Microbiological evaluation of various cosmetic products used for babies available in the market

Cosmetics are products with high risk of contamination with microorganisms due to their formulations and structural features. Due to their skin is more sensitive and immune systems' is weaker, products used for babies, are the group that needs the most attention among cosmetics. In this study, 63 cosmetic products belonging to nine different baby product groups sold in the market were obtained and controlled for potantial microbial contamination. In addition, we made the microbiological evaluations by investigating the preservatives used in these cosmetic products are effective or not. For this purpose, we used the microbiological limit test and challenge test techniques according to Unites States Pharmacopea (USP). It was determined that four of 63 products tahat we tested in this study, were contained more than allowed total bacteria, and one contained more than the total number of allowed fungi as contaminants. Also we determined that, one baby shampoo from cosmetics was contaminated with the yeast Candida parapsilosis, another shampoo and one toothpaste with Gram-negative bacteria named Photobacterium damselae and Enterobacter amnigenus, respectively, one powder and one sunscreen were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus. According to our challenge test results, we determined the preservatives in nine products we tested, were ineffective against a minimum one test microorganism. According to our results, we generally detected the microbial contamination above the allowed limits, in some local/little known branded and herbal/natural products, and similarly, the ineffective preservatives against at least one microorganism were also found in local/little known branded and herbal/natural products. We believe that our findings will help consumers, manufacturers and researchers for making their cosmetic choices, as being an impartial and accurate source of information, and as providing the guiding contributions about cosmetics for ongoing studies, respectively.