Herbal based cosmetic products have always been considered a good marketing strategy, in view of their delivery of cosmetic goodness. However, increased use of herbal ingredients in formulations poses a high threat of microbial contamination. Presence of plant material in products which by virtue of their nature have high water content forms an ideal breeding ground for microbes to thrive. Sometimes, even preservatives may not be sufficient to give good shelf life to these products. Interest in developing ‘Preservative – free’ or ‘Self – Preserving’ cosmetic formulations is rising. In self preserving products, the traditional preservatives are replaced by ‘Multifunctional’ cosmetic ingredients which apart from delivering their main functional property also exhibits antimicrobial property This paper explores the use of combination of multifunctional and other cosmetic ingredients in herbal based hair care preparations to deliver microbiologically safe product. Products which have been studied are herbal shampoo and henna based hair coloring paste.
