Shampoo Ingredient Science
O.k. I’ve always looked at personal health care products (soaps, shampoos, cremes, cosmetics, etc) with a jaundiced eye. Often it industry comes across as unregulated and they make unverified claims of efficacy.
From a Reddit , there was a link to a really good site describing the action of the ingredients in a typical shampoo:
- Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
- The detergents that clean your hair
- Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Sodium Benzoate
- Preservatives to stop the shampoo from becoming contaminated! Ew!
- Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, and Sodium Citrate
- PH balance to help cleaning and stability
- Dimethicone and Polyquaternium-10
- Conditioners to restore shine and reduce tangles due to the cleaning process.
- Thickeners
- Here the article is a little vague. Indirectly, the author suggests that Cocamide MEA is a thickener. Thickeners are required to give a little resistance to the shampoo so that it doesn’t wash away immediately.
The author does admit that some of the ingredients are only for “psychological” reasons: Fragrance, Panthenol, and Panthenyl Ethyl Ether. The author does argue that the fragrances are important, as an unmodified shampoo would have the smell of melted crayon!
Great article!
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