Is sodium chloride a bad cleanser ingredient?
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 9:52 pm

I have acne prone skin and was wondering if it could case problems for me? It's in a cleanser called Free & Clear. Here are the ingredients:

purified water, glycerin, disodium lauroamphodiacetate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, PEG-120 methyl glucose dioleate, sodium myristoyl sarcosinate, isostearamidopropyl morpholine lactate, sodium chloride, citric acid, bis-PEG-18 methyl ether dimethyl silane, potassium sorbate, tetrasodium EDTA

If anyone has ever heard of or used this cleanser, please let me know.

Thanks.

Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:15 pm

Sodium Chloride is nothing to be worried about. It's just salt Wink

free skin care · Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:20 am

Yes, it's weird that you're concerned about the only immediately recognizable ingredient in the entire cleanser--i'd say that if your skin is sensitive, the piling up of surfectants and silicones in this product should be much more worrisome!
when i look at the formulation of this product, all i see is a very harsh cleanser (most have 1-2 surfectants, this one has 6!) that will strip the natural acid mantle of your skin, unbalancing it and, if you have oily skin, causing it to get oilier.
Although some people report that salt is excellent for acne, as well it can cause open wounds to scar and of course is a skin irritant.

--avalange

free skin care · Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:47 pm

avalange-Which ingredient is a silicone? I don't recognize any silicones but maybe I am missing something.

Also, I don't know if the total number of surfactants is what really matters. If these are all mild surfactants and are at low enough percentages it is possible that this cleanser would not be drying or strip the acid mantle of the skin. I am no surfactant expert but these DO all seem to be mild surfactants. Which ones do you think are harsh surfactants or were you not specifically thinking of any of them as being harsh but the sheer number of them concerns you?

free skin care · Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:39 pm

hi h.kitty!

This is a silicone:
bis-PEG-18 methyl ether dimethyl silane, often used in European formulations.

and tetrasodium EDTA is a harsh surfectant that is meant to combat the effects of hard water.

you are right that the others aren't the very worst ones, although SLES is the standard surfectant that is irritating or strips the skin more than you would want. I'm a big proponent of oil-and EO based cleansers and enzymatic cleansers, which do a great job of keeping skin clean without stripping the skin of its natural oils.
I just think you could do better than this cleanser,especially if one has problem skin!

I was also trying to make the point that it's bizarre to worry about salt when they are so many other chemical ingredients in the cleanser, so if it came off as a bit dramatic, that's why. I hope I clarified my post a bit! Smile

--avalange

h.kitty wrote:

avalange-Which ingredient is a silicone? I don't recognize any silicones but maybe I am missing something.

Also, I don't know if the total number of surfactants is what really matters. If these are all mild surfactants and are at low enough percentages it is possible that this cleanser would not be drying or strip the acid mantle of the skin. I am no surfactant expert but these DO all seem to be mild surfactants. Which ones do you think are harsh surfactants or were you not specifically thinking of any of them as being harsh but the sheer number of them concerns you?

free skin care · Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:08 pm

Thanks avalange!! Smile

Now I have a new silicone to investigate! I am not so sure that just having a silicone in this product makes it a bad choice but I realize that many individuals have a dislike of silicones. Yet unless this particular silicone forms a very strong barrier on the skin I would not personally be concerned seeing a silicone towards the very end of the ingredient list. But for someone that wants to avoid ALL silicones I can see why it would be a concern.

As for tetrasodium EDTA, yes I agree it is technically a surfactant. It is also a chelator and judging where it is on this ingredient list I am guessing that there is such a small amount that it probably is not anything to worry about.

I too am a big proponent of not stripping the skin of it's natural oils but I really am not a stickler for natural ingredients (I have seen some of your posts and assume that you are). Personally, if I saw a bunch of EOs on the ingredient list I would not even take a second look because quite a few of these can be problematic for sensitive skin like mine. So we all take a different approach to these things. But you are probably right that one can do better than this cleanser. However, there is nothing in this product that would prevent me from trying a sample to see what I think. I DO hope that someone that has actually used this cleanser will comment so that we can see if it really is drying and/or irritating. (Although personal experience varies too and I have tried some cleansers that others have sworn were non-drying and found them to be quite drying.) Sometimes what looks like a good non-drying cleanser turns out to be horrid and what looks like it might be a little harsh is actually pretty gentle. Of course, if I saw SLS on the list I would not even try this cleanser once so yes there are some surfactants that I won't even take a chance using.

BTW I did notice your point about about worrying about the salt and found it rather amusing myself! Smile

free skin care · Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:16 pm

sure, kitty!

by the way, i've recently come around to accepting certain chemically-engineered ingredients in skincare. i think all retinoids are fantastic! i myself am very sensitive to sls, pegs, propylene glycols, and especially mineral oil. and i really do try to mix raw ingredients in my hand for daily use rather than use formulations with preservatives, etc.
but point duly taken re: EOs and other naturals being harmful to sensitive skin.
i'm not as renegade as i seem, i just went through a long phase -- for the most part spawned by selling skincare for so long as i made my way through both high school and college. there were always those poor souls who were benzoyl-peroxiding and surfectant-cleaning their acne prone skin to high heaven, caught in an endless cycle of overproduction of sebum and reaction to lack of pH balance... i myself saw an immediate difference when i switched from clinique to osea (with a short tryst with kiehl's in between), and i never looked back!

--avalange

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