Sulfate-free natural cosmetics: what that actually means

"Natural cosmetics" is a phrase that has stopped meaning anything. Almost every label now promises "sulfate-free", and skin still tightens after washing. Natural against synthetic is the wrong question. The real one is whether you know what each ingredient on the label actually does. Our labels are open: the full composition and allergen list for every product.

Sulfates: what they actually do

Sulfates are foaming surfactants, most often Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS and SLES). They are cheap, they lift a thick lather, and they strip everything, including the lipids skin makes for itself. After a sulfate wash the barrier needs two to four hours to settle. Wash your face with sulfates morning and night and you never give it that time. How to spot them, and silicones, on a label is set out in the guide to sulfates and silicones.

That is why there are no sulfates in the AMAAN cleanser. It washes with coco-glucoside, a surfactant made from coconut and sugar, at pH 5 to 5.5. Less foam, and the barrier stays where it is.

Parabens and silicones, without the panic

Parabens are preservatives governed by EU regulation. AZOURANE formulas use Benzyl Alcohol and Dehydroacetic Acid, and AMAAN also carries Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate. The full composition is on the label.

Silicones are not toxic, but they are not food for skin either. Dimethicone leaves a silky film that looks good while it is on the face, and once you wash it off nothing has really changed. Plant oils work the other way round: less instant gloss in the first weeks, then softer skin after a month, and it holds.

What sensitive skin genuinely does not tolerate

• SLS and SLES in a cleanser you use every day
• Alcohol Denat. in the first five ingredients of a toner or a cream
• coarse physical scrubs with sharp particles
• coconut oil on acne-prone skin, because of its high comedogenic index
• an allergen you already know you react to

How to read an INCI list

Three rules cover 90 percent of cases.

First: the opening five ingredients are 70 to 80 percent of the formula. The rest sit at small concentrations.

Second: water first in a cream is normal, not a sign the cream is empty.

Third: an active has to be in the first ten to be doing anything. Retinol in fifteenth place is marketing.

Where sulfate-free comes from

Berber care cleansed without sulfates long before the word existed: beldi soap from olive pressings, ghassoul clay that binds dirt electrostatically, rose water as a toner. AZOURANE carries that logic into modern formulas, with argan and prickly pear from the cooperatives in Souss-Massa.

The shortest way to switch

Change the cleanser first, because it is the thing you use most often. AMAAN has aloe vera fourth on the ingredient list and glycerin fifth, so the face stays comfortable after rinsing. The lather comes from coco glucoside and cocamidopropyl betaine, at a measured pH of 5.0 to 5.5. A cream comes as step two. Cleansers compared by ingredient are in the guide to a gentle face cleanser.

See AMAAN