Decoded Korea

Walk down a shampoo aisle and a good share of the bottles say sulfate-free. The phrase has been on packaging long enough that most shoppers read it as a safety claim, the way paraben-free is read. Something was taken out, and taking it out was an improvement. We checked what regulators actually say about sulfates. Our database holds 21,796 cosmetic ingredients and 31,191 regulatory entries across 10 markets, and 280 of those ingredients have Sulfate in the INCI name. Thirty-five of them carry a regulatory entry. That is 12.5 percent, against a database-wide rate of 3.95 percent. Taken alone, that ratio says sulfates are unusually regulated. The 35 say something else. The sulfates people are avoiding Start with the ones the marketing is aimed at. These are the cleansing surfactants used in shampoo and body wash. Ingredient Regulatory entries across 10 markets Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) 0 Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) 0 Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate 0 Ammonium Laureth Sulfat...