Sodium lauryl sulfate and it’s cousin, sodium laureth sulfate, are sneaky emulsifying ingredients found in almost everything designed for cleaning: soaps, shampoos, body wash, dish detergents, toothpastes, and more.  They are basically what causes a product to lather. Although the scientific community is, as always, late to the game when funding research into exactly how dangerous these chemicals are, the International Journal of Toxicology recommends a concentration of no more than 1% in regularly used products.  Unfortunately, the concentrations in most beauty and cleaning products are upwards of 20%.

SLS has been linked to skin, eye, and scalp irritation, issues with eye development in children, and hormonal imbalance.  Less extreme, but equally annoying, haircare products with SLS have been linked to dry, frizzy hair, and even hair loss! SLES, though less of an irritant, is often contaminated with dioxane, a known carcinogen.

So I personally choose not to wait for the scientific community to fund more research, while we wait and slather on this harmful substance on a daily basis.  I’ve gone totally SLS-free.

Luckily, there are slews of natural and organic products out there that are SLS-free.  You can find great lists of SLS-free products online (a couple great resources are the EWG and SLS-Free).

The one downfall of switching to SLS-free products is that you can lose some of that lathery goodness that makes you feel oh-s0-clean.  I’m not gonna lie, I like a good lather, so I set out to find some awesome natural products that still lather up and clean like champs, but without the toxic after effects.

Here are a few of the products I’ve been using lately, and love: