Why Do Toxic Dry Shampoos - Like Batiste and Dove - Exist?

Written by Ajay Chohan, Founder @ Small Batch Goodness

Potentially Harmful Ingredients in the Batiste Dry Shampoo to Avoid: Butane, Isobutane, Propane, Alcohol Denat, Fragrance, Cetrimonium Chloride

Potentially Harmful Ingredients in the Dove Dry Shampoo to Avoid: Isobutane, Propane, Sd Alcohol 40-B (Alcohol Denat.), Butane, Fragrance, Cyclopentasiloxane

WELL BEFORE headlines came out in October & November 2022 around the dangers of using aerosol dry shampoos like Dove and Batiste after high levels of the carcinogen Benzene were discovered in them, the ingredients of these dry shampoos already screamed “do not use me!” Unfortunately the Benzene news was just disturbing icing on top of an already toxic cake. And I am not exaggerating here.

In this research article I will systematically uncover all the health and toxicity concerns with each of the above mentioned ingredients in the Dove and Batiste dry shampoos. I use these two brands simply because they are two of the most popular dry shampoos used. The harmful ingredients found in Dove and Batiste are common across synthetic dry shampoo sprays found on supermarket aisles.

At the end of this article I also share my thoughts on a better dry shampoo and give my best natural dry shampoo recommendations. But first, let’s jump right into why we need to stay a mile away from the Batiste and Dove dry shampoos.

Batiste Dry Shampoo: Ingredients + Warning

Brands that have grown on the back of false advertising.

Before we dive into all the ingredients of concern…how did these toxic dry shampoos fool us in the first place? The common thread here is misleading marketing. Batiste’s marketing takes you to a tropical paradise with images full of bright colors, flowers and coconuts. Oh, it appeals to your rational side as well with phrases such as “Results matter. Batiste cleans hair better than leading prestige brands that cost up to 3X more.”

Not to be outdone, Dove dry shampoos proclaim, “each product…is crafted to help women care for their hair. Dove dry shampoo is perfect for refreshing & reviving hair on days between washes.” Care they do alright. Sigh. Let’s now go behind the misleading copywriting and dive into the actual toxic ingredients list.

The trouble begins with LPG — the petroleum based gas that propels these dry shampoo sprays out of the container.

All aerosol dry shampoos — including Dove and Batiste — begin with a base of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or LPG, to propel their sprays. LPG is made by combining the gasses Butane, Isobutane and Propane. There are two concerns with LPG based dry shampoo sprays — one is the safety of these petroleum gases themselves and the other is contamination concerns with the cancer causing Benzene.

First, LPG is highly flammable. Dove’s dry shampoo spray comes with a warning at the back saying, “Flammable until fully dry. Avoid inhalation. Avoid spraying in eyes.” How many of you hold your breath and close your eyes when spraying dry shampoo? Secondly Butane, Isobutane and Propane all have similar health concerns. The EWG classifies Propane, Butane as well as Isobutane found in the Dove & Batiste dry shampoos as A. an irritant for our skin, eyes or lungs, B. as tied to immunotoxicity and allergies and C. classifies them as “expected to be toxic” to our organs citing Environment Canada Domestic Substance List (1, 2, 3). These gases are tied with everything from headaches, respiratory problems to even organ toxicity. Sadly that’s not all, these petroleum gases also have carcinogenic contaminants, which leads us to the below.

Please Note: Here is my article on the best all-natural dry shampoos along with the selection criteria.

High levels of Benzene found in dry shampoos such as Dove, Batiste, Suave and Bed Head also trace their origin to the LPG propellent used in these sprays

High levels of the human carcinogen Benzene were found in dry shampoos sprays, which was widely reported in October and November 2022. The likely source of the cancer causing Benzene in our dry shampoo spray was petroleum based gasses such as Butane. Chris Cappa, a professor at the University of California at Davis, told the Washington Post that the refinement process of crude oil to extract Butane has to be very good. If not, “other components from the crude oil” such as Benzene can end up in Butane. Which then end up in our dry shampoo spray and other cosmetics. The dry shampoo sprays guilty of having Benzene contamination included Dove, Batiste, Suave and Bed Head. Yikes.

But are these Benzene levels really that bad? Let’s dive into the safety data.

Well, there really is no safe level of Benzene. Valisure, the independent lab that conducted these tests, refers to a study from all way the back in 1939 that had already established that “exposure over a long period of time to any concentration of Benzene greater than zero is not safe” (4). Now, Valisure in its investigation writes, “70% of samples tested…showed quantifiable levels of Benzene. Some samples analyzed directly from contaminated air suggest the sprayed product contained up to 170 times the conditionally restricted FDA concentration limit of 2 parts per million (ppm) (4).” The Valisure report further states, “Many epidemiological studies of petroleum workers exposed to Benzene by inhalation have clearly associated the chemical with the development of cancers of blood tissues, such as leukemia, at continued exposure to levels as low as 1 ppm” (4). We apply our dry shampoo sprays in indoor spaces where the contaminants can linger for us to continually breathe in. Benzene should not be in our dry shampoo spray — or any other cosmetic — at ANY LEVEL.

Dove Dry Shampoo: Ingredients & Warning

Benzene contamination concerns led to a mass recall of dry shampoos — but is that enough?

Unilever recalled its Dove, Nexxus, Suave, Tresemmé and Bed Head dry shampoo brands after the Benzene contamination was revealed (5). But we know that soon enough, these dry shampoo sprays, with the same petroleum gasses and other unappetizing ingredients will be back on the market. Imagine spraying dry shampoo several times each week, assuming it to be a harmless ritual, only to be consistently exposed to toxic and carcinogenic substances. What’s worse is that dry shampoo brands like Unilever/Dove and Batiste must have been aware of these risks from the beginning…and yet continue to engage in false advertising.

Batiste settled a class action lawsuit around Benzene contamination in its dry shampoos in August 2023.

In August 2023 the parent company of Batiste, