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Is tea dodecylbenzene sulfonate drying to hair and scalp? Paula Begoun claims that any shampoo with this cleansing agent should be avoided since it will cause dryness and irritation to the scalp and dryness and damage to hair. What do you think?
The detergency and irritation potential of pure linear alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS) indeed is rather similar to pure alkyl sulfates (like sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)).
Highly irritant anionic surfactants like sulfates and sulfonates are generally combined with other surfactants and another ingredients (proteins/ polymers etc) to mitigate them considerably.
Thus, it is important to know the concentration levels of LAS and how the overall product is formulated to predict the detergency and actual irritation potential of the overall formulation.Thank you! The formula that I’m referring to has fatty alcohols, silicones, polyquaternium ammonium compounds, and other emollients so it definitely mitigates how harsh it may be. It’s at the end of the ingredient list as well.
There is never a simple answer like “avoid this ingredient because it causes dryness”. You do not buy ingredients, you buy formulas. A suitably trained cosmetic chemist can take almost any ingredient and formulate with it in a way that mitigates the negatives aspects while enhancing the positive aspects.
The ingredients you describe could certainly be used to offset the irritation potential of the LAS
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