viable microorganisms were not recovered from 56.1% of the items tested and approximately 5.3% harbored less than 10^2 CFU g^-1.
Dominant bacterial isolates were Bacillus species, Pseudomonas spp., and coagulase-negative staphylococci.
Further testing of different batches of the brands that were found to be contaminated with >10^4 CFU g^-1 revealed that the problem was persistent in these products.
Preservative efficacy tests were carried out for the contamination-free bands using Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027.
This test demonstrated that 28.1% of the products tested were inadequately preserved.
It is concluded that poor microbiological quality of the preparations investigated can be attributed to either a problem inherent in the formulation of theses brands and/or poor manufacturing hygiene.
it is hoped that the implementation of good manufacturing practice in the Jordan's cosmetics industry will improve the microbiological quality of these products.