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May 13, 2026

Low-No Salt Shampoos – Part Two

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Personal Care

Commercial “Salt‑Free” Shampoos and What They Teach Us About Claims

Welcome to Part 2 in our series on low and no-salt shampoo formulations! In this part we’ll look at how brands bring to life the claims of “salt‑free” and “no added sodium chloride” while still using conventional surfactant chemistry. From a formulation standpoint, they provide instructive case studies in both formula design and claims.

Keratin Complex Keratin Care Smoothing Shampoo is a top salon brand in this space, available on Ulta and in salons throughout the USA. It claims the following benefits:

  • Fights frizz and smooths for all hair types
  • Helps restore resilience, smoothness, and brilliance
  • Locks in moisture and enhances softness, smoothness, and shine
  • Formulated without sodium chloride to protect the longevity of Keratin Complex smoothing treatments
  • Can be used with or without a smoothing treatment
  • No added sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)

Note the claim regarding Sodium Chloride. Looking at the ingredient list we see:
Water/Aqua/Eau, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, PEG/PPG-20/6 Dimethicone, PEG/PPG-4/12 Dimethicone, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycol Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Fragrance/Parfum.
The presence of Cocamidopropyl Betaine indicates one of two possibilities: the claim covers added sodium chloride, ignoring the sodium chloride typically found in the betaine or the product is formulated using Cocamidopropyl Betaine that has been specially treated to substantially remove the sodium chloride byproduct (it is technically impossible to remove it entirely at commercial scale).
The label indicates a higher than typical loading of Cocamide MEA, which is enabling this formulation to be viscous without the addition of sodium chloride.

Acure Simply Smoothing Shampoo, often recommended by bloggers for keratin‑treated hair, does not claim “salt‑free” on pack but is a formula for a similar consumer and the ingredient list indicates no added Sodium Chloride:
Water / Aqua / Eau, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Liquid Endosperm, Sclerocarya Birrea (Marula) Seed Oil, Rubus Fruticosus (Blackberry) Fruit Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Euterpe Oleracea (Acai) Fruit Extract, Rosa Canina (Rosehip) Fruit Extract, Calendula Officinalis (Marigold) Flower Extract, Aspalathus Linearis (Rooibos) Leaf Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Extract, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Flower Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Seed Oil, Juniperus Mexicana (Texas Cedarwood) Oil, Aleurites Moluccanus (Kukui) Seed Oil, Dipteryx Odorata (Cumaru) Seed Oil, Levulinic Acid, Sodium Levulinate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Cocoglucosides Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Betaine, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Citric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Vanillin, Limonene
The high loading of Cocamidopropyl Betaine allows for the formulation to have good viscosity without adding Sodium Chloride.

NYK1 Salt Free Sulphate Free Aftercare Shampoo makes every effort to highlight its formulation claims around salt: “Salt Free and Sulphate Free Shampoo… to protect hair keratin and colour treatments.”
The ingredients tell a more nuanced story:
Aqua (Water), Sodium Lauryl Sulphoacetate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Decyl Glucoside, Glycerin, Polyquaternium-7, Phenoxyethanol, Peg-150 Distearate, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Benzyl Benzoate, Coumarin.
Anionic surfactants themselves are salts and even if you think this is being pedantic then the Sodium Chloride byproduct of the Cocamidopropyl Betaine (even if substantially removed as discussed earlier) or the Sodium Sulfate byproduct of the Disodium Laureth Sulfate must be considered salts. Again, what’s important is that no salts have been intentionally added to build viscosity. A combination of high surfactant solids and Decyl Glucoside can easily account for the lack of added Sodium Chloride to build viscosity here.

Finally, Damila Salt & Sulfate Free Shampoo follows a similar formulation platform closely mirroring the NYK1 product above.
Across these examples, several themes emerge:

  • “Salt‑free” in practice almost always means no intentionally added sodium chloride as a separate component, not absence of sodium salts or zero NaCl analytically.
  • The surfactant cores are high‑foaming anionic/amphoteric systems (sulfoacetates, sulfosuccinates, isethionates, taurates, amphoacetates, betaines) already familiar to sulfate‑free formulators.
  • Rheology is managed with the ratios of surfactants in the formulation, overemphasizing amphoteric and nonionic surfactant additives.
  • The product claims focus on protecting keratin and color treatments, aligning with salon and brand narratives that sodium chloride and sulfates prematurely strip treatments, despite limited published quantitative data.

For chemists, these market formulas reinforce that “salt‑free” is first a labeling and communication strategy, then a formulation challenge. Understanding exactly which salts marketing intends to exclude guides raw‑material selection and helps avoid over‑engineering systems where “no added sodium chloride” will suffice as a strategy. Ultimately, the goal should be first and foremost to achieve the claim of hair smoothness and maintenance of a home or salon hair smoothing treatment. Specific “free-from” ingredient claims may distract from this goal, but are important for many consumers and cannot be ignored.

In Part 3 we will more thoroughly explore formulation strategies and ingredient options for formulators trying to achieve claims of “salt-free” or “no Sodium Chloride” or “no added Sodium Chloride”.

Next: Low-No Salt Shampoos – Part Three
April 22, 2026

Low-No Salt Shampoos – Part One

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Personal Care

Why Salt‑Free? Drivers Behind Low‑Salt Hair‑Care Formulation

Welcome to the first part of a new blog series! In this series we’ll be examining the claim of “salt-free” or “no added salt” in shampoos, from consumer perception to the existing market to product suggestions for formulators trying to achieve high quality formulations around this concept.

The “salt‑free” conversation in personal care starts from a foundational concept in formulating foaming gel cleansers: sodium chloride is routinely added to anionic/amphoteric systems to navigate the salt curve and deliver aesthetically pleasing viscosity at modest surfactant actives. It is cheap, easy to titrate at the bench and at scale, and familiar to every shampoo formulator. At the same time, it is seen on the product list of ingredients, and that visibility has become a marketing liability in certain categories.

Chemically, anhydrous sodium chloride behaves as a desiccant, readily binding water from the environment (imagine caked salt in humid climates). Extrapolating from that behavior, online content often frames sodium chloride in shampoos as intrinsically “drying” to hair. In practice, in‑use conditions are very different: a few percent NaCl in an aqueous surfactant matrix, rapidly diluted under the shower and rinsed off. The dominant contributors to perceived dryness remain cuticle damage and lipid loss from oxidative dyes, perms/relaxers, keratin/alkali treatments, high‑heat styling, and frictional grooming on wet fibers. Scanning electron micrographs of damaged hair show lifted, chipped cuticles that generate high inter‑fiber friction and “dry” feel, independent of actual water content. Conditioning agents and cationic polymers are what meaningfully reduce friction at those edges and restore slip.

Another major driver is keratin smoothing. Many brands and stylists explicitly instruct clients to avoid shampoos containing sodium chloride and sulfates after treatment, claiming that these ingredients accelerate loss of the deposited keratin layer. Peer‑reviewed data isolating sodium chloride in realistic shampoo usage is sparse; most published work focuses on surfactant‑driven lipid extraction and internal porosity rather than salt itself. Nonetheless, the perception that “salt strips keratin” is entrenched.

There are also rational engineering cases for low‑salt systems. In unlined steel aerosols cans or other metal packaging, total ionic strength and specific ions can significantly influence corrosion, making low‑electrolyte formulations attractive. Certain industrial and institutional applications similarly require tightly controlled conductivity or ion profiles.

Against that backdrop, “salt‑free” emerges less as an absolute electrolyte prohibition and more as a practical design problem. How does a formulator deliver mild, high‑foaming cleansing systems that (a) do not list sodium chloride as an intentional ingredient, (b) satisfy keratin/color‑care marketing narratives, and (c) still hit target rheology and aesthetics? Most of the market resolves this by formulating “no added sodium chloride” systems, accepting trace sodium chloride byproducts and leaning on amphoterics, alternative anionics, nonionics, and polymers for structure.

