A lot of beauty products are created with chemically made or otherwise synthetic ingredients. Because of the worry over harmful elements in nearly everything these days, many companies have taken a close look at their products on the ingredients in order to cut out anything harmful, which keeps both us and them safe. Still, there are always going to be some ingredients that leave your

skin a little irritated, dried out, or irked in some other way. Not everyone will have the same reaction to the same product. However, there has been much debate from both professionals and casual users in the beauty product world over a certain ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate.

You will find sodium lauryl sulfate in the majority of shampoos currently on the market. People can often take issue with shampoos as they can easily cause irritation, sting the eyes, and perform poorly on your hair (it gets the dirt out, but leaves you with split ends). You might be wondering what the purpose of sodium lauryl sulfate is if it can cause irritation and so forth. Sodium lauryl sulfate is so popular in these products because it performs extremely well as a foaming agent.

At this point in time, you should be aware that foam in a shampoo does not have any bearing on whether or not the shampoo is cleaning your hair. It is; the foam just makes us feel better about it. Sodium lauryl sulfate is also found in toothpastes and cleansers of all types

Science has in fact pointed out that sodium lauryl sulfate does have an effect on cell membranes. It acts in a degenerative manner because it affects proteins, which is essentially what our cell membranes are made up of. Simply put, it helps to break down our cells faster. To add to this, sodium lauryl sulfate can be absorbed in small amounts through your skin, and from there it can remain in traces in your heart, liver, lungs, and brain.

What does this mean? Sodium lauryl sulfate research has shown it can have a damaging affect on the immune system, starting with the skin, as it can get into hair follicles and damage them as well as cause the skin to separate its layers and even inflame. Hence all the irritation you may have been feeling.

It has been argued that because items such as cleansers, shampoos, toothpastes, and other beauty products that use sodium lauryl sulfate are usually used in such a brief manner that there really is little to no threat of damage. You put the cleanser on your face and then rinse it off. Same for shampoo. Still, one can never be completely sure as there has yet to be any definite and final research done to see what the effects could be of continuous use of products that contain sodium lauryl sulfate.

After all, some people wash their face once a day, shower once a day, and brush their teeth twice a day, whereas others may shower every other day, wash their face when they feel it needs it, and brush their teeth every night. The difference in usage may play some part, but currently we do not know.

If you want to play it safe, then you can always go natural or organic; either way, you should seek out beauty products that do not have sodium lauryl sulfate in their ingredients list. Even if you have trouble figuring out whether or not a company really is producing truly natural or organic beauty products, just by checking the label you should be able to avoid sodium lauryl sulfate and that goes for products that may not be natural or organic at all.

If you really do love all that foaming action, try not to worry; certain natural and organic products have found ingredients that foam as well. They may not be as quick or heavy in lather, but it is better to be safe than covered in suds, right?