Although you have more than likely consumed some dosage of Sodium Laurel Sulfate, many consumers are not aware of this common ingredient in toothpaste, shampoos, detergents and other soap products that are meant to foam during usage. Sodium Laurel Sulfate is a dangerous chemical that can cause severe skin irritation depending on the amount it is consumed in. A study was published in 1983 in Journal of The American College of Toxicology showing that even concentrations as low as 0.5% can cause irritation and concentrations of 10-30% can cause skin corrosion and severe irritation.

Shampoo is the most commonly reported Sodium Laurel Sulfate product to the FDA today. Consumers report incidents that include eye irritation, scalp irritation, swelling of the hands, face and arms as well as tangled hair. The FDA attributes each of these conditions to SLS (Sodium Laurel Sulfate). Of course you are now wondering, why such a dangerous chemical is included in our everyday personal hygiene and cleaning products. Unfortunately, the answer is simple; SLS is cheap and works to solve the problem but creates others along the way.

The same SLS that is found in our soaps and shampoos can also be found at the car wash and garages to degrease a car engine. SLS works to degrease a car engine the same way it eliminates oil from the skin, however during this process many of the skin’s proteins and layers are removed making anyone more susceptible to environmental pollution and contamination. When you use a soap product that contains SLS your skin is absorbing all the chemical’s properties and it therefore enters your body without you even knowing it. The most dangerous effect of this action is that the SLS begins to mimic the activity of the oestrogen hormone.

This has a number of different health implications and health professionals believe it acts to increase PMS and menopausal symptoms, male infertility as well as breast cancer. This type of hormonal imbalance can disrupt your entire body’s function and be only the beginning to a series of conditions and diseases that this type of imbalance can invite into your body. For men this increase of oestrogen causes breast enlargement, low sperm count and reduction of male hormone levels. For women, because oestrogen plays a large roll in maintaining the reproductive system, this system cannot control the oestrogen levels and this results in what is known as hormonal chaos.

SLS also places its effects on the protein molecules of our body. Once this chemical is able to form a bridge between the fat-soluble and water-soluble solutions of the molecule it malfunctions and becomes useless, these effects cannot be altered or repaired. When this happens the existing proteins are damaged, which forces your body to take more time to heal. New proteins can be damaged cells that were disrupted during construction, which are the type of cells that can lead to skin cancer. Some of the products that contain SLS include:

• Soaps
  
  
• Shampoo
  
  
• Toothpaste
  
  
• Bubble Bath
  
  
• Shaving Cream
  
  
• Laundry Detergent
  
  
• Liquid Dish Soap
  
  
• Carpet Cleaner
  
  
• Stain Remover
  
  
• Moisturizer Lotion

As you can see nearly every one of the personal hygiene products we use on a daily basis offer some degree of SLS. By checking the ingredients and learning about SLS you will find there are many organic health products that offer the same cleansing abilities without the dangerous side effects.