Ammonium Laureth Sulfate ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a primary anionic surfactant used to cleanse, foam, and lift oil and soil in shampoos, body washes, hand washes, and other rinse-off products.
What does Ammonium Laureth Sulfate do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a primary anionic surfactant used to cleanse, foam, and lift oil and soil in shampoos, body washes, hand washes, and other rinse-off products.
Is Ammonium Laureth Sulfate clean?
It has clean-standard friction because it is an ethoxylated it cleanser, which can feel stripping or irritating at higher active levels or in minimal surfactant systems. Processing residue control matters, especially for trace 1,4-dioxane from ethoxylation.
Is Ammonium Laureth Sulfate sustainable?
Its fatty chain may come from coconut, palm, or petroleum-derived feedstocks, while the ethoxylation step commonly relies on petrochemical ethylene oxide. It is generally biodegradable in wastewater, but palm traceability and residue management are the main sustainability caveats.
Is Ammonium Laureth Sulfate COSMOS-approved?
It is generally not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic because ethoxylation is not aligned with the standard’s allowed green-chemistry processing framework. From a Green Chemistry view, it is functional and biodegradable, but the petrochemical ethoxylation route and residue-control needs weaken its alignment.
How does Ammonium Laureth Sulfate work chemically?
The molecule is an ammonium-neutralized, ethoxylated C12 fatty-alcohol it, giving it a high-foaming anionic head group with improved mildness versus a non-ethoxylated analog. Typical rinse-off systems use roughly 5 to 15% active surfactant, often blended with amphoteric or nonionic surfactants, with viscosity adjusted by salt and best stability in mildly acidic to neutral pH ranges.
Last updated 2026-05-14