Lots of foam feels clean. A thick shampoo often feels rich and concentrated. As a result, a more liquid wash gel that foams less can quickly give the impression that it cleans less effectively.
However, the amount of foam says surprisingly little about how well a product does its job.
The effectiveness of a shampoo or wash gel is primarily determined by the cleansers in the formula. These substances are also called surfactants. Especially with products for babies and children, it is interesting to look at which cleansers are used and how mild the overall formula is for the skin.
What exactly do cleansers do?
Water alone does not remove all dirt from the skin. Sebum, oils, and other fatty substances, in particular, are difficult to rinse off with water alone. Cleansers are needed for this.
A cleanser can bond with water on one side and with fat and dirt on the other. During washing, this helps to loosen dirt and excess sebum from the skin so that it can be rinsed away with water.
That's why you find cleansers in shampoo, shower gel, facial cleansers, and baby wash products. However, not all cleansers are the same.
What makes a cleanser mild?
On packaging and social media, there's a lot of talk about mild and strong cleansers. In practice, it's a bit more complicated. The mildness of a product is not determined by a single ingredient.
The amount of a cleanser, its combination with other cleansers, the pH of the product, and the rest of the formula also play an important role. Two products can therefore contain similar ingredients and yet feel very different on the skin.
Scientific research into various combinations of surfactants also shows that the final formula is important when assessing potential skin irritation. This is also why terms like natural, sulfate-free, or plant-based never tell the whole story on their own.
What happens if a cleanser cleans too aggressively?
A cleanser should remove dirt and excess oil. That's exactly what it's designed for. But the outermost layer of our skin also contains fats that play an important role in the skin barrier. When a product has a very strong degreasing effect, the skin may feel drier or tighter after washing.
Research into skin cleansing shows that certain surfactants can affect the proteins and lipids in the outermost skin layer.
A well-known cleanser frequently used in scientific skin research is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, often abbreviated as SLS. At high concentrations and controlled exposure, SLS is even used to induce skin irritation and investigate the skin barrier.
This does not mean that every product with a sulfate is automatically bad. The concentration, the combination with other ingredients, and the overall formulation ultimately determine how a product behaves on the skin. For us, that nuance is important. Ingredients are not simply right or wrong.
Why is mild cleansing interesting for babies?
A baby's skin doesn't function exactly like an adult's. After birth, the skin barrier continues to develop. Baby skin adapts to the environment outside the womb and changes significantly during the first period of life. That's why extra attention is paid to mildness in baby care products.
This doesn't mean that washing with a product is inherently bad for baby skin. Research on healthy newborns, for example, has shown that a well-formulated mild baby wash can be used without a measurable negative effect on the development of the skin barrier compared to washing with only water.
So the question is not simply whether you use water or a wash product. More important is which product you choose and how the formula is composed.
Lots of foam doesn't mean a product cleans better
This is one of the most common misconceptions about shampoo and wash gel. We associate foam with cleanliness. That's not so strange. Foam feels pleasant during washing, spreads easily over the skin, and gives us the feeling that a product is really working.
But the amount of foam is not a reliable measure of its cleansing ability. A product can clean well without producing a large amount of foam. Conversely, an enormous layer of foam does not automatically mean that skin or hair will be cleaner.
Foam is primarily a characteristic of the cleansers used and the way a formula is constructed. Little foam, therefore, does not mean that a product does little.
And what does the thickness of a shampoo say?
Actually, the same applies to texture. A thick shampoo or wash gel may feel more luxurious or concentrated, but the thickness of a product in itself says nothing about how well it cleanses. The texture of cosmetics can be adjusted during development using various ingredients and formulation techniques. A more liquid wash gel can therefore clean just as effectively as a thick gel.
When developing a product, choices are always made. How should it feel? How much should it foam? How easily should it rinse off? And most importantly, how should the product behave on the skin it is intended for?
For a product for babies and children, we believe mildness is more important than creating as much foam as possible or the thickest possible texture.
What types of cleansers exist?
Anyone looking at an ingredient list will come across all sorts of different cleansers. They can be divided into anionic, non-ionic, and amphoteric cleansers, among others. These terms primarily say something about the chemical properties of the substance. For consumers, it is especially important to know that cleansers can differ greatly.
SLS, for example, belongs to the anionic cleansers and is known for its strong cleansing properties. But that doesn't mean that every anionic cleanser works the same way.
For example, there are also cleansers based on amino acids. In addition, glucosides are widely used in modern cleaning products. These are often made from sugars and fatty alcohols of plant origin. Formulators combine different types of cleansers to find a balance between cleaning, foam, skin feel, and mildness.
Which cleansers does Olunaya use?
In our Gentle Pure 2 in 1 Wash, we use three cleansers:
- Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate
- Lauryl Glucoside
- Coco Glucoside
Lauryl Glucoside and Coco Glucoside belong to the glucoside cleansers. Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate is a cleanser based on glutamic acid, an amino acid.
We deliberately chose this combination because our priority during development was not an extremely thick wash gel or as much foam as possible. We wanted a product that could effectively cleanse skin and hair, while the formula simultaneously suited the sensitive skin of babies and children.
The Gentle Pure 2 in 1 Wash also contains, among other ingredients, aloe vera, glycerin, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, and extracts of oat, chamomile, and calendula. The formula contains no SLS or SLES.
Mild does not mean less effective
A mild cleanser is not the same as a cleanser that barely does anything. The purpose of a well-formulated washing product is precisely to remove enough dirt and excess oil without unnecessarily stripping the skin of its natural oils.
This requires balance. And that's precisely why you cannot judge the quality of a washing product based on a single characteristic. Not on the amount of foam. Not on how thick the gel is. And not on a single ingredient that may or may not be listed on the packaging. The complete formula counts.
What can parents look out for?
Therefore, when choosing a baby wash or shampoo, don't just be guided by how many bubbles are created. Look at the whole picture.
For what skin type was the product developed? Which cleansers are used? How does the skin feel after washing? Does the product rinse off easily? And is it suitable for your child?
After a bath, a baby's skin does not need to feel completely grease-free or tight to be clean. Soft and comfortably clean is more than enough.
Hall Manning T.J. et al. Skin irritation potential of mixed surfactant systems. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 1998.
Ananthapadmanabhan K.P. et al. Research on the influence of cleansing and surfactants on proteins, lipids, and the barrier function of the skin.
Törmä H. et al. Skin barrier disruption by sodium lauryl sulfate exposure alters epidermal processes during skin repair. 2008.
Lavender T. et al. Randomized controlled trial evaluating a baby wash product on skin barrier function in healthy term neonates. 2013.
Okasaka M. et al. Evaluation of anionic surfactant effects on skin barrier function based on skin permeability. Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 2019.