A closer look at shampoo ingredients: how unhealthy is shampoo?

It's all about natural shampoos nowadays, without parabenes, silicones or even sulfates. Brands are coming out with "sulfate free" shampoos. Why is this so popular all of a sudden?

Well, shampoos and conditioners contain a lot of ingredients that cause hair problems. Unknowingly, our generation washes their hair multiple times a week using sulfates and benzoate, might be shedding hair, losing hairline, have hair breakage and loss of shine and growth all due to overusing these bad ingredients.

Let's have a closer look at some common shampoos at the stores nowadays. Both "natural" and drugstore shampoos. Different brands, but also different promises from the same brand. Then, let's find out which one are the harmful ingredients. What are the good ingredients? Which ones are useless? How many do they have in common? And finally: which shampoo is the best?

I've counted the amount of ingredients in each of these shampoos, sorted them by amount and made a list of the ingredients since you can't find it online. Note that the top ingredients are what the product is made out of the most.

Neutral Shampoo

12 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Sodium Laureth Sulfate 3. Cocamidopropyl Betaine 4. Sodium Chloride 5. Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate 6. Citric Acid 7. Behenoyl PG-trimonium Chloride 8. Hexylene Glycol 9. Propylene Glycol 10. Sodium Benzoate 12. Sorbic Acid

L'Oreal Elseve Conditioner

16 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Cetearyl alcohol 3. Dipalmitoylethyl hydroxyethylmonium methosulfate (huh?) 4. Quaternium-80 5. Glyceryl Stereate 6. CI 47005 acid yellow 3 7. CI 14700 red 4 8. Simmondsia chinensis: jojoba seed oil 9. Limonene 10. Linanool 11. Propylene glycol 12. Cetrimonium chloride 13. Citric acid 14. Hexyl cinnamal 15. Glycerin 16. Parfum: fragrance

Nivea Baby Shampoo

17 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Decyl Glucoside 3. Sodium Myreth Sulfate 4. PEG-200 hydrogenated glyceryl palmate 5. PEG-80 sorbitan laurate 6. PEG-5 Laurylcitrate Sulfocuccinate 7. Polyquatemium-10 8. Chamomilla Recutta Flower Extract 9. Tilia cordata extract 10. Bisabolol 11. Laureth-2 12. Citric Acid 13. Glycerin 14. Sodium Laureth Sulfate 15. PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil 16. Sodium Benzoate 17. Parfum

Plantapol "natural shampoo"

17 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. TEA-lauryl sulfate 3. Cocamide DEA 4. Sodium chloride 5. Cocamidopropyl betaine 6. Lanolin 7. Triticum vulgare 8. Fucas vesiculosus 9. Spirulina maxima 10. Arginine 11. Dimethicone copolyl 12. Polyquaternium 7 13. Parfum 14. Curcuma longa 15. Citric acid 16. Methylchloroisothiazolinone 17. Methylisothiazolinone

Guhl Anti Dandruff Rosemary

21 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Sodium laureth sulfate 3. Cocamidopropyl betaine 4. Coco-glucoside 5. Cocamide MEA 6. Rosmarinus officinalis leaf extract 7. Piroctone olamine 8. Polyquaternium-10 9. Ethylexyl methoxyccinamate 10. Benzophenone-4 11. Malic acid 12. Benzyl alcohol 13. Disodium ETDA 14. Sodium chloride 15. PPG-9 16. DMDM hydantoin 17. Methylparaben 18. Propylparaben 19. Parfum 20. CI 47005 21. CI 61585

Lavera Rose Milk Repair

25 ingredients

1. Aqua 2.Sodium coco sulfate 3.Lauryl glucoside 4.Cocamidopropyl besqualane 5.Lauroyl sarcosine 6.Coco glucoside 7.Glycerin 8.Rosa damascena flower water 9.Simmondisia chinensis (jojoba seed oil) 10.Madademia ternifolia oil 11.Persea gratissima (avocado oil) 12.Panthenol 13.Panthenyl ethyl ether 14.Hydrolized wheat protein 15.Biotin 16.Hydroxypropyl guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride 17.Hydrogenated lecithin 18.Glycol distearate 19.Alcohol 20.Fragrance 21.Linalool 22.Limonene 24. Gerianol 25. Citronnellol

Pantene Fine Hair Shine and Strength

25 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Cetyl alcohol 3. Stearamidopropyl dimethylamine 4. Stearyl alcohol 5. Quaternium-18 6. Bis-aminopropyl dimethicone 7. Benzyl alcohol 8. Cetearyl alcohol 9. Parfum 10. Hydroxypropyl guar 11. Gleyl alcohol 12. Glyceryl stereate 13. Citric acid 14. Polysorbate 60 15. EDTA 16. Panthenol 17. Panthenyl ethyl ether 18. Butylphenyl methylpropional 19. Lianool 20. Hexyl cinnamel 21. Limonene 22. Magnesium nitrate 23. Methylchloroisothiazolinone 24. Magnesium chloride 25. Methylisothiazolinone

Garnier Citrus Detox

25 ingredients

1.aqua 2.sodium laureth sulfate 3.sodium lauryl sulfate 4.cocamide mea 5.glycerin 6.sodium chloride 7.niacinamide 8.saccharum officinarum extract (sugar cane) 9.sodium benzoate 10.sodium hydroxide 11.salicylic acid 12.polyquaternium-10 13.salix nigra bark extract (willow) 14.camellia sinensis leaf extract 15.linalool 16.benzyl alcohol 17.benzyl salycylate 18.pyrus malus extract 19.piroctone olamine 20.pyridoxine HCI 21.citrus acid 22.citrus medica limonium peel extract 23.hxylene glycol 24.hexyl cinnamal 25.parfum

