Surfactants — Heroes and villains of a skincare routine Part 2: Guide to the most common surfactants in cosmetic products

3 min readAug 18, 2017

In the Part 1 of the surfactant series, we have focused on explaining what surfactants are and how they work. Now it’s a time to take a closer look at most often used surfactants in cosmetic products and their good or bad properties for your skin. The surfactants presented here are categorized into four groups based on their electric charge which as mentioned the first post, has a tremendous impact on their properties.

Presented here guide focuses on most common surfactants on the market, used in cosmetic formulations. I hope this will give you a useful guidance before next shopping trip or help you link skin problems you’ve been experiencing on a regular basis. Let’s dive in:

Anionic Surfactants

Negatively charged. Common on the market due to low cost and effort of production. They are very reactive with other ingredients.

Cationic Surfactants

Negatively charged. Common on the market due to low cost and effort of production. They are very reactive with other ingredients.

Amphoteric Surfactants

Both negatively and positively charged. They are often used as secondary surfactants and have gentle or even soothing properties. They can change their properties depending on the PH level. In a low PH/acidic environment, they become great skin nourishing agents. In high PH/ alkaline products the bump up the foaming process.

Nonionic Surfactants

Negatively charged. Common on the market due to low cost and effort of production. They are very reactive with other ingredients.

I hope you find this guide useful. My biggest surprise so far when using it during shopping?It’s tough to find a natural conditioner which is not saturated with surfactants which could be potentially harmful, even if the label suggests otherwise. In the next article — part 3 of Surfactants series we will better show better Micellar Cleansers as an example of the most beneficial use of surfactants for the skin.

References:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/queen-of-green/faqs/toxics/whats-the-difference-between-sodium-lauryl-sulfate-sls-and-sodium-laureth-sulfat/ Date Accessed, August 14th, 2017

https://smartklean.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/top-10-reasons-to-avoid-sodium-lauryl-sulfate/ Date Accessed, August 14th, 2017

http://thebeautybrains.com/2008/05/are-natural-cleansers-better-for-your-hair/ Date Accessed, August 14th, 2017

https://blog.honest.com/sodium-lauroyl-sarcosinate/# Date Accessed, August 14th, 2017

https://www.bewell.com/blog/sodium-lauryl-sulfate-from-coconut-is-it-safer/ Date Accessed, August 16th, 2017

http://www.cosdna.com/eng/3b4f181588.html Date Accessed, August 14th, 2017

https://www.truthinaging.com/ingredients/sodium-lauroyl-sarcosinate Date Accessed, August 16th, 2017

http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/06/are-sulfate-free-shampoos-really.html Date Accessed, August 16th, 2017

http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/ Date Accessed, August 12th, 2017

http://hollistics.com/2013/08/07/5-ingredients-to-avoid/ Date Accessed, August 12th, 2017

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng1584.html Date Accessed, August 12th, 2017