How much SLS is there in a shampoo?

[Upside Down]

I am quite curious because I bouth this all natural shampoo that turned out to have SLS :o

It says it has "only" 16% of soap base (SLS and Cocamidopropyl Betain) - so I am wondering how much SLS is there in other shampoos?

Maybe I am not doing it wright, but I am not finding anything on the net.

Maybe someone came across this information?

Thanks!

[Milui Elenath]

Different shampoos would contain different amounts of sls. Is that what you meant?

If you are interested in shampoos without SLS there are some shampoos out there that don't contain any.

Also If a product explicity states that it doesn't have any SLS then it should not, that doesn't mean however that it will be natural just that it doesn't contain any sodium lauryl sulfate derrivatives. In the Very Important Threads there is a list of sulphate free shampoos
here is the link
http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=34009

[mira-chan]

I am quite curious because I bouth this all natural shampoo that turned out to have SLS :o

It says it has "only" 16% of soap base (SLS and Cocamidopropyl Betain) - so I am wondering how much SLS is there in other shampoos?

Maybe I am not doing it wright, but I am not finding anything on the net.

Maybe someone came across this information?

Thanks!
16%? :bigeyes:

I don't know how much they put in shampoo exactly. I sincerely hope no more than 1% of that is SLS. We use it that that percent to sterilize things. Higher percentages are for denaturing proteins (breaking proteins to their basic structure, permanent damage.)

I'm not sure about Coco betaine as it is a bit gentler. The 16% still looks a bit scary too me.

[Upside Down]

Different shampoos would contain different amounts of sls. Is that what you meant?

If you are interested in shampoos without SLS there are some shampoos out there that don't contain any.

Also If a product explicity states that it doesn't have any SLS then it should not, that doesn't mean however that it will be natural just that it doesn't contain any sodium lauryl sulfate derrivatives. In the Very Important Threads there is a list of sulphate free shampoos
here is the link
http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=34009

I know, but regularly I wash my hair with eggs :) I just needed shampoo to wash out heavy castor oil pre-oilings, and before I henna.
I am not scared of SLS on a once-in-a-while basis. Mostly, I am just being curious.
And, also, it annoys me that they do not put SLS in their ingredients list, but instead they say the shampoo contains "natural soap base", and you can only get the information about the soap base on their web site. (in fact, I was looking for their contact phone number to ask them what is in the soap base when I stumbled upon it).


16%? :bigeyes:

I don't know how much they put in shampoo exactly. I sincerely hope no more than 1% of that is SLS. We use it that that percent to sterilize things. Higher percentages are for denaturing proteins (breaking proteins to their basic structure, permanent damage.)

I'm not sure about Coco betaine as it is a bit gentler. The 16% still looks a bit scary too me.

It does sound like a lot, but then I have no idea how much is normal to compare a lot to. I know SLS as a denaturing agent, as in my line of work i get in touch with it.
Still, this shampoo foams MUCH less than for example Pantene or Nivea shampoos. Isn't that even scarier? :eek:

[teela1978]

Is it a 'true soap' shampoo? A true soap would have many saponified fats, most likely including some SLS...

[Ursula]

As others have said, it depends on the shampoo. Different shampoos have different formulas. Some have no sulfate detergents, others have sulfate detergents other than SLS.

In pretty much every shampoo, the first ingredient is "water." When the product you have says it has a "soap base" that may well be a pre-mixed formula they use, which itself may contain water.

In the US, at least, the products have to list ingredients, in order by weight, but they don't have to give the exact proportions used. Given that a product like the Queen Helen Mint Julip shampoo concentrate can be diluted 20:1 with water and still work, I assume that most commercial shampoos are mostly water, with various stuff added to make it thick.

[Upside Down]

Thanks, Ursula, that is a good point, they might be diluting it already.
I didn't even think of that :)


Is it a 'true soap' shampoo? A true soap would have many saponified fats, most likely including some SLS...


I really do not know what a "true soap" shampoo is, it is a local producer, and it states that it's 73% organic and 100% natural. They list the ingredients in percentage, and say there is 16% of natural soap base.

[SimplyViki]

16% of soap base (SLS and Cocamidopropyl Betain)

Is it written exactly that way on the ingredients? Because to my knowledge, neither SLS nor Cocamidopropyl Betain are soap. Here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocamidopropyl_betaine) the Wiki page on Cocamidopropyl Betaine. I'm not sure if I'm interpreting it correctly, but it doesn't look like soap to me. Maybe the 16% was referring to a different ingredient?

[morguebabe]

I used to be a formulation chemist... and I was making a stock shampoo/body wash for men...the surfactant Vevetex BK35 was in the formula at 15.00% and water was in the formula at 65.9250%
This same formula also had 8% of texapon asv 50, AND 8 % plantaren 1200n

But you didn't hear this from me.

Cocamidapropyl betadine
and velvetex are surfactants...meaning they soap.

[Flynn]

16%? :bigeyes:


of the "soap base", which could end up working out to be an awful lot less than 1% overall. Most of your shampoo is carrier, not detergent.

[Flynn]

Is it written exactly that way on the ingredients? Because to my knowledge, neither SLS nor Cocamidopropyl Betain are soap. Here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocamidopropyl_betaine) the Wiki page on Cocamidopropyl Betaine. I'm not sure if I'm interpreting it correctly, but it doesn't look like soap to me. Maybe the 16% was referring to a different ingredient?
They're probably using a very loose "layperson" definition of soap. If you knew no better, would the idea of "soap" in your shampoo or "detergent" in your shampoo make you more uncomfortable?

I agree with you; as far as I understand it, neither of them are "soap".

[morguebabe]

In the US, at least, the products have to list ingredients, in order by weight, but they don't have to give the exact proportions used. Given that a product like the Queen Helen Mint Julip shampoo concentrate can be diluted 20:1 with water and still work, I assume that most commercial shampoos are mostly water, with various stuff added to make it thick.
Not entirely true. I know one or two companies, that put things in tiny amounts in the water phase, and were able to list them right after water, because they were IN the water next in the process of making it... like it was dissolved in it... shrugs.

[Upside Down]

Is it written exactly that way on the ingredients? Because to my knowledge, neither SLS nor Cocamidopropyl Betain are soap. Here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocamidopropyl_betaine) the Wiki page on Cocamidopropyl Betaine. I'm not sure if I'm interpreting it correctly, but it doesn't look like soap to me. Maybe the 16% was referring to a different ingredient?

Yes, that is exactly how they list the ingredients :)


I used to be a formulation chemist... and I was making a stock shampoo/body wash for men...the surfactant Vevetex BK35 was in the formula at 15.00% and water was in the formula at 65.9250%
This same formula also had 8% of texapon asv 50, AND 8 % plantaren 1200n

But you didn't hear this from me.

Cocamidapropyl betadine
and velvetex are surfactants...meaning they soap.

Whoooa, that is a lot.

I guess there is no definite answer to my question, but I did get some feeling about how much detergents there are in shampoos, so thank you all for the help! :cheese: