Sulphates – What’s the Fuss and What Are They?

Sulphates (sulfates), or sodium laureth sulphate, ammonium laurel sulphate and sodium lauryl sulphates are well known foaming agents or detergents used in loads of cosmetics products and industrial cleaners. 

When I say in loads of products, I’m not joking. Sulphates are in toothpaste, shampoos, washing up liquid, shower gels, cleansers, laundry detergents, bath salts, hair colours etc. Pretty much in everything that cleans, foams and washes.

The sulphates originate from coconuts so they can be both created from nature or in a lab. They are cheap to produce and do the job well.

But they can also cause irritation. The sulphates that come from coconuts are no less likely to cause irritation than the lab created ones, but the “green” or “natural” manufacturers will never say that their products contain sulphates, it will be called “natural detergents from coconuts” or something like that. I just thought I’d let you know in case you’re convinced you are using something sulphate free when in fact you might not be at all.

Now the major issue about sulphates are that some studies show that they are possibly linked to some cell mutations that lead to cancers. Other studies are inconclusive and claim that the concentration of detergents present is never high enough to cause any damage. Plus there’s also skin’s permeability. Most sulphates will not be absorbed through the skin or stratum corneum, but there is some danger that they can be absorbed via eyes and other mucous membranes. Now some say that there are the cumulative effects to take into consideration too. So the jury’s still out.

Where do I stand on sulphates? To be honest I’m a bit in the middle about it all.

To me if I can’t see the irritation, it’s probably ok.

Saying that I don’t leave cleansers on for longer than necessary. I don’t take long foamy baths, but I’m happy to take my make up off with foamy cleanser.

At the end of the day I like stuff to do the business it’s made to do. I don’t generally like brands or products that centre their marketing about things their products “don’t contain” or are “free from”. Seriously, I don’t care. Tell me please what is actually in your products that will do the job that it’s designed to do.

And write the ingredients in their latin name and state the source where it comes from. Then I’ll be very happy.

What are Parabens?

When writing about mineral make up the other day, I mentioned parabens. I know that most people have heard of them, but they don’t really know more than what we read in papers – “parabens are bad”, etc.

The thing is that every cream or foundation produced will need some sort of preservative, otherwise they will go off. Most cosmetic products (especially liquid based) have a shelf life of maybe three months, if refrigerated. In order to prolong the shelf life, cosmetic companies have to use preservatives. One of those is paraben and its varieties.

Parabens are esters of para-hydroxy benzoic acid. All of them are synthetically produced in the lab and they are quite cheap and effective, so they are added to products such as foundations, moisturisers, toothpaste, shampoo, self-tan, etc.

Some of them are present in nature, but for the sake of argument, we’ll look at them as man-made.

So why are parabens apparently bad for us?

I’ll start with allergic reactions. Although rare, they still happen to some people that they react to parabens.

Another, more controversial issue, is that parabens tend to slightly mimic estrogen in human body. Soy does that too, by the way.

Estrogen (oestrogen) is a female hormone that when produced in high concentrations can lead to breast cancer.

The fact is that the link between parabens and breast cancer was not proven. Mainly as the parabens are not staying in our bodies for long at all, they are very quickly metabolised and excreted. But the people will fear them anyway, so I’ll list them here in case you wish to avoid the products containing them.

Here they are: butylparaben, ethylparaben, heptylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben.

Less common parabens include isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, benzylparaben and their sodium salts.

 

So what are the alternatives to parabens?

I know that companies use phenoxyethanol, which on paper does not look that fabulous at all, but hey, it’s not paraben!

The “natural” alternatives are vitamin E, citric acid, grapefruit seed extract and rosemary oleoresin.

What do I think? Hmmm, I don't know what to say. I use products with parabens, I'm lucky that I'm not allergic to any of them, so if I happen to like the product and it contains parabens, I'll use it. 

I think that life is too short to worry constantly about what goes into or onto us. I just don't have the time to be obsessive about it really. And I think the stress is the biggest killer of them all.

Unless you get hit by a bus, then the bus is bigger, hands down!