Disodium laureth sulfosuccinate is a mild cleansing surfactant used in shampoos, body washes, and other personal care products. It belongs to the sulfosuccinate family of surfactants, a class known for producing rich foam while being significantly gentler on skin than more common cleaners like sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). You’ll find it most often in products marketed for sensitive skin or baby care.
How It Works as a Cleanser
Like all surfactants, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate works by lowering the surface tension of water so it can mix with oils and dirt on your skin or hair. One end of the molecule attracts water, the other attracts oil. This lets the surfactant lift away sebum, product buildup, and grime when you rinse.
What sets it apart from harsher surfactants is its relatively large molecular size. With an average molecular weight of about 410 daltons, the molecule is bulkier than SLS (around 288 daltons). That larger size makes it harder for the surfactant to penetrate the outer layer of skin, which is a key reason it causes less irritation. It still produces a creamy, stable lather, though the foam is more moderate compared to the aggressive sudsing you get from SLS.
Where It Comes From
Sulfosuccinate surfactants can be made from either petroleum-based or plant-derived raw materials. The plant-based route starts with fatty alcohols sourced from vegetable oils, commonly coconut or palm oil. These fatty alcohols are reacted with maleic anhydride through a process called esterification, then treated with a sulfonation step and neutralized with sodium hydroxide. The result is the finished surfactant. Because the fatty alcohol starting material comes from renewable plant sources, this synthesis route is considered more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based alternatives.
Why It’s Considered Gentle
Disodium laureth sulfosuccinate is considerably milder than SLS while still cleaning effectively. This combination of gentleness and performance is why formulators reach for it in products designed for babies, people with eczema-prone skin, or anyone who finds conventional shampoos and body washes irritating. In the EWG Skin Deep database, products containing it span baby shampoos, baby hair and body washes, bubble baths, and combination baby wash products.
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel, which independently evaluates ingredient safety for the cosmetics industry, has assessed disodium laureth sulfosuccinate. In rinse-off products like shampoos and body washes, it’s typically used at concentrations between 0.4% and 10%. In leave-on products, concentrations drop much lower, ranging from 0.06% to 2%.
How It Differs From SLS and SLES
The name “disodium laureth sulfosuccinate” looks a lot like “sodium laureth sulfate” (SLES) or “sodium lauryl sulfate” (SLS), and it’s easy to confuse them. They are chemically distinct ingredients with different irritation profiles.
SLS is a small, aggressive surfactant that penetrates skin easily, strips natural oils, and is frequently used in lab settings as a standard skin irritant for testing purposes. SLES is a modified version of SLS that’s somewhat gentler but still more irritating than sulfosuccinate surfactants. Disodium laureth sulfosuccinate belongs to a completely different chemical family. Its sulfosuccinate backbone gives it a bulkier structure and a milder interaction with skin proteins. If you’ve been told to avoid sulfates and you spot this ingredient on a label, it’s worth knowing that despite the similar-sounding name, it is not a sulfate.
Performance in Different Water Types
Hard water is a common frustration with many surfactants. Minerals like calcium and magnesium in hard water react with certain cleansers to form a filmy residue (the “soap scum” you see on shower doors). Disodium laureth sulfosuccinate resists this problem. It maintains good foam stability even in hard water and does not form lime soaps, even in extremely hard water. It also rinses cleanly, leaving less residue on skin and hair. This makes it a practical choice in regions with mineral-heavy tap water.
Environmental Profile
Anionic surfactants as a broad class are generally biodegradable. SLS, for example, breaks down to over 99% under standard biodegradation testing, splitting into inorganic sulfate and fatty alcohols that are further metabolized by microorganisms. Sulfosuccinate surfactants follow a similar pattern: they are designed to be biodegradable, and when synthesized from plant-derived fatty alcohols, they carry a lower environmental footprint than petroleum-based alternatives.
That said, all surfactants carry some risk to aquatic life at high concentrations. For anionic surfactants in general, concentrations below 0.5 mg/L in natural water are considered essentially nontoxic to fish and other aquatic organisms. Chronic effects may begin at concentrations as low as 0.1 mg/L. In practice, the small amounts washing down your drain are heavily diluted by wastewater systems long before reaching natural waterways.
Common Products That Use It
You’ll find disodium laureth sulfosuccinate in a wide range of personal care products, often as a secondary surfactant paired with a primary cleanser to boost foam and reduce overall irritation. Typical products include:
- Baby shampoos and baby body washes
- Gentle facial cleansers
- Sulfate-free shampoos
- Bubble baths
- Sensitive-skin body washes
In some formulations, it serves as the primary surfactant. In others, it plays a supporting role, contributing foam quality and a smoother skin feel without adding harshness. Its ability to produce a rich, creamy lather makes it popular in products where the sensory experience matters, like luxury body washes or children’s bath products where parents want both mildness and enough bubbles to keep a toddler entertained.