Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh ingredients (Explained) (2025)

Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh ingredients (Explained) (1)

Want fresh, bouncy hair? Sunsilk’s exclusive formula, infused with eucalyptus & white tea, purifies your hair while caring for every strand. The paraben free and dye free formula will leave your hair feeling fresh, clean and bouncy from root to tip.Simple, vibrant, full of colour and scents, sunsilk stands shoulder to shoulder with you every step of the way. In a vibrant and constantly changing world, we can celebrate each challenge with protected, repaired, strong and well-groomed hair. With decades of experience in each bottle, you can count on us to hit the mark in this endeavour. They say you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. Welcome to our world, providing hair care for girls who like to experiment, explore, dream and discover.

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Ingredients overview

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin, Polyquaternium-10, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Benzoate, Fragrance

Read more on how to read an ingredient list >>

Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh ingredients (Explained) (2)INCI photo pending approval

Highlights

#alcohol-free

Alcohol Free

Key Ingredients

Antioxidant: Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Skin-identical ingredient: Glycerin

Soothing: Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Other Ingredients

Buffering: Citric Acid

Chelating: Disodium EDTA

Emulsifying: Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Moisturizer/humectant: Glycerin, Propylene Glycol

Perfuming: Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract, Fragrance

Preservative: Sodium Benzoate

Solvent: Water, Propylene Glycol

Surfactant/cleansing: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine

Viscosity controlling: Polyquaternium-10, Sodium Chloride

Skim through

Ingredient name what-it-does irr., com. ID-Rating
Water solvent
Sodium Laureth Sulfate surfactant/​cleansing, emulsifying
Cocamidopropyl Betaine surfactant/​cleansing
Glycerin skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/​humectant 0, 0 superstar
Polyquaternium-10 viscosity controlling
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract antioxidant, soothing goodie
Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract perfuming
Propylene Glycol moisturizer/​humectant, solvent 0, 0
Sodium Chloride viscosity controlling
Citric Acid buffering
Disodium EDTA chelating
Sodium Benzoate preservative
Fragrance perfuming icky

Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh

Ingredients explained

Water

Also-called: Aqua | What-it-does: solvent

Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.

It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.

Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.

One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Also-called: SLES | What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying

It’s probably the most common cleansing ingredient of all. It’s usually the Chief Bubble Officer responsible for bigbubbles in cleansing products through the foam it creates is a bit airy and loose and not as dense and luxurious as the foam created by infamous SLS.

As for mildness, it goes somewhere in the middle. It’s often confused with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), but they are absolutely not the same. The SLES molecule has a bigger water-soluble head part that makes it milder and much less irritating. It is considered absolutely ok in the amount used in cosmetic products, though if you are looking for a mild facial cleanser, you have better chances with a formula withoutSLES. For an average shower gel? SLES works just fine.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine

What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing

Super common ingredient in all kinds of cleansing products: face and body washes, shampoos and foam baths.

Number one reason for its popularity has to do with bubbles. Everyone loves bubbles. And cocamidopropyl betaine is great at stabilizing them.

The other reason is that it’s mild and works very well combined with other cleansing agents and surfactants. The art of cleansing is usually to balance between properly cleansing but not over-cleansing and cocamidopropyl betaine is helpful in pulling off this balance right.

Oh, and one more nice thing: even though it’s synthetic it’s highly biodegradable.

More info on CAPB on Collins Beaty Pages.

Glycerin - superstar

Also-called: Glycerol | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

  • A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
  • A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
  • Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
  • Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits for dry skin at higher concentrations up to 20-40%
  • High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin

Read all the geeky details about Glycerin here >>

Polyquaternium-10

What-it-does: viscosity controlling

A cellulose derived polymer (abig molecule that consists of many parts) that can help to thicken up products, form a nice film on the skin or hair and is considered to be an excellent hair conditioner.

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract - goodie

Also-called: Green Tea | What-it-does: antioxidant, soothing

  • Green tea is one of the most researched natural ingredients
  • The active parts are called polyphenols, or more precisely catechins (EGCG being the most abundant and most active catechin)
  • There can be huge quality differences between green tea extracts. The good ones contain 50-90% catechins (and often make the product brown and give it a distinctive smell)
  • Green tea is proven to be a great antioxidant, UV protectant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and antimicrobial
  • Because of these awesome properties green tea is a great choice for anti-aging and also for skin diseases including rosacea, acne and atopic dermatitis

Read all the geeky details about Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract here >>

Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract

What-it-does: perfuming

Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh ingredients (Explained) (3) We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Propylene Glycol

What-it-does: moisturizer/humectant, solvent | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0

  • It's a helper ingredient that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products
  • It's also a solvent, humectant and to some extent a penetration enhancer
  • It has a bad reputation among natural cosmetics advocates but cosmetic scientists and toxicology experts do not agree (read more in the geeky details section)

Read all the geeky details about Propylene Glycol here >>

Sodium Chloride

Also-called: Salt | What-it-does: viscosity controlling

Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.

