Shampoo: which products have coconut?

20 products checked, label in hand

• 2✓ No coconut listed
• 0! Can’t be verified
• 18✕ Contains coconut

Shampoo is where coconut is hardest to avoid. What makes a shampoo lather is a surfactant, and the mild, cheap ones are made from coconut or palm kernel oil: cocamidopropyl betaine, coco-glucoside, sodium cocoyl isethionate. A bottle that drops sulfates usually swaps in more of these, not fewer, so “sulfate-free” on the front tells you nothing about coconut.

The coconut names that turn up most

Counted across the 20 products on this page.

• Cocamidopropyl betaine / hydroxysultainein 14 of 20
• Glycerin / glycerolin 8 of 20
• Sodium lauryl / laureth sulfate (SLS / SLES)in 6 of 20
• Cocamide DEA / MEAin 5 of 20
• Laureth- (laureth-4, laureth-7…)in 5 of 20
• Coconut, cocos nuciferain 4 of 20

Every product we checked

Worth reading

• How to find a shampoo without coconut: what else can make foamFour ways out, and the names that only look coconut-free
• “Sulfate-free” makes coconut more likely, not lessSulfate-free, oil-free, vegan, natural, gluten-free: five claims that sound like reassurance and tell you nothing about coconut. One of them actively works against you. Read off 20 shampoo bottles in Panama.

Other categories

Face · 22Makeup · 18Hair care · 17Body · 16Soap · 7

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Always read the label on the product in your hand: formulas change. Educational only, not medical advice. Always confirm with your allergist.