an amount of from about 2 to about 10 by weight of the composition although not essential at least one preservative in any effective amount is useful in preferred personal cleansing compositions of the invention the term u201c preservative u201d as used herein includes preservative aids such as chelating agents examples of suitable preservatives and or preservative aids include for example disodium edta trisodium edta tetrasodium edta dmdm hydantoin and combinations thereof as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art dmdm hydantoin is understood worldwide pursuant to the nomenclature for cosmetic products set forth in the international cosmetic ingredient directory and handbook the chemical name for dmdm hydantoin is 1 3 dimethylol 5 5 dimethyl hydantoin which is commercially available from lonza inc of fairlawn n j under the trade name u201c glydant u201d preferably the preservative is provided in an amount of from about 0 001 to about 1 75 by weight of the composition more preferably in an amount of from about 0 05 to about 0 4 by weight of the composition and even more preferably in an amount of from about 0 1 to about 0 4 by weight of the composition the preservative included in the composition of the present invention preferably includes both a primary preservative e g dmdm hydantoin in conjunction with a chelating agent e g tetrasodium edta trisodium edta disodium edta or combinations thereof the chelating agent not only helps to potentiate the efficiency of the primary preservative it may also bind to metal ions that might be present in water used by a consumer inclusion of a chelating agent thus enhances the soaping surfactant abilities of the cleansing agents present in the composition in some embodiments.