Sodium Lauryl / Laureth Sulfates

Jean Johnson
Mar 17, 2016
4 min read

No cute and adorable or funny graphics with this post. In no way do I want to play down the seriousness of the information with cute graphics.

My first experience with SLS was when my daughter was 2. She loved Mr. Bubble, and would beg for bubble baths constantly. Not being aware of what I was putting my kidlet into, I'd let her have a Mr. Bubble bath at least once or twice a week. It didn't take long for irritation to become apparent. She began digging at herself, and her little genitals were red and inflamed. I'd have suspected diaper rash, but she wasn't in diapers. So, off we went to the doctor, who diagnosed it in a heartbeat. Urinary tract infection. We treated it, and it came back...because we hadn't eliminated the source of the problem. By the third infection, the doctor began asking probing questions, and we discovered the cause. When he asked about bubble baths, and explained what SLS was and how irritating it could be, I immediately threw the product away, and she never again suffered a UTI.

This was back in the mid-eighties, and there wasn't a great deal of awareness about product ingredients at that point. It was easy to assume if the government "let" them use an ingredient, it was assumed to be safe. Wow, the naivete was mind-boggling.

So what is SLS? In short, it's a detergent. It causes the pretty bubbles everyone seems to want in their laundry soap, their bubble bath, their dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste...and sometimes it's used in "hand soaps" in lieu of real soap. It's a known skin irritant and it's harsh. Most people have heard that. But the rest of what I'm posting may not be so well-known.

The Journal of the American College of Toxicology says that it has “a degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties”. The Journal adds that “high levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration". That's not good. So let's break it down a bit more and see just what it does and doesn't get linked to.

1. SLS is a known skin irritant. It's reported that when cosmetic companies want to test lotions, to see how they impact irritated skin, they often induce that irritation with SLS. Yikes.

2. SLS is a known eye irritant, and is linked to cataracts in adults, and may be detrimental to the proper formation of eyes in young children. Double-yikes!

3. SLS is commonly used as a pesticide and herbicide. SLS manufacturers attempted to get SLS listed as an approved pesticide for organic farming (Seriously?!?) and were rejected because of the polluting properties and environmental damage. And yes...that stuff's in many of your cleaning products and body products. Feeling slightly nauseous yet?

4. SLS has the ability to permeate the eyes, brain, heart and liver, according to a study at the University of Georgia Medicine. Long term effects...not short term. And many people use this daily over a wide range of products.

5. SLS pollutes our groundwater, and is known to be toxic to fish and other aquatic animals. It accumulates in the bodies of the fish...you know...the fish you eat. And, since it's undetected in many municipal water filters, it can easily get into drinking water sources. Lovely.

6. SLS emits toxic fumes when heated. When SLS is heated, Sodium oxides and Sulphur oxides are released. At this point, I'm almost wishing I hadn't done this research. This whole topic is starting to be very creepy, but let's finish.

7. The manufacturing process of SLS is incredibly polluting, emitting cancer-causing volatile organic compounds, sulphur compounds and air particulates.

8. SLS helps other chemicals enter your body. SLS's molecules are so small, they're able to cross the membranes of your body's cells. Once these cells become compromised, other toxic chemicals have an easier time attacking the cells, as the SLS has been a sort of penetration enhancer.

9. According to the American College of Toxicity, SLS has corrosive properties that include corrosion of the fat and proteins that make up skin and muscle tissues.

10. Toxic solvents, including carcinogenic sulfates, are used in the production of SLS, and small amounts can remain in the product.

All this for BUBBLES?!? All this to avoid SOAP!?

I can't make anyone listen...but I can put out this information to my friends and customers, and trust in their intelligence and common sense to read further and judge for themselves.

I can also promise that I do not and will not sell products containing SLS or any other sulfates. "Soap-free" has been used as a marketing tactic for decades. Heck, with SLS, you eliminated the bathtub ring, right? Did it never occur to people that this happened because you were bathing in the toxic chemicals used to *clean* the bathtub?

Soap. Real soap. It doesn't have SLS, it doesn't need SLS. Your skin, the skin of your children, deserve the best.