Left Brain laments…
I read this shampoo post over at Salon and was outraged that a credible site like that would pass on such nonsense. I am a cosmetic chemist. I’m a scientist. I’ve formulated shampoos. And I can say that many of the things claimed in the article are just wrong. For example…
Shampoo Ingredients
Let’s ignore the blatantly false sub-headline calling shampoos virtual toxic dumps and move along to the initial claim. According to the author
“Of the 22 ingredients in this bottle of shampoo, three clean hair. The rest are in the bottle for the psychology of the person using it.”
Here is the list of ingredients taken right from a Pantene Shampoo bottle.
Water, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Chloride, Cocamide MEA, Glycol Distearate, Dimethicone, Fragrance, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Cetyl Alcohol, Polyquaternium-10, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate, Ammonium Xylenesulfonate, Disodium EDTA, PEG-7M, Citric Acid, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone
The first part of the claim is almost true. Really only 2 ingredients in the formula, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, clean your hair. Cocamide MEA might have some cleansing ability but that is not why it is in the formula. Ammonium Xylenesulfonate could also clean hair but it is not used at a high enough level.
The second part of the claim “The rest are in the bottle for the psychology of the person using it” is not true.
The preservatives (Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Sodium Benzoate) are put in to protect you from potential disease-causing microbes. These things can & do contaminate the detergents. If manufacturers didn’t have to use these ingredients, they wouldn’t. There is no benefit to the user’s psychology.
The ingredients added for formula adjustment are also not added for the user’s psychological benefit. Ingredients such as Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, and Sodium Citrate help to adjust the shampoo pH so it cleans properly, remains stable and free of microbial contamination.
The only ingredients put in purely for “psychological” reasons are the Fragrance, Panthenol, and Panthenyl Ethyl Ether. Not quite the 19 claimed by the author.
What do you need?
The next claim is that “One shampoo ingredient is all you need: detergent”. This is also not true. In reality, you don’t “need” to wash your hair at all. Plenty of people go through life without washing their hair and they are perfectly healthy.
But if you want your hair to look better than what nature will give you, you’ll need more than just detergents. True, detergents will remove the oil and dirt but they will also leave your hair tangled and dull. To get the hair style you want, you “need” the conditioning ingredients such as Dimethicone and Polyquaternium-10 too.
Does Shampoo Need to Be Thick?
The claims about why shampoos are thick is just silly. It is not true that “Thickness guarantees people use more than necessary”! A thick product gives you better control over how much you use. The detergents are naturally thin. Imagine how much you would waste if shampoo was water thin. Half the product would end up on your shower floor.
The thickeners are also added to the formula to help suspend the Dimethicone. Without those thickeners, this conditioning ingredient would separate out and not be effective.
And another thing, Cocamide MEA is not toxic!
Shampoo Fragrance
The author complains about fragrance in shampoos. Clearly, he hasn’t smelled the detergents in their natural state. Fragrance is important because the odor of surfactants is not pleasant. Would you really want your hair to smell like a melted crayon?
And complaints about fragrance safety are never supported by actual data. Sadly, this author relies on the public’s natural chemical ignorance and fear to create a sensational story.
Animal Ingredients
Few shampoos actually use animal derived ingredients any more. Not that there’s anything wrong with it as it seems a useful application of the waste from a slaughter house, but we can ignore that for the moment. No brand wants to be associated with animal products so most have stopped using animal derived ingredients.
Chemical Labeling
The author makes the claim that most shampoo ingredients have “several aliases and fake IDs” – This is BS. You can find the chemical listing of any ingredient in your shampoo listed in the INCI dictionary. While some smaller manufacturers mislabel their products, big companies like the ones who sell at Target and Walmart follow the industry rules.
Beauty Brains bottom line
Don’t worry about the ingredients in your shampoo. Despite what this author and other chemical fear mongers want you to believe, there is no evidence that using shampoo is going to cause you significant health problems.
Are you afraid of the ingredients in your shampoo? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know what you think.
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Why are you saying that panthenol is added only for “psychological” reasons?
I always thought that is a good conditioning agent..
I think (and correct me if I’m wrong Beauty Brains), there isn’t enough of it in shampoos to have a visible effect on the hair.
I love this post. Great breakdown.
