WHAT IS A “TEARLESS”
SHAMPOO?
First
of all, let’s get clear that “tearless” is a descriptive term, not a measurable
property of shampoos. Well, maybe
it COULD be measured, but it isn’t.
That would require abusing many rats or rabbits. Secondly, there is no industry standard
of what makes a product “tearless.”
It’s a meaningless term that is flung around indiscriminately by shampoo
companies. Each company can have a
different definition or use of the term.
“Tearless” is a term first used in the
beauty industry to describe baby shampoos. But many of the pet shampoos that are marketed as tearless
bear no resemblance to the mild formulas that have been developed for the baby
market. The pet industry has
simply co-opted the term. While
some companies reserve the term for specific products that copy the formulation
principles of human baby shampoos, others apply the term across the board to
all of their line. BTW, even
products sold as tearless for human babies have no standard definition, and
some are more likely to irritate eyes than others.
Why
are tearless products needed?
Soaps and strong detergents can damage sensitive eye tissue. Getting shampoo in the eyes and having
subsequent eye irritation and corneal abrasion is one of the more common
mishaps in pet grooming. If not
identified and attended, a dog can rub or scratch an irritated eye and cause
serious damage. Some shampoo
irritation can cause corneal damage even without the dog aggravating the
situation.
There are several formulating options
used to create shampoos with low or less potential for eye irritation. These include:
- Using non-ionic or amphoteric surfactants (not sulfates or sulfonates) as the primary cleansers.
- Adding amides or betaines as co-surfactants to reduce the irritancy of strong cleansers.
- Diluting the shampoo. Irritancy is related to the concentration of surfactants. (Using a foamer to apply shampoo dilutes it with air and makes it less likely to irritate.)
- Minimizing the amount of colorants and synthetic fragrances or avoiding them altogether.
- Avoiding cationic conditioning agents. Yes, cationics can be more irritating to eye tissue than anionic detergents.
- Adjusting the pH to be close to the pH of the eyes, 6.5-7.0.
Because the term
“tearless” simply means “less likely to cause eye irritation”, some companies
call their product(s) “tearless” if they have done just one of the above
things. For example, if I were to
use Sodium Laureth Sulfate instead of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, my product would
be less likely to cause eye irritation than one using SLS. Likewise, a product with a pH of 6.5 is
less likely to cause irritation than one with a 7.5 pH, or a soap that has a
9.5 pH. Looked at this way, almost
any given shampoo is less likely to cause irritation than some other (hypothetical)
shampoo. While these products may
technically be tearless, they are not the real deal.
Pet shampoos that
are formulated specifically to be unlikely to cause eye irritation utilize more
than one of the formulating options listed above. An example of this is ShowSeason Truly Tearless. The ingredients are: Water, Disodium Oleomide, aka Disodium
Oleamido MEA Sulfosuccinate, Cocamide MEA, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sunflower
Triglycerides, Aloe, Preservative (DMDM Hydantoin), pH modifier. This shampoo uses a very mild
sulfosuccinate as the primary surfactant, along with Sodium LaurETH Sulfate
(much milder than SLS) and an Amide (Cocamide MEA), as well as no colorants and
insignificant fragrance.
There is a
downside to authentic tearless formulations and that is that they are likely to
be less great at removing dirt, stains, and sebum. In other words, they may not clean as well as products
formulated with stronger detergents.
Shampoos that are most likely to cause eye
irritation:
- Soap bars (the 9.5 pH is not adjustable and causes eye irritation).
- Degreasing shampoos (Use strong detergents at high concentrations).
- Products with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate as the primary or only cleansing surfactant. (SLS is the harshest detergent and most likely to cause both eye and skin irritation.)
- Products containing d’limonene. (Although it’s a component of citrus oil, d’Limonene is extremely irritating. It can be a degreaser, an insecticide, or a fragrance component.)
- Products with heavy colorant, such as whiteners.
- Products with heavy fragrance
- Shampoos with cationic conditioning ingredients
The danger of
careless use the tearless claim – it implies that the product is safe to get in
the eyes. The truth is that NO
shampoo is totally safe to get in the eyes. Some dogs can be sensitive to even carefully formulated
products.
©Barbara Bird, ICMG, Birdzeye Press. Please do not reprint any of this article without expressed permission of the author. bbirdgroomer@gmail.com
In addition to owning TRANSFORMATION PET CENTER in Tucson, Arizona, BARBARA BIRD is author of the book Beyond Suds & Scent - Understanding Pet Shampoos & Conditioners. She is also half of The Groom Pod, a weekly podcast for groomers. The Groom Pod can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Facebook or www.thegroompod.com.
In addition to owning TRANSFORMATION PET CENTER in Tucson, Arizona, BARBARA BIRD is author of the book Beyond Suds & Scent - Understanding Pet Shampoos & Conditioners. She is also half of The Groom Pod, a weekly podcast for groomers. The Groom Pod can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Facebook or www.thegroompod.com.
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