-B rays have a medium wavelength. 95% of UV-B light is absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. While this type of UV radiation is what’s responsible for delayed sunburns and tanning, it’s unable to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin. However, these are also the light rays that can increase the risk of skin cancer.

UV-A

UV-A rays, meanwhile, have the longest relative wavelength of all the UV rays. It makes up about 95% of the UV radiation that actually penetrates through the atmosphere to the surface of the Earth.

Visible light and UV-B rays can be harmful to biodegradable materials, such as natural skincare products. However, infrared and UV-A rays can help kill microbes that can speed up the degradation of biodegradable materials. Thus, you would want these beneficial light rays to be able to reach the product while blocking out harmful light rays.

Transparent glass cosmetic containers won’t be able to block out the harmful nor the beneficial light rays, while completely opaque containers won’t be able to let the beneficial light rays in. This is where UV glass containers come in.

The Effects of UV Glass

When we think of glass, we think of something that’s completely transparent. This is, of course, often accurate. There are many glass containers made of clear glass; however, clear glass lets visible light rays through with very little resistance. Thus, clear glass cosmetic containers don’t do much by way of preserving products and protecting against degradation.

Of course, there are also various types of colored glass, such as amber, green, red, and blue. However, they don’t all work the same way. For example, amber and ultraviolet glass filter UV light rays differently. Amber and green glass works well for storing beer, which is why beer bottles are often in these colors. However, these types of glass won’t be as effective when it comes to storing natural skincare products.

That’s where UV glass comes in. UV glass blocks visible light rays and UV-B rays from penetrating through, while letting infrared and UV-A rays in. The product in UV glass cosmetic jars, therefore, are protected from the harmful effects of visible and UV-B light rays, while enjoying the antimicrobial benefits of infrared and UV-A rays.

Additionally, Infinity Jars offers cosmetic glass jars with lids that are guaranteed to be airtight. This aids in keeping moisture and contaminants out and away from your product. Keeping moisture out is especially important, which will be discussed later on.

In terms of protecting natural skincare products without preservatives, UV glass containers are your best bet. Other types of colored glass undeniably have their uses, but they’re not the best choices in this case. 

Preserving Your Product’s Freshness

Of course, UV glass jars and bottles won’t keep natural skincare products -- or any other biodegradable products, for that matter -- fresh and unspoiled forever. At some point down the line, if you have not used up the product, the amount of microbes in it will rise to harmful levels and the product will degrade. What UV glass containers can do, however, is to extend the shelf life of the product and keep it fresh for a longer period of time.

Another way to protect natural skincare products from microbes is to avoid using water as an ingredient. This is because the presence of water makes products more susceptible to microbes like fungi, bacteria, and yeast. Thus, anhydrous -- or water-free -- products are more protected from the harmful effects of microbial contamination.

Many natural skincare products contain water as an ingredient, so it might be best to avoid making those if you want to avoid using preservatives as well. What, therefore, are some examples of anhydrous products? These are the products made of oils, butters, and/or waxes. Thus, you can make natural skincare products like oil-based body butter, body oils, skin balms and salves, solid lotion bars, and the like. Body butters, balms, and salves, for example, will go well with glass screw top jars. Body oils, meanwhile, can be stored safely in glass push pump bottles.

If you’re not sure how to make anhydrous products like these, you can find various recipes online that will teach you how to make them. However, make sure to do your research first to see if these recipes are indeed effective. There are also likely to be classes in your area, which you can take for a fee.

Preserving Products Without Preservatives

Because a lot of products are mass-produced and stocked in various retail outlets, using preservatives has become commonplace. However, should you choose not to use preservatives in the process of making things like natural skincare products, there are definitely measures you can take to prolong the shelf life of your products.

However, it’s important to remember that anhydrous products are easier to preserve. If you’re using water as an ingredient in your products, then you might want to consider using preservatives that have been proven to be harmless. For example, you can look into Preservative Eco, Geogard 221/Cosgard, and Naticide/Plantaserv Q. These are natural preservatives that have been approved for use in organic products.

Still, storing anhydrous products in cosmetic glass jars with lids is very good option, and these products can be marketed as preservative-free. You can make them for personal use, and it will also be possible to sell them as well. Infinity Jars offers wholesale glass cosmetic jars at a discount, which means you can buy bulk without breaking the bank.

With an anhydrous natural skincare product in a UV glass jar or bottle, you won’t have to worry about using any kind of added preservatives. When you buy wholesale glass cosmetic jars from Infinity Jars, you save money; when you don’t have to use preservatives, you’ll save money as well. 

Making Safe Natural Skincare Products

While the FDA regulates cosmetics, you still have a lot of freedom when it comes to production. All the FDA needs to approve are color additives; all other ingredients don’t need approval before the products hit the market. This means, however, that it’s your responsibility to make sure that your products are safe to use. 

What does “safe” mean in this case? It basically means that the information on your product labels should be accurate. If you or anyone else uses your products according to the label, there should be no negative effects.

Does the FDA say anything about the use of preservatives? No. It’s true that the use of preservatives has become standard in many industries that deal in biodegradable products. However, when it comes to making your own skincare and cosmetic products, the use of preservatives certainly isn’t required.

Whether or not you use preservatives, make sure that you indicate the expiration date of your products on the label. Make sure to do this whether you’re making these products for personal use or to sell. Remember, all biodegradable products expire at some point, regardless of packaging.

Additionally, make sure that you sterilize the glass cosmetic jars you’ll be using to store your products in. Do this whether you’re making these products for personal use or for your business. Sterilizing the jars and containers eliminates contaminants and reduces the microbes that can speed up the product’s degradation.

Using UV Glass Jars

So are UV glass jars and bottles the right choice for you? If you don’t want to use preservatives in your products, they’re definitely your best bet. Furthermore, Infinity Jars offers a lot of options when it comes to size and volume. Thus, you can diversify your product offerings as well. You can make natural skincare products in travel-sized UV glass packaging as well as regular-, medium-, and large-sized packaging.

Deliveries also won’t be a problem. The glass of these jars and bottles are thick and durable, and they won’t be damaged, cracked, chipped, or shattered that easily. Thus, even if they go through a rough ride on the way to where they’re being delivered, they’ll make it out intact and none the worse for wear.

As a bonus, these jars and bottles are stylish and sleek to look at as well. The glass appears black and mostly opaque, and the jars and bottles can look good on shelves and displays. They’re also easy to label, so you won’t have trouble with branding and packaging.

Whether you’re buying wholesale glass cosmetic jars for your business, or simply buying one or two for personal use, they’re well worth the purchase. These UV glass cosmetic jars allow you to have preservative-free natural skincare products with long shelf lives, assuring you of effective and high-quality storage.

References

1. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/potential-contaminants-cosmetics/microbiological-safety-and-cosmetics
2. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/resources-industry-cosmetics/small-businesses-homemade-cosmetics-fact-sheet#1
3. https://cosmeticsinfo.org/preservative-information
4. http://solar-center.stanford.edu/about/uvlight.html
5. https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/preservatives/#safety-information
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