Guhl pure shine pearl and moringa

30 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Sodium laureth sulfate 3. Coco-Glucoside 4. Cocamidopropyl betaine 5. Glycol distearate 6. Cocamide MEA 7. Cetyl alcohol 8. Dimethicone 9. Polyquaternium-10 10. Moringa pterygosperma seed extract 11. Mother of pearl extract 12. Glycerin 13. Mans sal 14. Panthenol 15. Laureth-33 16. Laureth-3 17. Glycone 18. Malic acid 19. Disodium EDTA 20. Ethylexyl methoxyccinamate 21. Benzophenone-4 22. Benzyl alcohol 23. Methylparaben 24. Propylparaben 25. DMDM hydantoin 26. Sodium chloride 27. PPG-9 28. Parfum 29. CI 45100 30. CI 61585

Guhl Rich nurture Almond oil BREAKING/DAMAGED

29 ingredients

1. Aqua 2. Sodium laureth sulfate 3. Coco-Glucoside 4. Cocamidopropyl betaine 5. Glycol distearate 6. Cocamide MEA 7. Cetyl alcohol 8. Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil 9. Hydrated Wheat Protein 10. Dimethicone 11. Benzyl alcohol 12. Malic acid 13. Panthenol 14. Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride 15. Disodium EDTA 16. Glycine 17. Laureth-4 18. Laureth-23 19. PPG-9 20. Sodium Hydroxide 21. Sodium chloride 22. Benzophenone-4 23. Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate 24. DMDM hydantoin 25. Methylparaben 26. Propylparaben 27. Parfum 28. CI 47005 29. CI 45100

Hair Wonder Gloss Shampoo Brown Hair SHINE/COLOUR PROTECTION/STRENGTH/REPAIR

32 ingredients!

1. Aqua 2. Sodium laureth sulfate 3. cocamidopropyl betaine 4. sodium chloride 5. laureth-2 6. Glyceryl oleate 7. Coco-glucoside 8. Caramel 9. Glycol distearate 10. Sodium benzoate 11. PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil 12. Cocamide MEA 13. Parfum 14. Citric acid 15. Polyamide-2 16. Polyquaternium-7 17. Panthenol 18. Glycerin 19. Laureth-10 20. Hydrolized soy protein 21. Hydrolized wheat protein 22. Hydrolized corn protein 23. CI 14700 24. CI 60730/EXT, 25. Violet 2 26. Melissa officinalis 27. Chamomilla recutita 28. Camellia sinensis 29. Rosmarinus officinalis extract 30. Cassia angustifolia extract 31. Aspalathus linearis leaf extract 32. CI 42090 blue 1

Let's discuss the ingredients:

Sodium lauryl sulfate

A report published in the Journal of The American College of Toxicology in 1983 showed that concentrations as low as 0.5% could cause irritation and concentrations of 10-30% caused skin corrosion and severe irritation

Sodium laureth sulfate

Unfortunately, both sodium laureth sulfate and its cousin are also very dangerous, highly irritating chemicals. Far from giving "healthy shining hair" and "beautiful skin", soaps and shampoos containing sodium laureth sulfate can lead to direct damage to the hair follicle, skin damage, permanent eye damage in children and even liver toxicity.

Ammonium lauryl sulfate

Classified as toxic, yet classified as safe for cosmetics...

Ammonium laureth sulfate

Not found in any of these shampoos. Ammonium Laureth Sulfate can cause eye and skin irritation.

Ammonium xylene sulfonate

Not found in any of these shampoos. Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful

TEA Lauryl Sulfate

The CIR Expert Panel evaluated the scientific data and concluded that TEA-Lauryl Sulfate was safe for use if the concentrations were limited. High concentrations of TEA-Lauryl Sulfate may cause irritation, especially if allowed to remain in contact with the skin for significant periods of time.

Sodium chloride

Sodium choride is commonly used in shampoos to thicken them. It should not harm your hair.

Sodium benzoate

Avoid cosmetics, creams and lotions that contain sodium benzoate if you leave them on your skin. The real sodium benzoate dangers come from the unknown. What are the long term effects? That’s a giant question that no one can presently answer. How much mitochondrial DNA damage is caused by sodium benzoate? That is another unknown.

Linalool

Linalool is generally safe. However, people with eczema have a 5-7% chance of having an adverse reaction if they come in contact with Linalool. The Linalool reacts with oxygen and exposure can cause an eczema flare up.

Polyquaternium

Polyquaternium 7 is an anti-static agent and film former. The Cosmetics Database rates Polyquaternium 7 as a low hazard ingredient, although it does not a concern about the contamination of this ingredient by the impurity Acrylamide.

Cocamidpropyl Betaine

Very midly irritating.

Cetyl alcohol

People who suffer from eczema can be sensitive to cetyl alcohol.

Conclusion

It's amazing how much shampoos can very in the amount of ingredients. The shampoos I'm submitting vary from 12 to 32 ingredients. Naturally, the less ingredients a shampoo bottle contains, the less bad ingredients you can buy (but also less good ones). Looks like the "Neutral Shampoo" is actually the most neutral one of all. Unfortunately it does contain sodium laureth sulfate (one of the most damaging ingredients) and sodium benzoate.