[Ingredients] Sodium Chloride in Shampoos

[pahbee]

Good afternoon LHC!

I'm using the Drink It Up Coconut Milk Hawaiian Shampoo & Conditioner from Alba Botanica. I really like this combo. I was previously using Nature's Gate (which I still like), but Alba's S&C are more hydrating and make my hair feel moisturized, which I love.

These are the ingredients for the shampoo:

Aqua (Water), Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Sodium Chloride, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil(1), Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice(1), Ananas Sativus (Pineapple) Fruit Extract(1), Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract(1), Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract(1), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Extract(1), Macrocystis Pyrifera Extract, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract(1), Babassu Oil Polyglyceryl-4 Esters, Citric Acid, Dimethicone, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Panthenol, Sodium PCA, Sodium Phytate, Sodium Sulfate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Alcohol(1), Benzyl Alcohol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, Fragrance (Parfum)


:hmm: Only I just noticed yesterday that Sodium Chloride (aka table salt) is the fifth ingredient. I googled this and one site said that sodium chloride is just used to thicken shampoos and is safe. Another said that it'd wash out in warm water anyway (I take cold showers). Others say that it's moisture stripping and damages the hair over time.
e.g. https://www.wen.ie/wen-ie-sodium-chloride-free-shampoo

Do you guys have any thoughts on it? :bunny:

[Nique1202]

I wouldn't be worried about it, personally. It's very common for salt to be used as a wave-inducing formula (like the waves people get after swimming in the ocean). I'd be more concerned with why there are so many oils and plant extracts in the shampoo, that looks like a recipe for buildup problems to me unless you have quite a dry scalp already.

[EDIT] Well, after hitting post it occurred to me that it's possible that they're there to try to counteract the drying factor of the salt. But, conditioner should be doing that anyway.

[lapushka]

I'd be more worried about the dimethicone in the shampoo. It's a silicone. If you're OK with that then no worries. But just thought you should know. :)

[Robi-Bird]

Salt is a cheap thickener and is often used for that purpose. That said I've never seen it that high on an ingredients list. I half to hope that's in error.

[pahbee]

Nope, I don't really mind cones. It's not an error though; I was surprised too! :eek:

[Robi-Bird]

I can't be certain but I would guess the salt and thus everything following it would be at 2% or less. More than 2% salt will kill most emusions. Since it's shampoo, not be super loaded down with oils isn't a bad thing since they cut foaming. The only thing that confuses me is the aloe vera. I'd expect more of it. But hey, what do I really know. If the shampoo is working for you, go for it!

[Frankenstein]

Most of the shampoos I've used contained sodium chloride in some amount and they don't tend to make my hair drier than anything else... except for one that contained sea salt. After regular use that one was pretty drying. That ingredients list looks pretty normal to me so I'd go ahead and keep using it. You can always stop if you notice it's causing any problems :)

[lapushka]

The only thing that ever caused problems for me and my scalp was straight up "alcohol". No soft derivative, no just straight up "alcohol" as an ingredient, as it stung my scalp (but I do have a problem with alcohol on my skin due to my condition). If that is no issue for you, then... all the better! Derivatives aren't such a problem but straight up, for me? Yikes. The shampoos by Weleda contain that and I had to gift them both to someone else.

[AutobotsAttack]

I think youll be just fine. The cocamidopropyl, tends to do a really good job of conditioning, without being as heavy as dimethicones.

[Arctic]

Salt is used on almost all the shampoos I have used, so I'd say it's common and safe.

[meteor]

Salt is safe and often used as a thickener, but it can certainly be drying, depending on the specific formulation.
For my hair (which tends toward dryness), I have to be careful with salt, seawater and avoid all products with salt high up on the ingredients list.
(Examples of products that, unfortunately, really dried out my hair badly and caused massive tangles: Lush Big Shampoo (coarse sea salt as first ingredient) (http://www.lush.ca/Big-Shampoo/02000,en_CA,pd.html) and John Frieda Luxurious Volume Touchably Full (sodium chloride as fifth ingredient) (http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod650016).)
I think salt can be a good ingredient for providing relief for scalps that tend towards SD, fungal issues and excessive oiliness, it's mildly antimicrobial and antifungal.

[clairenewcastle]

The fact that most shampoos these days contain sodium chloride in varying amounts has been a source of annoyance to me for a while for my hair is so dry I feel I shouldn't be putting anything potentially drying on it but heyho, salt in shampoo seems to be very common.