Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.
EWG Home EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning EWG’s Food Scores Healthy Living App Open menu

EWG's Skin Deep®
Find products and ingredients Learn how Skin Deep® works Meet our experts Discover EWG VERIFIED®
GET UPDATES DONATE
Score legend
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Limited

Sodium Laureth 12 Sulfate

  • This ingredient’s score is higher if used in products intended for use around the eyes due to increased risk of absorption.
  • Products with this ingredient are allowed for use in EWG VERIFIED but must meet use restrictions and warnings based on EWG review of company data.
  • This ingredient’s score is higher if used in products that are inhalable (e.g., sprays, powders) because of respiratory concerns.
  • Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met the program’s impurity restrictions based on EWG review of company data.

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

SEARCH PRODUCTS

Other Concerns

Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (moderate), and Contamination concerns (high)

SYNONYMS

● 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36-DODECAOXAOCTATETRACOSODIUM SALT
● PEG-12 LAURYL ETHER SULFATE, SODIUM SALT
● POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 600 LAURYL ETHER SULFATE, SODIUM SALT
● POLYOXYETHYLENE (12) LAURYL ETHER SULFATE, SODIUM SALT
● SODIUM LAURETH-12 SULFATE
● SODIUM POLYE THYLENE GLYCOL 600 LAURYL ETHER SULFATE
● SODIUM POLYOXYETHYLENE (12) LAURYL ETHER SULFATE
● SODIUM SALT PEG-12 LAURYL ETHER SULFATE
● SODIUM SALT POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 600 LAURYL ETHER SULFATE
● SODIUM SALT POLYOXYETHYLENE (12) LAURYL ETHER SULFATE

Restricted

Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation

Sodium Laureth-12 Sulfate is a sodium salt of the sulfate ester of the polyethylene glycolether of lauryl alcohol.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

  • LOW
    Cancer
  • LOW
    Allergies & Immunotoxicity
  • LOW
    Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
  • LOW
    Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

  • CONCERNS
  • DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

Expand content Collapse content
eye liner80 products
mascara24 products
brow liner6 products
makeup primer2 products
daily use with SPF1 products
eyelash glue1 products

Contamination concerns

Expand content Collapse content
Chemical
ETHYLENE OXIDE
1,4-DIOXANE

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Human any irritant - strong evidenceCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Classified as expected to be toxic or harmfulEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as medium human health priorityOpen scientific literature

Data gaps

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - Maximum reported "as used" concentration is basis of safety assessment by industry safety panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review, CIR) - implicit safe concentration limit in productCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
8 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemicalNLM PubMed

Informational

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - anyCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Persistence and bioaccumulation

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be persistentOpen scientific literature
Not suspected to be bioaccumulativeOpen scientific literature

Ecotoxicology

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxinOpen scientific literature
  • CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
  • EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
  • Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
  • NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED® mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Score legend
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST
Low Availability
Moderate Availability
High Availability
NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

Can’t find your product?

Enter the ingredients in EWG’s Build Your Own Report tool to get an approximate score for that product.

BUILD YOUR OWN REPORT

News & updates

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
RESEARCH
Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
RESEARCH
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
NEWS RELEASE
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
NEWS RELEASE
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
READ ALL ARTICLES
Skindeep Healthy Living App

Discover a curated selection of healthier beauty and personal care products. Donate today to get your EWG VERIFIED® holiday gift set!

GET IT NOW