@Cristine – Gab is right. And the other thing is that any effect panthenol has will be overwhelmed by the effect of the dimethicone & polyquaternium-10.
If they took the panthenol out of the formula, you wouldn’t notice any difference.
The only fear I have of my shampoo is when it gets in my eyes. Then I am afraid the neighbors will call the cops over my string of yelled expletives. :-p
Loved this article.
thank you all for telling me!
It’s just that I had read in previous posts that panthenol has the ability to penetrate hair’s cortex, or something, I thought it was importantn in a shampoo formula..
I cannot stand scare tactics! Thanks for the informative post.
I’ve gotten to the point where if someone wants to bang this drum and “clean” their hair with granola, vinegar, and birdshit, they can go right ahead for all I care. All it means is that mine looks better by comparison.
Besides, it’s Salon for pete’s sake. Ignore them. Their entire demographic is composed of wannabe organic yuppies with Sierra Club bumperstickers on the back of their 8mpg Hummers.
The world would be a better place if everyone was required to learn some basic scientific principles, or at least not to believe everything you read.
I’m a regular reader of Salon.com and I was horrified they let such misinformed scare tactics not only on their site, but as the lead article for the day. Please, please write a rebuttal – this author has done a grave disservice.
I read the piece with dismay–thanks for clearing it up– @Janis We Salon readers are not all #wannabe organic yuppies with Sierra Club bumperstickers on the back of their 8mpg Hummers.#
I drive a bumpersticker-less 50 mpg Prius.
Salon is many things–a marketplace of ideas. Some are wrong. Some are useful.
I note that the first ingredient on thelist (is there a gov’t regulation or standard convention that the order has to reflect the relative quantities?) is water. CLEARLY just for the psychology of the users: people get really impatient having to shave crumbs off a shampoo brick!
Allen Hazen: There’s a regulation of the ingredient listing order. The highest amount first down to one %. Under one % you can write how you want.
Credible site? I would pick a bone there. Salon Magazine is part of the larger problem, not part of a solution. They are only one tiny piece of a much greater problem of unresearched, unsubstantiated ‘opinion’ being served up as news and helpful reader/viewer information.
People consume sources like this for reasons other than getting facts, news and information. Did anyone else laugh at the obviousness of the article’s author injection of political opinion into a piece on shampoo?
I much prefer finding credible blogs (like Beauty Brains), with no axes to grind, to gather information and facts and make my own decisions.
Thanks BB.
thanks beautybrains! as a retailer of natural and organic products, the type of scare tactics we see a lot of these days drive business to sites like mine but even I am 100% against sensationalist opinion and unresearched, unproven “facts” I love to balance out my reading with straightforward blogs like yours.
LOVE the post! thanks guys!
Don’t rub just blot the wet hair with a towel and then smooth the towel along the length of your hair.
Great and informative piece (as always), I get into arguments with the ex hairdressers that I work with all the time and refer them here. Brainwashed in beauty school, who knew? But one thing I often wonder about, yes, I understand that fragrance is necessary, but do they have to be so strong and overbearing? I am very sensitive to fragrance and am unable to use about 90% of the hair products on the market because of it. Pantene works awesome on my hair but the smell is just too much! The fragrance in my hair products should not drown out my perfume! Yes, you can buy fragrance-free products however most of them just don’t make your hair look good at all and they are like double the price!
I was hoping I could ask you a rhetorical question about yourself, would that be ok? great post by the way its always nice to share.
I am very concerned about harmful ingredients in all my health and beauty products. Please give us more info.
First show me your chemical engeneer degree.
First, show me your ability to spell “engineer”.
As a soap and shampoo maker, thanks for this breakdown. I am tired of the “only natural is good” fallacy. And tired of the tirade against preservatives. There are pros and cons to their use, but they can be used safely and are often required for a safe product. Good article!
This post might be worth something if it had citations for every “rebuttal”. Give me a f’n break.
How about information about the biodegradable nature of these ingredients (since they don’t disappear once they go down our drains, they can actually end up back in our ground water.) And also what about animal testing of most of these shampoos, you mention no animal products, but isn’t the pain animals endure during the testing stage just as bad?
> Few shampoos actually use animal derived ingredients any more.
Does that mean that the Glycol Distearate is now usually vegetable derived ?
The point is that commercial shampoo is not needed at all. The whole “wash, rinse, repeat” daily practice is a big marketing scam. Washing your hair daily is not good for your scalp.
