TL;DR: Most popular "natural" baby wash brands have dropped SLS — but many replaced it with other synthetic surfactants like cocamidopropyl betaine or decyl glucoside. These are real improvements, but soapwort — the plant-native surfactant in Kindred Naturals Baby Shampoo & Body Wash — is something different: a botanical ingredient that research shows is significantly gentler on skin cells than any of the synthetic alternatives. If you're comparing labels, here's what actually matters.
If you're the kind of mom who flips the bottle over before it goes in the cart, you already know: "natural" on the front label doesn't always tell you what's actually inside. The clean baby care market has genuinely improved over the past decade — the most harmful ingredients are being phased out, and more brands are listening to parents who want transparency. But there's a meaningful difference between a brand that removed one ingredient and a brand that rethought the whole formulation philosophy. This post is for the ones who want to know the difference.
Why Does the Surfactant in Your Baby's Wash Actually Matter?
Surfactants are the cleansing agents — the ingredient that allows water and oil to mix so that dirt and residue rinse away. They're in every wash, shampoo, and body wash on the market, natural or conventional. And because baby skin is structurally different from adult skin — a thinner epidermal barrier, higher surface-area-to-body-weight ratio, and a barrier that's still maturing through the first year — the surfactant doing the cleansing matters.
Research has consistently shown that harsh surfactants like SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) can disrupt the skin barrier, altering the expression of key proteins involved in skin repair and increasing transepidermal water loss. For babies with sensitive or atopic-prone skin, this disruption can compound quickly. The question isn't just "does it lather?" — it's "what does it do to the skin underneath?"
What Are the Top "Natural" Baby Wash Brands Actually Using?
This is where label reading gets interesting. Several of the most visible clean baby wash brands — including those you'd find highlighted in Healthline roundups and parenting magazines — have removed SLS and SLES. That matters. But the replacement surfactants tell a more nuanced story:
- Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB): Derived from coconut oil but chemically processed into a synthetic amphoteric surfactant. Significantly milder than SLS, and now one of the most common "clean" substitutes. Worth noting: it has been identified as a contact allergen in some studies, though reactions are uncommon.
- Decyl glucoside: A sugar-based surfactant made from coconut and corn. Genuinely plant-derived and very well tolerated — one of the milder options in the surfactant category.
- Sodium cocoyl isethionate: A fatty acid-based surfactant that produces a creamy lather. Mild and widely considered safe for sensitive skin.
These are real improvements. If a brand you trust is using decyl glucoside instead of SLS, that's a meaningful formulation decision. But all three are still synthetically processed ingredients — derived from plant feedstocks, then chemically modified in a lab to produce the cleansing molecule.
What Makes Soapwort Different From Synthetic Surfactants?
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) is a flowering plant used as a natural cleanser for centuries — long before cosmetic chemistry existed. Its cleansing power comes from naturally occurring saponins, plant compounds that create a gentle lather when mixed with water. No processing into a different molecule. No synthetic modification. The plant does the work.
A 2021 peer-reviewed study published in Molecules (MDPI) and indexed on PubMed Central compared soapwort extract directly against SLS, SLES, ALS, and cocamidopropyl betaine on human skin cell models. The findings were clear: soapwort required concentrations roughly one order of magnitude higher than SLS before reaching equivalent toxicity on normal keratinocytes. The researchers found it "by far the least harmful" in terms of protein denaturation, and showed a dramatically lower lipid-dissolving capacity than any synthetic surfactant tested.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Lipid solubilization is one of the main mechanisms by which surfactants damage the skin barrier — dissolving the fats that hold skin cells together. Soapwort's lower lipid affinity is part of why it's gentler, not just a less-concentrated version of the same mechanism.
Does Removing SLS Make a Baby Wash Automatically Safer?
Removing SLS is a meaningful step — and not a small one. But it answers the question "what's not in here?" rather than "what is in here, and why?" For ingredient-conscious parents, both questions matter equally.
Think of it this way: a brand that replaces SLS with decyl glucoside has improved its formulation. A brand that replaces the entire synthetic surfactant system with a plant-native botanical is asking a different question from the start. One is ingredient substitution. The other is a different design philosophy.
At Kindred Naturals, our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash uses soapwort because it was the answer we kept coming back to when we asked: what would we actually want touching our baby's skin every night? Not a milder version of a synthetic cleanser — but a plant that's been doing this job for centuries, with the science to back it up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is soapwort safe for newborns?
Soapwort has a long history of use as a gentle botanical cleanser and has been studied in peer-reviewed research comparing its safety against synthetic surfactants. As with any new product, we recommend doing a patch test first and consulting your pediatrician if your baby has a diagnosed skin condition.
What should I look for on a baby wash label to avoid harsh surfactants?
Scan the ingredient list for sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), and ammonium lauryl sulfate (ALS) — these are the harshest anionic surfactants. Milder alternatives include decyl glucoside, coco-glucoside, and sodium cocoyl isethionate. Plant-native options like soapwort extract appear on the label as "Saponaria officinalis" or "soapwort extract."
Is cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) safe for babies?
CAPB is generally considered mild and is widely used in gentle cleansers. It's a step up from SLS in terms of irritation potential. It has been flagged as a contact allergen in a small subset of individuals, so if your baby shows any reaction, check the label and consider a formulation without it.
How is Kindred Naturals' baby wash different from brands like Babo Botanicals or Tubby Todd?
Both Babo Botanicals and Tubby Todd make genuinely cleaner products than most conventional baby washes — they've removed SLS and use milder synthetic surfactants. Kindred Naturals uses soapwort as its primary cleansing ingredient instead of any synthetic surfactant, plant-derived or otherwise. It's a different approach to the surfactant question entirely, backed by peer-reviewed research on its gentleness.
Should I be concerned about synthetic fragrance in baby wash?
"Fragrance" on a label can represent dozens of undisclosed ingredients, including potential sensitizers. For babies, we recommend choosing fragrance-free formulations — or products that use only clearly identified, plant-derived scent sources.
If you're ready to try a baby wash built on a different cleansing philosophy, explore our Baby Shampoo & Body Wash at shopkindrednaturals.com — and use code IGWELCOME20 for 20% off your first order.
Written by Mike & Carly Pronsky, founders of Kindred Naturals.