"Using colloidal silver as a natural preservative?" Yep, you've got that right!
Because a lot of beauty products contain artificial preservatives and other endocrine disruptors, I really struggled to find products I was comfortable using for myself and for my family when starting my health journey. Looking back now, I'm grateful for the struggle because it inspired me to create my own line of paraben-free, phthalate-free, artificial preservative-free, and artificial ingredient-free health and beauty products. Which brings me to silver!
Just Ingredients' Hyaluronic Acid and Body Lotion both use silver as a natural preservative to protect against microbial contamination and help ensure shelf-life. Because there's a lot of myths surrounding colloidal silver, I want to clear up some misconceptions. So, below, I'm answering your questions about using colloidal silver as a natural preservative. Let's get started!
What is colloidal silver?
What are the benefits of colloidal silver?
What makes colloidal silver so effective?
What about heavy metals?
Why don’t we see silver used in more beauty products?
What else do I need to know about silver?
What is colloidal silver?
Colloidal silver is a mineral that can be used as a natural preservative in beauty products to help ensure shelf-life and product efficacy.
Colloidal silver specifically has a coating on it that keeps the silver working longer when applied to the skin. The coating prevents the silver from attaching to different cells that can metabolize it before it's able to help the skin. With the coating, the colloidal silver is able to do its job before it is filtered out of the body after about 72 hours. So, not only is colloidal silver helping to preserve our products, it's also helping the body. Win, win!
Despite this though, there's a few controversial opinions out there surrounding silver, so it's important to us that we clear the air. First and foremost, ingesting silver in super high concentrations is harmful. Often times, these are the instances that have caused silver to get a bad reputation. But in super small doses (our colloidal silver spray is 10 parts per million - that's all you need), silver is a safe and effective way to preserve products and help treat the body.
What are the benefits of colloidal silver?
Silver is a fast-acting ingredient that can start to help treat your skin within just a few hours of application. Aside from being a natural preservative, it also has anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties, which means it can help acne and other kinds of skin blemishes and infections. Because of its ability to kill pathogens, silver is currently used in hospitals to help fight and prevent infections, specifically for burns or during surgical procedures. So, to recap, silver's benefits are:
- Helps skin faster
- Anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties to help fight and prevent infection
- Can help acne
- Functions as a natural preservative in beauty products
What makes colloidal silver so effective?
Unlike antibiotics that only have one method of targeting bacteria, colloidal silver has more than one tool in its tool kit. So, while bacteria mutates and antibiotics become less effective as our bodies build a tolerance to them, that’s not the case with colloidal silver. Meaning, over time, its effectiveness doesn't decrease because it can target bacteria multiple ways.
What about heavy metals?
You might be thinking, "Since silver is a metal, shouldn't I be avoiding it?". Short answer is no! Long answer is that just like plenty of other ingredients, silver needs to be used in small doses to help ensure safety. Since we use such a tiny amount of colloidal silver in our products, you get all of the healing benefits with none of the concerns you might associate with heavy metals. Your body will automatically filter out the colloidal silver within 72 hours of application.
Why don’t we see silver used in more beauty products?
In the earlier days of silver use, it was branded as a "scary" or "bad" thing despite being widely-used in the medical field. At that time, all of the negative press could be attributed to improper use, a.k.a people ingesting harmful amounts with no regulation. Now, with more research and a better understanding of its properties, more and more companies are using it in their products. Just Ingredients is so excited to be one of the trailblazers in this movement towards better health!
What else do I need to know about silver?
Something to note when buying products with silver in it - always look for “parts per million” or "ppm" on the label. If a company isn’t disclosing their silver ppm ratio, there’s probably a reason why. You’ll always find silver’s parts per million on our labels!