For product developers, the industry needs honest technical positioning, acknowledging the limits of current keratin‑specific data, focusing on surfactant mildness and cuticle preservation, and treating sodium chloride as one variable in a broader damage and perception landscape rather than a villain.

Next: Low-No Salt Shampoos – Part Two
March 5, 2026

A Case Study in Substitution: From Sodium Laureth Sulfate to Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate

Personal Care
Blog

Introduction

As formulators seek to respond to market needs with easy to use and affordable technologies, one very common substation we’ve seen is the replacement of Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) with Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate (AOS). In this blog post we’ll examine the potential benefits and drawbacks of such a replacement strategy.

Technical Differences

While SLES and AOS follow similar reaction schemes, there are important differences in feedstocks and end products. For SLES, Lauryl Alcohol is ethoxylated, typically with anywhere from 1-4 moles of ethylene oxide. Biobased carbon content cany vary from 0 to 100%, depending on supply chain. For AOS, narrow range hydrocarbons with a terminal (alpha) double bond follow a similar reaction process. Biobased carbon content is 0%. Both reaction schemes will produce sodium sulfate as a byproduct. Depending on the exact process, Sodium Chloride may also be produced as a byproduct. SLES will also produce 1,4-dioxane as a byproduct, which may be substantially removed by post-reaction treatment.

Performance Drivers and Stability

The INCI designation “Sodium Laureth Sulfate” can encompass a wide range of performance attributes. The purity of Lauryl Alcohol and degree of ethoxylation strongly influence performance characteristics like foam, viscosity building, and irritation potential. Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate can also exhibit a range of performance attributes, driven primarily by the precise alkyl distribution. Most grades of SLES will not exhibit a Krafft temperature above freezing, while most grades of AOS will exhibit a Krafft temperature, typically around 10°C. AOS also exhibits superior hydrolytic stability in low-pH formulations due to the inherent stability of the sulfonate functional group. In contrast, SLES shows poor stability below approximately pH 5, where sulfate ester linkages become increasingly susceptible to hydrolysis. As a result, AOS is generally preferred for highly acidic formulations.

Foam Profile & Viscosity Response

The foam profile of AOS is comparable to higher-ethoxylated SLES grades such as SLES-3, but lower than low-ethoxylated grades like SLES-1. With optimized formulation strategies, AOS systems can achieve near parity with SLES-2. In terms of salt response, SLES-based systems typically achieve peak viscosity with lower salt levels compared to AOS-based systems, which may require higher levels of secondary or tertiary surfactants.

Irritation Potential

While the stated goal of replacing SLES with AOS is for improved mildness due to the “harshness” of sulfates, AOS has been demonstrated in formulated systems to be close to SLES with the lowest degree of ethoxylation. More frequently used higher ethoxylates of SLES like two and three mole

versions have much lower irritation potential, even in formulated systems. Increasing the use of secondary amphoteric surfactants and/or introducing other zero irritation surfactants in AOS-based formulations can allow formulators to achieve much closer parity in irritation or even improvements on the most commonly used grades of SLES.

Cost, Regulatory & Market Drivers

AOS is experiencing rapid global adoption primarily due to its cost advantages. These are driven by historically low crude oil prices, high lauryl alcohol costs, fewer processing steps, and the absence of dioxane removal requirements. SLES production requires additional processing and specialized equipment to reduce 1,4-dioxane levels.

Regulatory & Marketing Advantages

Regulatory pressure, particularly in the United States, has significantly impacted SLES usage due to strict limitations on 1,4-dioxane content. Achieving ultra-low dioxane levels is increasingly challenging. AOS, which does not generate dioxane, offers a clear regulatory advantage. From a marketing standpoint, AOS enables ‘SLS and SLES-Free’ and ‘PEG-Free’ claims, aligning strongly with current consumer and brand owner preferences.

