Can someone with a good knowledge of chemistry explain this to me?
This is a product I found in my house:
Now, according to the back of the bottle, it contains “No Sodium Lauryl Sulphate”, which, as the product is marketed as a “natural body wash” made with “100% pure oils and certified organic herbs”, I’m assuming the manufacturers don’t like very much as a chemical.
However, it DOES contain this “Sodium Salt of Sulphonated Laureth2″ – a fancy way of saying Sodium Laureth Sulphate, a close chemical relative to the (supposedly) dreaded Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. But what’s the main differences between the two? Aren’t they practically exactly the same in terms of chemical and dermatological effect?
All the surface information I could find online (that wasn’t from woo-filled websites like this one) doesn’t put one as more dangerous than the other in terms of irritation ability and allergen status… Weird.
Are there any chemists that could shed some light on this situation? Or is this product just being misleading, capitalising on the public’s fear of one chemical, while replacing it with another that is practically the same? I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the latter.
