HEALTH
What Actually Is In Your
Shampoo Bottle?
Ever try scanning the
ingredient list on your
shampoo bottle? It looks
like English but the words
don’t resemble anything
you know or recognise. We
break down the different
chemicals most commonly
found in off-the-shelf
shampoos and tell you what
they all mean, with help
from TK Trichokare.
COMMON INGREDIENTS
Sodium Laureth Sulfate/ Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
A chemical derived from coconut oil, sodium laureth
sulfate or its cousin sodium lauryl sulfate gives you that
clean feeling due to the lather it creates. Of course, the two
sulfates also contain actual cleaning properties. There has
been some contention about whether the sulfate family is
actually carcinogenic and many conflicting evidence has
risen favouring both camps, but just to be on the safe side,
we recommend opting for shampoos that use glucose
(sodium lauryl glucose) instead of sulfate.
Coco-Betaine
This innocent-sounding chemical also comes from coconut
oil and acts as a foaming agent. Some shampoo bottles list
the full name – cocamidopropyl betaine –
and in its finished state, it causes no harm
to the body, so breathe or shampoo easy!
Amodimethicone
This tongue-twister is a siliconebased polymer used in shampoos and
conditioners to seal in the moisture in your
hair. Sounds good right? Not really,
according to beauty industry
chemist David Pollock, who
says that sealing the scalp can
actually lead to hair thinning.
No point looking good now if you will lose those lustrous
locks in the future!
PEG or Polyethylene Glycol
A common ingredient found not just in shampoos but other
personal care ingredients, PEGs are actually a class of
ethylene glycol polymers that accomplish three objectives:
moisturise, stabilise and enhance. These three letters
are also usually accompanied by a number to indicate the
ingredient’s absorbability – the lower the number, the easier
the compound is absorbed by your skin. Although PEG itself
is not extreme ǒ