Cosmetic surfactants of the future
I was always of the opinion that innovation in the surfactant field was pretty much finished. It seems there really isn’t much more you can do. Perhaps you can make things create more bubbles or make them less harsh but from a functionality standpoint, what is going to perform better than SLS or SLES?
But Dow has come out with a new surfactant designed to be a replacement for SLES. This surfactant, called EcoSense, is plant-based and designed to be biodegradable. It will certainly help natural formulators in their quest to make all-natural, sustainable cosmetics.
They say it offers better flash foam and rinsibility than SLES so I suppose that is an improvement. But this doesn’t appear to be a quantum level improvement in surfactant technology. It is not going to allow you to do something in your formula that you couldn’t have done before this product was launched.
No doubt they will get a ton of sample requests. Now, whether they make significant inroads into the market remains to be seen.
