THE TAIL WAG by PAWVIT - January 19, 2022

Is SLS bad for dogs? Yes, and here's why.

LORENZO ZAMBRANA

We're giving you an insight into the dog grooming manufacturing industry, and why we will never use one of the most common (yet awful) ingredients of them all: SLS.

Today, we’re giving you an insight into the dog grooming manufacturing industry, and answering the important question: Is SLS bad for dogs?

SLS, often listed on ingredient lists as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, is a very cheap synthetic detergent used by manufacturers of both dog care and human products to boost foam (not us though, we promise!). It’s actually one of the most common (yet awful) ingredients used in personal care for both dogs and humans, and it’s probably lurking in your shampoo.

Even though it’s practically everywhere, it’s known to cause skin irritation, dryness, and redness, which can lead to skin infections. It’s also been linked to contact dermatitis and eczema, as well as cataract development in young pets and eye damage.

Your dog’s skin is its biggest organ, and it’s extremely thin (about one-third thickness of human skin) which means that SLS absorbs faster into it, increasing the likelihood of irritations. If it’s not allergies making your dog itch, it could be their shampoo.

That’s the reason why SLS has landed in our banned Ingredient list – you can read all about our banned ingredients here.

Alarmingly, many (we’d say the majority) of dog care companies use SLS, or its closely-related-yet-irritating derivative SLES, to make their shampoos. With all the scientific reports about the irritations that SLS and SLES can cause, it’s unsettling that manufacturers deliberately choose to include these.

The only way to know if your current dog shampoo contains SLS or SLES is to look at the ingredient lists, and see if they contain ‘Sodium Lauryl Sulfate’ or ‘Sodium Laureth Sulfate’.

We never have, and never will, use SLS, SLES or any Sulphate in our formulas, as we choose dog health over cheap ingredients.

We’ve opted for gentle plant-based cleansers to get the job done – you can find them working their magic in our Healthy Shampoo, which is free from harsh chemicals such as SLS and SLES. You can get your hands (or should we say, paws) on our Healthy Shampoo by clicking here!

When developing our Healthy Shampoo, we took a lot of time researching each ingredient to make sure it’s safe, needed, useful, and that it works. It contains soothing Aloe Vera and improves shine with conditioning actives Hydrolysed Wheat Protein and Pro-Vitamin B5!

More importantly, it’s pH-balanced to be gentle on the skin.

Have any questions about any of our products? Feel free to get in touch with one of our fantastic support team members via DM, email, or our new Live Chat feature! We’re always here to answer your questions.

For now, we’ll let you check your dog shampoos (unless you use PawVit).

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