Mark must know…I am trying to determine if Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo contains Polyquaternium-10. Would you be able to answer this question?
The Right Brain responds:
In case you didn’t know, the ingredient that Mark is looking for is a conditioning agent that is frequently used in shampoos because it is compatible with the surfactants used in those formulas to clean hair. We checked the ingredient list for Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo from DrugStore.Com and here’s what we found:
Water (aqua), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Ammonium Chloride, PEG 5 Cocamide, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Fragrance, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Dimethicone Copolyol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Tocopheryl Acetate Vitamin E, Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090) (CI 42090), Red 33 (CI 17200), Violet 2 (CI 60730)
As you can see, there’s no Polyquaternium-10 to be found. This was an easy question for us to answer because we do this all the time. But we take for granted that everyone understand how to track down the ingredient list for a given product. So now we answer the question “where can I find ingredient lists for beauty products?”
Shopping sites
You can find ingredient lists for most products on some of the major shopping sites. Drugstore.com is very good and Ulta’s not bad. Amazon.com is pretty weak. We rarely find ingredient lists provided there.
Company specific sites
For products that aren’t sold through major online channels, we always try the company’s website. The problem with that is two-fold: for the really big companies, their websites maybe overly crowded and it may take you a while to navigate to the specific product you’re looking for. On the other hand, the websites for smaller companies often do not even provide an ingredient list.
When in doubt, Google
As a final option you can Google the name of the product followed by ingredients in quotes. If you’re lucky you’ll get to a reputable blog or other web-source that shows the ingredients for the product of interest. If you’re really lucky you’ll find a blog or otther website that has a graphic image of the back of the package showing the LOI. But more often than that, you’ll find a blogger who retypes the list of ingredients. This is fine as long as the person inputting the data takes the time to carefully check the spelling of the chemicals, but often typographical errors will creep in with this kind of transcritpin and you’re left wondering exactly which chemcials are used in the product.
For more details on ingredient lists, check out this excellent post on Chemists Corner.
Do you have any other tricks for tracking down ingredient lists? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
you can also try this collector’s website:
http://www.cosmetic-ingredients.net/index.php
Is the assumption that Suave omitted it from the label?
No. It’s safe to assume that there isn’t any Polyquaternium in the formula.
I tend to beware (and raise a big red flag) when I find products that do not list their ingredients on the website. Or, they list certain ingredients as “proprietary”. Or, they use a name that is NOT a true INCI name, such as a trademark name or completely fabricated name for ingredients.
Do polyquats build up on hair? I notice most shampoos have this ingredient and heard it builds up worse than silicones. Can I still get clean hair with shampoos that have it, or should I search for alternative cleansing agents? I know most salon shampoos contain higher concentrations of conditioners but I’m not into that. I just want clean, clean hair every time I wash. Thanks!