Sustainability & Future Outlook

Although not yet widely commercialized, suppliers are actively developing AOS derived from biobased olefins. This development could enable AOS to transition from 0% to 100% biobased content, significantly strengthening its sustainability profile. This evolution is expected to further establish AOS as the surfactant of choice in the coming decades.

Conclusion

While SLES remains a well-established surfactant, AOS is an increasingly popular option with superior short-term advantages in cost efficiency, regulatory compliance, formulation ease, and consumer acceptance. Long-term continued development in biobased olefin technologies will improve its environmental footprint. Some reformulation work to maximize benefits of AOS is expected and needed to ensure all stated goals are met.

February 12, 2026

Lowering Dioxane in Formulations – Part Four

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Household & Industrial
Personal Care

Going Dioxane-Free: Replacement Emulsifiers and Solubilizers

In parts one and two of this blog series, we discussed how ethoxylation is a tremendously useful tool for building surfactants that is under fire due to concerns over a potential byproduct, 1,4 dioxane. With stricter dioxane regulations pushing formulators away from traditional ethoxylates, what are the alternatives? In this segment we’ll discuss alternatives for emulsifiers, including oil in water (o/w), water in oil (w/o), and emulsifiers for fragrance microemulsions, sometimes referred to as solubilizers.

Emulsifier Alternatives

When looking for ethoxylate (PEG) replacements, formulators are expected to weigh several factors: biorenewable content, toxicity profile, ease of use, efficiency, cost, and how well the ingredient fits brand positioning.

For small molecule emulsifiers to replace common emulsifiers like Steareth-2 and Steareth-20 along with polysorbates, some options include:

  • Glyceryl Stearate with Stearic Acid: Typically 100% naturally derived, though the stearic acid is very pH-sensitive. This has become a workhorse option today for simple, economical o/w body lotions.
  • Polyglyceryl Esters: This is an incredibly diverse class of emulsifiers with various chain lengths and substitution patterns, allowing for robust emulsion stability and good control over aesthetics. Polyglyceryl-3 Oleate (Cola®Mulse 3GO), for example, is an outstanding w/o emulsifier that’s suitable as a co-emulsifier or as a key ingredient in oil cleansers to incorporate small amounts of water-based additives with high clarity.
  • Amino Acid Esters: This emerging, innovative group of emulsifiers can be naturally derived and customizable, but come with a higher price tag for premium facial care formulations.
  • Phosphate Esters: This class of high biobased emulsifiers is well known for their highly elegant feel and ability to stabilize o/w emulsions at low or high viscosity. Cetyl Phosphate (Cola®Fax CPE) and Potassium Cetyl Phosphate (Cola®Fax CPE-K) are go-to emulsifiers for organic sunscreen or skin protectant formulations.

For those preferring polymeric emulsifiers, there are synthetic acrylate-based options (low cost but petroleum-derived), natural cellulosics and crosspolymers, and silicone-based options (luxurious feel but facing other consumer perception challenges).

Fragrance Solubilization Options

Fragrance solubilization is really about creating microemulsions; emulsions with oil droplets so tiny that light passes through without getting refracted, keeping products crystal clear. This typically requires high-HLB emulsifiers at relatively high product loading, though product performance varies widely by emulsifier chemistry as well as the fragrance or essential oil chemistry. Due to the unique challenges of this application area, this has been one of the hardest application areas for formulators to find simple replacements.

The leading dioxane-free approaches include:

  • Polyglyceryl Esters: Benefit as mentioned before by bio-based content, though no single “workhorse” product has emerged yet. Formulators usually need to blend different types for each specific formula.
  • Small Molecules: Some surfactants like Decyl Glucoside (Suga®Det D) have been demonstrated to have some efficacy, in particular for highly polar fragrances.
  • Surfactant Combinations: Using a combination of surfactants can be extremely effective, though this adds multiple ingredients to the label.