If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. The reason for this is that salt acts as a fantastic thickener in cleansing formulas created with ionic cleansing agents(aka surfactants) such as Sodium Laureth Sulfate. A couple of percents (typically 1-3%) turns a runny surfactant solution into a nice gel texture.

If you are into chemistry (if not, we understand, just skip this paragraph), the reason is that electrolytes (you know, the Na+ and Cl- ions) screen the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups of ionic surfactants and thus support the formation of long shaped micelles (instead of spherical ones) that entangle like spaghetti, and viola, a gel is formed. However, too much of it causes the phenomenon called "salting out", and the surfactant solution goes runny again.

Other than that, salt also works as an emulsion stabilizer inwater-in-oil emulsions, that is when water droplets are dispersed in the outer oil (or silicone) phase. And last but not least, when salt is right at the first spot of the ingredient list (and is not dissolved), the product is usually a body scrub where salt is thephysical exfoliating agent.

Citric Acid

What-it-does: buffering

Citric acid comes from citrus fruits and is an AHA. If these magic three letters don’t tell you anything, click here and read our detailed description on glycolic acid, the most famous AHA.

So citric acid is an exfoliant, that can - just like other AHAs - gently lift off the dead skin cells of your skin and make it more smooth and fresh.

There is also some research showing that citric acid with regular use (think three monthsand 20% concentration) can help sun-damaged skin, increase skin thickness and some nice hydrating things called glycosaminoglycans in the skin.

But according to a comparative study done in 1995, citric acid has less skin improving magic properties than glycolic or lactic acid. Probably that’s why citric acid is usually not used as an exfoliant but more as a helper ingredient in small amounts to adjust the pH of a formulation.

Disodium EDTA

What-it-does: chelating

Super common little helper ingredient thathelps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.

It is typically used in tiny amounts, around 0.1% or less.

Sodium Benzoate

What-it-does: preservative

A helper ingredient that helps to makethe products stay nice longer, aka preservative. It works mainly against fungi.

It’s pH dependent and works best at acidic pH levels (3-5). It’s not strong enough to be used in itself so it’s always combined with something else, often with potassium sorbate.

Fragrance - icky

Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum;Parfum/Fragrance | What-it-does: perfuming

Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).

If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.

Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).

You may also want to take a look at...

what‑it‑does solvent

Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more]

what‑it‑does surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying

It’s probably the most common cleansing ingredient of all. It’s usually the Chief Bubble Officer responsible for bigbubbles in cleansing products through the foam it creates is a bit airy and loose and not as dense and luxurious as the foam created by infamous SLS.As for mildness, it goes somewhere in the middle. [more]

what‑it‑does surfactant/cleansing

Super common ingredient in all kinds of cleansing products: face and body washes, shampoos and foam baths.Number one reason for its popularity has to do with bubbles. [more]

what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
irritancy,com. 0, 0

A real oldie but a goodie. Great natural moisturizer and skin-identical ingredient that plays an important role in skin hydration and general skin health. [more]

what‑it‑does viscosity controlling

A cellulose derived polymer that can help to thicken up products, form a nice film on the skin or hair and is considered to be an excellent hair conditioner.

what‑it‑does antioxidant | soothing

Green Tea - one of the most researched natural ingredients that contains the superstar actives called catechins. It has proven antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticarcinogenic properties. [more]

what‑it‑does perfuming
what‑it‑does moisturizer/humectant | solvent
irritancy,com. 0, 0

A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products. It's also a solvent, humectant and to some extent a penetration enhancer. [more]

what‑it‑does viscosity controlling

Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. [more]

what‑it‑does buffering

An AHA that comes from citrus fruits. It is usually used as a helper ingredient to adjust the pH of the formula. [more]

what‑it‑does chelating

Super common little helper ingredient thathelps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes. [more]

what‑it‑does preservative

A preservative that works mainly against fungi. Has to be combined with other preservatives. [more]

what‑it‑does perfuming

The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average. [more]

Sunsilk Shampoo Clean & Fresh ingredients (Explained) (2025)
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