Surfactants that damage hair dye - Formulating - Chemists Corner

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Formulating

Surfactants that damage hair dye

Posted by Margaret on November 10, 2021 at 12:16 am

Would ANY of these surfactants, in a shampoo bar, used AT OR BELOW the levels recommended by the CIR board, damage dye in hair?

Sodium cocosulfate
Sodium C14-16 Alpha Olefin Sulfonate (Bioterge AS 90)
Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate

Thanks for your help!

Bill_Toge replied 1 year, 6 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
- hair-dye
- surfactant
5 Replies

Syl

Member
November 10, 2021 at 1:21 am

Shampooing your hair will wash out some hair dye especially red tones. I wonder if stronger anionic surfactants wash out more hair dye than milder ones.
ketchito

Member
November 10, 2021 at 4:59 pm

@Syl Indeed. Highly charged anionic tend to make hair swell more, and therefore, let dyes escape easier. Now, you could reduce this by mixing them with amphoterics, or replacing them by non ionics.
Syl

Member
November 10, 2021 at 5:11 pm

@Ketchito Thanks, @Margaret you have your answer if you want to reduce the amount of dye escaping you want to use
Sodium coco sulfate
Sodium C14-16 Alpha Olefin Sulfonate (Bioterge AS 90)
Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate
As secondary surfactants.
Margaret

Member
November 11, 2021 at 3:37 am

Thanks for the help. I don’t personally dye my hair, I was just wondering if these surfactants might be aggressive on hair dyes.
Bill_Toge

Professional Chemist / Formulator
November 11, 2021 at 6:07 pm

depends whether the dyes are oxidative (permant/demi-permanent) or direct (semi-permanent)

in the former case, the dyes are entangled within the structure of the hair itself and have very little effect, while in the latter case, this depends on the individual dyes in the formulation - some are much more wash-fast than others

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