Testing shows that some newer technologies like Sorbitan Oleate Decylglucoside Crosspolymer (Poly Suga®Mulse D9) can actually outperform traditional ethoxylated solubilizers for certain essential oils. The key is matching your solubilizer choice to your specific application and fragrance.

What are your challenges as you search for lower dioxane alternatives in the formulation work you do? Reach out and let’s discuss how we can best serve your needs!

January 23, 2026

Lowering Dioxane in Formulations – Part Three

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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.

December 16, 2025

Lowering Dioxane in Formulations – Part One

Personal Care
Blog
Household & Industrial

What Exactly Is Ethoxylation? Common Ethoxylates and Their Uses.

In the world of surfactant chemistry, ethoxylation is a chemical process where ethylene oxide, a highly reactive three-membered ring molecule, is added to a base ingredient, typically an alcohol. Ethoxylation can also be part of the process to make a wide variety of chemical intermediates and additives like Isethionic Acid and Triethanolamine.

The starting alcohols can come from natural sources like coconut or palm kernel oil, or they can be synthetically derived from petrochemicals. Depending on how much ethylene oxide gets added, you end up with ingredients that have very different properties—some dissolve better in water (high HLB), others in oil (low HLB).

The Workhorse Ingredients

Ethoxylated ingredients have been industry favorites for decades because they’re incredibly versatile:

Steareth-2 and Steareth-20: The classic oil-in-water emulsifier combination that keeps your lotions stable
Polysorbates: Another go-to emulsifier family
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil: The fragrance industry’s favorite solubilizer—helps those lovely scents blend into water-based products
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES): A gentler cousin of SLS, this cleansing surfactant creates abundant lather in shampoos
PEG-150 Distearate: A thickening agent that helps keep cleansing formulations from running through your fingers
PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate: Adds that moisturizing, “refatting” feel to rinse-off products

Why They’ve Been So Popular

The beauty of ethoxylation is customization. By varying the amount of ethylene oxide added, chemists can fine-tune ingredients for specific jobs like making them more water-soluble, less irritating, or better at foaming. This flexibility made ethoxylates the foundation of modern personal care formulation.

However, there’s a catch. During the ethoxylation process, a byproduct called 1,4-dioxane can form—and that’s raising some serious concerns we’ll explore in our next post.

November 14, 2025

Welcome to the Blog!

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Household & Industrial
Industrial Lubricant Additives
Oil & Gas
Personal Care
Vehicle Care

Welcome to the Colonial Chemical blog, a space designed to give formulators valuable insight into the science, trends, and innovations shaping our industry.

As we continue exploring new ways to share essential information with formulators, we are excited to introduce the CCI Blog. This will be a dedicated space for timely trends and practical formulation insights for people developing products across a wide range of industries. Formulators from all trades including personal care (cosmetics, lotions, cleansers), home care (hard surface, dishes, laundry), pet care, vehicle care (from pre-treatment to drying), institutional, and beyond, will find useful and relevant content here.

This blog builds on what we have already created through our webinar series, the Formula Girls podcast, and our regular email updates. We will be curating highlights from those resources to make them more accessible and searchable on our website, while also adding new content that addresses today’s most pressing formulation challenges and trends. Most articles will be quick reads (about two to three minutes) and are designed to give you actionable tools you can take straight to the bench. If there is a topic you would like to see covered, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected] with the subject line “CCI Blog”. Your ideas will help guide the types of content we create.

In the coming months, look for articles on navigating the complexity of “free-from” claims, including “sulfate-free”, “PEG-free”, “palm-free”, and more. Also look for tips on building viscosity in modern surfactant systems, increasing foam and developing mild and gentle products for facial care, intimate care, and other sensitive skin applications.

We are excited to share this new resource with you and look forward to your feedback and suggestions.