SLS – What is it and what is it doing to your skin?

SLS is an acronym that may cross your line of vision from time to time but what does it actually mean and how does it affect your skin?

SLS stands for sodium lauryl sulphate and is used in products such as soaps, shower gels, detergents and toothpastes. This chemical is used as a foaming agent to give that lovely rich lather we all expect. It is also used as a surfactant where by oil based dirt is confined to allow it to be washed away.

Sounds good, produces a great lather and keeps us clean, result! Well not if you have dry and eczema prone skin. SLS is known to be drying on the skin and can cause irritation. This is especially true for those of us that suffer from conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis.

If your skin suffers from any of these conditions the outer layer of skin will be in a very delicate condition. The best products for these skin types are those that do not contain nasty chemicals just waiting to weigh in on the damage.

We don’t often look for these chemicals when buying our bath products and often believe that if we buy expensive quality products that in turn they will treat our skin well. This is not always the case. Currently on the website of Lush they state that they currently have 52 products that still contain SLS. What they don’t mention is that they use chemicals such as Sodium Coco Sulphate which can be drying in itself and, as stated by Hebe Botanicals, Sodium Coco Sulphate actually contains SLS.

So what to do? Well, if you do have sensitive skin or suffer from the skin conditions previously mentioned, you may want to consider going SLS free. Companies such as The Soap Shop produce natural, handmade SLS and paraben free products that are affordable, enjoyable and most importantly kind to the skin. In fact, most of their products use oils and shea butter in order to give that blast of moisture.

You may think that buying such products would be an expensive endeavour but think of the amount of moisturiser you use and additional skin products to combat the dryness that may be caused by your current body wash. As a sufferer of eczema, I know that spending an extra pound on a wash product is well worth it.

At Tolland and Woodley, for the month of March we are offering 10% off all Soap Shop products. So go on, be kind to your skin and say goodbye to those nasties!