Suave Clarifying Shampoo is a popular and affordable option for those seeking a deep cleanse for their hair. Marketed for normal to dry hair, it promises to remove residue without stripping moisture, leaving hair naturally beautiful. This article dives into the ingredients that make up this shampoo, examining their purpose and potential effects.
The product is sold in a 12 oz bottle, with the price around $0.94 (approximately $0.08 per ounce), though prices may vary depending on the retailer and whether you purchase in-store, curbside, or via delivery. Suave emphasizes a long-lasting fragrance and a hypo-allergenic formula. Furthermore, they encourage water conservation by suggesting users turn off the tap while shampooing and conditioning, estimating potential savings of up to $100 and 3,200 gallons of water per year for a family.
Let's dissect the ingredient list to understand the function of each component:
Water (Aqua): The most abundant ingredient in most cosmetic products, water acts as a solvent, dissolving and carrying other ingredients. The water used in cosmetics is typically purified and deionized to remove mineral ions.
Sodium Laureth Sulfate: This is a super common ingredient in all kinds of cleansing products. Number one reason for its popularity has to do with bubbles. Everyone loves bubbles.
Read also: Suave Green Shampoo Ingredients
Cocamidopropyl Betaine: A very common ingredient in cleansing products. It is great at stabilizing bubbles. It’s mild and works very well combined with other cleansing agents and surfactants. The art of cleansing is usually to balance between properly cleansing but not over-cleansing and cocamidopropyl betaine is helpful in pulling off this balance right. It’s synthetic and highly biodegradable.
Sodium Chloride: Also known as salt, sodium chloride acts as a thickening agent in formulas containing ionic surfactants like Sodium Laureth Sulfate. A small percentage (1-3%) can transform a runny solution into a gel texture. Electrolytes screen the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups of ionic surfactants and thus support the formation of long shaped micelles that entangle like spaghetti, and viola, a gel is formed. Salt also works as an emulsion stabilizer in water-in-oil emulsions.
Fragrance (Parfum): This is a generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it. Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Citric Acid: Citric acid comes from citrus fruits and is an AHA. But according to a comparative study done in 1995, citric acid has less skin improving magic properties than glycolic or lactic acid.
Polyquaternium-7: A handy helper ingredient (a polymer, i.e. big molecule from repeated subunits) that is used to stabilize emulsions as well as to thicken up products. It can also stabilize foam in cleansing products.
Read also: Luscious Curls Guide
Tetrasodium EDTA: Super common little helper ingredient that helps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.
Tocopheryl Acetate: It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative.
DMDM Hydantoin: It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. No matter the origin, in small amounts (up to 1%) it’s a nice, gentle preservative. Has to be combined with some other nice preservatives, like potassium sorbate to be broad spectrum enough.
Hexyl Cinnamal: A common fragrance ingredient that smells like jasmine. It is one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately because of allergen potential. Best to avoid if your skin is sensitive.
Limonene: A super common and cheap fragrance ingredient. It's in many plants, e.g. rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint and it's the main component (about 50-90%) of the peel oil of citrus fruits. It does smell nice but the problem is that it oxidizes on air exposure and the resulting stuff is not good for the skin. Oxidized limonene can cause allergic contact dermatitis and counts as a frequent skin sensitizer. Limonene's nr1 function is definitely being a fragrance component, but there are several studies showing that it's also a penetration enhancer, mainly for oil-loving components. All in all, limonene has some pros and cons, but - especially if your skin is sensitive - the cons probably outweigh the pros.
Read also: Is Suave Essentials Worth It?
Linalool: Linalool is a super common fragrance ingredient. It’s kind of everywhere - both in plants and in cosmetic products. The problem with linalool is, that just like limonene it oxidises on air exposure and becomes allergenic. That’s why a product containing linalool that has been opened for several months is more likely to be allergenic than a fresh one.
CI 42090: CI 42090 or Blue 1 is a super common synthetic colorant in beauty & food.
Propylene Glycol: A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products.
tags: #suave #clarifying #shampoo #ingredients #list