There are simple natural ways to wash your hair. The author of the Salon post is also an idiot for using dish detergent.
“The preservatives (Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Sodium Benzoate) are put in to protect you from potential disease-causing microbes.”
What microbes? I’ve never heard of disease causing microbes in soap.
Great post! I remember years ago I used a product that was concentrated and came in a spray bottle, just spray a few squirts on your head and that’s all you need. It was great and probably went off the market due to it’s own success. The bottle I had lasted for more than a year on my short hair.
People also wash their hair too much. I wash mine once a week and have eliminated the need for hair gel. I wash it to freshen it and eliminate the odor that hair is a magnet for. I RINSE my hair in the shower every day and only use shampoo once a week.
i thought it sounded suspicious when they basically said that companies added all those ingredients just to make you feel good. I always buy budget shampoo, and I doubt that they would add anything more than they need to. Their whole business model is “do things half assed.”
My girlfriend is scared to death of Anything Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate. She’s convinced she’ll get cancer or alzheimer’s or something. I’ve seen that other people have this concern; what’s the deal? I personally think she’s crazy for buying into so much non-scientific crap but I am interested in making sure I’m also scientific about saying “this stuff is perfectly safe.”
Lauryl/Laureth Sufates, as well as Parabens, tend to cause itchiness and redness for people with Dermatitis. If it’s bad for people with sensitive skin, she may have a point as it may be harsh for people with normal skin as well (but only noticeable with much more uses).
You deserve to get raped for spreading this fake ass bullshit. Your lies will come to bite you in the ass one day.
Cool! What kind of microbes survive in detergent? We use detergent to stress or kill ours. . .
Scientists say that some of the chemicals found in commonly used health and beauty products can, in sufficient quantity, cause cancer, birth defects or disrupt hormone function. Ingredients called dibutyl phthalates — a chemical used to soften plastics and found in nail polish and countless other consumer items — have been linked to development problems in the male genitals of humans and rats.
I’m glad to know that shampoo is not harmful for our bodies or constructed of useless chemicals. However, the author of the first article did mention that they have a negative impact on the environment. I’m guessing that they remain in the environment for a very long time and which might lead to bioaccumulation and adverse effects. Are there key compounds that should be avoided for the sake of the environment? Is there any truth to the alarming article? Thanks
Dimethicone is crap, hair does not require organosilicon compounds.
It’s not crap, but you’re right. Hair does not require organosilicon compounds. They just make hair more manageable, and look and feel better. But they are certainly not required.
Most scientists who study the subject (Toxicologists) do not see exposure to chemicals (even dibutyl phthalates) in the levels that are found in cosmetics as problematic for people. See Scientists and Toxicity.
In the absence of other evidence, I’m inclined to believe the majority of scientists who actually study the question.
@james king- So nice to know there are people like you in the world.
You’re correct that sulfates can cause itchiness on some people. I’m not aware of any study demonstrating that Parabens do this.
@Jeff – People will believe what they want to believe. The real information is out there if you care to look. (Start with Snopes.com) There is no evidence that Sulfates will do any of those things.
But good luck convincing your girlfriend. She hasn’t come to this conclusion based on rational thought so that will be difficult to over come.
@alfred – not “half assed”. They make products that are inexpensive. The lowest priced shampoos are actually quite good (although a little harsh). Their is nothing inherently better about the way more expensive shampoos are made.
@Alex – somehow, I suspect that wouldn’t have helped change your mind.
I love this. It’s like mythbusters for girls.
…Not that girls can’t watch mythbusters.
I love this post too! I also love the comment listed above mine!…it is sooo like mythbusters for girls (mythbusters ROCKS!). Thanks for the great information. Now I can laugh at the anti-chemical peeps that don’t know what they’re talking about…and aren’t most chemicals found in nature anyway…like H2O for instance?
Why should we believe what we read here, if not anywhere? I rarely see anyone here citing any actual proof one way or the other. What is fact is that the FDA barely regulates the cosmetics industry –
The FDA’s own Web site explains its limitations:
“FDA’s legal authority over cosmetics is different from other products regulated by the agency …. Cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to FDA premarket approval authority, with the exception of color additives.”
Believing blindly what is written here is just as bad as believing blindly what is written elsewhere.
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