Shampoo, conditioner and treatments
Haircare ingredients, explained.
See which cleansers, silicones and conditioning agents are in your shampoo and conditioner, and which ones curly, dry or sensitive-scalp routines often skip.
Common in haircare
Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Cleanses and foams. A surfactant, an ingredient that helps water lift away oil and dirt. One of the sulfates, made from coconut, palm kernel or petroleum sources.
Read the article 3 sourcesCocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleanses and foams. A surfactant made partly from coconut oil. Surfactants are ingredients that help water mix with oil and dirt.
Read the article 9 sourcesBehentrimonium Chloride
Conditions and detangles hair. A quaternary ammonium salt, a type of ingredient with a long fatty chain and a positive charge that is drawn to hair.
Learn moreDimethicone
Softens and smooths. A silicone, one of a family of smooth, slippery ingredients made in a lab.
Read the article 8 sourcesAmodimethicone
Conditions and detangles hair. A silicone polymer made in a lab, with added groups that help it attach to hair. It is one of the silicones.
Read the article 8 sourcesPanthenol
Conditions and detangles hair. A form of vitamin B5, usually made in a lab.
Read the article 4 sourcesCetearyl Alcohol
Softens and smooths. A fatty alcohol, a waxy ingredient made from plant oils. It is a blend of cetyl and stearyl alcohols.
Read the article 8 sourcesGlycerin
Conditions and detangles hair. A clear, odorless liquid that can be made from plant oils or produced synthetically.
Read the article 5 sourcesCitric Acid
Balances the pH. An acid found naturally in citrus fruits such as lemons and limes. For cosmetics it is usually made by fermentation.
Learn morePolyquaternium-10
Reduces static. Cellulose, the fiber found in plant cell walls, modified in a lab to carry a positive charge.
Learn moreWhat people often keep an eye on
Sulfates
Foaming cleansing agents such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate.
Silicones
Silicone polymers such as Dimethicone and Cyclopentasiloxane, which give a smooth, slippery feel.
Fragrance
Ingredients added to give a product its scent: the label terms Parfum and Aroma, the fragrance substances EU law requires to be named, and ingredients used only as perfume.
Essential oils
Scented, volatile oils distilled or pressed from plants, such as lavender, peppermint or lemon peel oil.
Mineral oil
Oils and waxes refined from petroleum, such as Paraffinum Liquidum, Petrolatum and Microcrystalline Wax.
Drying alcohol
Ethanol under its label names: Alcohol, Alcohol Denat. and the SD Alcohol grades.
Guides
How to read a cosmetic ingredient list
A cosmetic ingredient list names what is in a product, using standard names, in rough order from most to least. Read it in three passes: find the list and its names, group the names by what they do, and treat the order as a rough guide to amount. It cannot tell you exact amounts, the parts of a fragrance, or how your own skin will respond.
5 min readWhat is INCI? Cosmetic ingredient names explained
INCI names are the standard ingredient names printed on cosmetic labels. They are assigned by the International Cosmetic Ingredient Nomenclature Committee, sponsored by the Personal Care Products Council, and the EU builds its official glossary of label names on them. One ingredient can still appear under more than one name, so Aqua and Water, or CI 77891 and Titanium Dioxide, can be the same substance.
5 min readCosmetic ingredient list order: what position tells you
Cosmetic ingredients are listed from most to least: in the EU by weight at the time each is added, in the US by predominance. Two exceptions blur the picture. Ingredients below 1% may follow in any order, and colourants may go at the end in any order. So the first names are the largest, but a position is never a percentage.
5 min readWhat an ingredient scanner can and cannot tell you
Not from the list alone. An ingredient list tells you what a product contains and roughly in what order, but not how much of each ingredient there is, how pure it is, how the formula is built or how much reaches your skin. Those facts decide whether a hazard becomes a risk, and in the EU a qualified assessor weighs them before a product goes on sale.
5 min readHow to compare skincare ingredient lists
To compare two skincare ingredient lists, match the names first, then compare the first five ingredients, find the active ingredient in each and note where it sits, and compare preservatives, scent and any groups you avoid. Shared names in a similar order point to similar formulas, but without amounts the lists cannot show which product is stronger or which will suit you.
4 min readFragrance free vs unscented: what the labels mean
Fragrance free and unscented are different claims. Unscented describes a smell, and the FDA notes that an unscented product may still contain fragrance added to mask the odour of other ingredients. Fragrance free says no fragrance is present. Neither term is defined in the EU cosmetics regulation or the FDA's labelling rules, so check the list for Parfum or Fragrance, named fragrance substances and scented plant oils.
5 min readEU fragrance allergen labels: what changed in 2023
EU cosmetic labels must name certain fragrance substances individually, in addition to Parfum, when they exceed 0.001% in a leave-on product or 0.01% in a rinse-off one. Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 lengthened that list well beyond the original 24, adding 44 new entries. Products placed on the EU market from 1 August 2026 must follow it, and older stock may be sold until 31 July 2028.
5 min readHow to read a shampoo ingredient list
Most shampoo ingredients do one of five jobs: clean, condition, thicken or balance the formula, preserve it, or add scent. Find the cleansers just after water, then the conditioning agents, then the small print. Read "sulfate-free" or "silicone-free" as a description of what was left out, not a promise about how the shampoo will feel.
4 min readSLS vs SLES: what one extra letter changes
SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) are both cleansing surfactants, but SLES is made from lauryl alcohol that has been ethoxylated before it is sulfated. That step shows on skin: in patch tests at the same concentrations, SLS caused a pronounced irritant reaction and SLES a far milder one. Both belong to a wider family of sulfates, so read the whole name, not just the last word.
5 min readWhat does sulfate-free shampoo mean?
A sulfate-free shampoo leaves out sulfate cleansers such as sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate and cleans with other surfactants instead, such as isethionates, glucosides, sarcosinates or betaines. The claim says what is absent. It does not say what replaced it, how much cleanser there is, or how gentle the result will be. And some ingredients with sulfate in their name, such as magnesium sulfate, are not cleansers at all.
5 min readSilicones in hair products: what they do and how to spot them
Silicones are neither simply good nor bad for hair: they are conditioning ingredients that coat each strand, cut friction when you comb and help with frizz and shine. Silicones that do not dissolve in water, such as dimethicone, can build up with repeated use, particularly on fine or oily hair, and need a stronger cleanser to wash out. Volatile and water-soluble silicones leave less behind.
Have a haircare label in front of you?
Paste its ingredient list into the checker to see each name matched and explained, or scan it with the app.