The real truth about the safety of Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) and cosmetics in general

I read the article in a recent Patient email about SLS and cancer scares. It said it was commonly used in shampoos and bubble bath products. It is not. For many years, I have long forgotten how many, the main ingredient in these has been Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate which is a much milder detergent. You can check this by looking at the ingredient listing on products.

I agree that SLS is potentially irritant at high levels, so is soap.

SLS is used in some bath bombs and other solid bath products as it is commercially available in powder form. It can be blended with certain other detergents to reduce its irritancy potential.

It is used in many toothpastes as the cleansing and foaming agent.

It is the emulsifier in Aqueous Cream BP which is probably, by volume, the most used cream in the UK. Given this extensive use, it is obvious that SLS does not cause irritation when used at the correct level and if there were any other scares, such as causing cancer, these would have become apparent ages ago.

I am a retired Cosmetic Scientist and can say that cosmetics sold in the EU are probably the safest in the world due to an EU Directive and then an EU Cosmetics Regulation. Being a Regulation which, unlike the Directive, it was enforced in all EU countries without their parliaments voting it into their legislation. For many years under the Directive every cosmetic had to have a document signed off by a suitable expert to say it was safe to market. The Directive was replaced by the Regulation that demanded an extensive safety dossier which was, in my opinion, far over the top. It costs so much that some small companies have gone out of business and others simply had to increase their prices. It has done nothing to improve safety as the Directive was sufficient. Without wishing to get political, once the EU has regulated on something its bureaucrats have to keep themselves in employment by constantly updating it. I lost count of how many times the Directive was amended. I should not be saying this as I was quite happy to be paid as a consultant on the Directive and the Regulation.

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