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Month: January 2026

January 23, 2026

Lowering Dioxane in Formulations – Part Three

Blog
Household & Industrial
Personal Care

Gentle Cleansing, Better Thickening: Dioxane-Free Alternatives for Surfactants and Emollients

In parts one and two we discussed the reasons why ethylene oxide is a tremdously useful chemical intermediate and why shifting regulatory and consumer landscapes are causing formulators to consider products made via alternate synthetic routes. Moving away from ethoxylates means abandoning industry staples like SLES for cleansing and PEG-based thickeners and emollients for rinse-off products. Here’s how formulators are creating effective products with extremely low or non-detectable amounts of 1,4-dioxane.

Low-Irritation Cleansing Surfactants

The challenge with replacing SLES isn’t just avoiding dioxane—consumers are increasingly avoiding sulfates altogether. Fortunately, several alternatives deliver gentle cleansing:

· Alkyl Polyglucosides like Decyl Glucoside (Suga®Det D) and Lauryl Glucoside (Suga®Det L) are 100% bio-based and biodegradable, though they can be tricky to formulate with for achieving target viscosity. These are better employed in smaller amounts to modify foam or salt response.

· Colonial’s Alkyl Polyglucoside derivatives like Sodium Laurylglucosides Hydroxypropyl Sulfonate (Suga®Nate 160NC) and Sodium Laurylglucosides Hydroxypropyl Citrate (Suga®Citrate L1C MB) have a substantially expanded application range. Our testing shows these products can dramatically reduce irritation when blended with traditional anionics. They also improve viscosity building of non-traditional anionic surfactants like olefin sulfonates and amino acid surfactants (see below)

· Sulfosuccinates like Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate (Cola®Mate LA-40) provide very good foaming potential. Formulators should watch out for stability issues at pH extremes. Surfactant mixtures like Suga®Det LSDG and Suga®Det LSLG provide formulators with an easy to handle way to incorporate these useful ingredients without the traditional challenges of pre-heating.

· Olefin sulfonates like Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate (Colonial AOS-40 UP) offer formulators a low cost option with high ease of use, but are not demonstrated to be as mild as the Sodium Laureth-2 Sulfate they’re intended to replace. With some extra care in formulation design formulators can incorporate products like Suga®Nate 160NC to substantially reduce the irritation potential while maintaining other attractive properties of these useful ingredients.

· Amino acid surfactants (like Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate) offer good mildness and are generally very stable in formulations. The tradeoff here is typically cost, though products produced from synthetic amino acids like Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate (Cola®Mate SMCT-40 launching in 2026) offer a good balance of cost and performance.

Surfactant Thickening Solutions

Have you had challenges replacing PEG-150 Distearate and similar thickeners? Consider:

· Long-chain zwitterions and amphoterics like Oleamidopropyl Betaine (Cola®Teric OAB-UP) and Cetyl Betaine (Cola®Teric CMB). These are very effective viscosity boosters that can significantly increase peak viscosity at low usage levels. Additionally, these products have been shown to improve foam feel and skin after-feel, useful attributes for cleansing systems (more on this later).

· Alkanolamides like Cocamide DIPA (Cola®Liquid DC-5), Cocamide MEA (Cola®Mid CMA), and Cocamide MIPA (Cola®Mid CMPA) are economical, but watch for potential secondary amine issues.

· Amine oxides like Cocamidopropylamine Oxide (Cola®Lux CAO-35) and Stearamine Oxide (Cola®Lux SO) offer excellent performance but are less well characterized for personal care applications. This offers a substantial opportunity for innovation.

Emolliency and Refatting

For that moisturizing after-feel in rinse-off products, formulators are turning to:

· Glyceryl esters like Glyceryl Oleate, Glyceryl Laurate (Colonial Monolaurin), and Polyglyceryl-3 Oleate (Cola®Mulse 3GO) are 100% bio-based. These can be tricky to manage in a rinse-off system as the effect use rates are very small.

· Lecithin and other phospholipids are all natural options with a substantial price tag. Phosphobetaines like Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate (Cola®Lipid C) and Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate (Cola®Lipid SAFL) are structural analogs to natural phospholipids and are offered at a fraction of the price

· Long-chain zwitterions and amphoterics are very low cost options that can provide similar efficacy to traditional ethoxylates. As a bonus, they improve viscosity response (as mentioned above)

While industry norms are rapidly changing, formulators are benefiting from existing and emerging chemistries that make formulating to extremely low or non-detectable levels of

1,4-dioxane absolutely achievable. It requires weighing the trade-offs of cost, performance, ease of use, and sustainability. But with regulations tightening and consumer awareness growing, mastering these alternatives isn’t just good practice, it’s the new standard for formulation.

January 7, 2026

Lowering Dioxane in Formulations – Part Two

Personal Care
Blog
Household & Industrial

The 1,4-Dioxane Problem: Why Regulations Are Tightening

In part one, we discussed how ethylene oxide is an important base chemical for producing a wide range of chemical intermediates and formulation ingredients. As with most chemical reactions, there is a potential for the formation of byproducts. When two molecules of ethylene oxide react with each other during the ethoxylation process instead of with the intended reagent, they form a six-membered ring called 1,4-dioxane. This unwanted byproduct has become one of the personal care industry’s most pressing concerns.​

The Hazard

1,4-Dioxane carries some concerning classifications. The National Toxicology Program calls it “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” while the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” based on animal studies. Beyond cancer concerns, it’s known to affect multiple organs including the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system.​

Unlike ethylene oxide, which breaks down quickly outside of neutral pH conditions, 1,4-dioxane is moderately persistent in the environment. Improper handling of dioxane and dioxane-contaminated chemicals has resulted in high groundwater levels in some areas of the country which persist long after the initial contamination.

The Regulatory Patchwork

Regulations vary wildly depending on where you are. The European Union’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety recommended a 10 ppm limit in 2015. ASEAN countries implemented 10 ppm limits by 2023.​

At the end of 2019 New York State’s Governor signed into law the nation’s strictest rules. For cosmetics (leave-on products), the limit is 10 ppm. For personal care products (rinse-off items like shampoos and body washes), it’s now just 1 ppm. That’s incredibly tight—and the law includes provisions to potentially make limits even stricter if technology allows.​

The Industry Response

The personal care industry has been proactive in reducing dioxane exposure and household products are now not far behind. Surveys conducted before the NY State law took effect showed that about 65% of cosmetic products already contained less than 1 ppm of dioxane, and 84% were below 5 ppm. Manufacturers had been working hard to reduce contamination levels, but the newest regulations are pushing the industry toward eliminating ethoxylates altogether. In parts 3 and 4 we’ll examine the technologies being used to accomplish that.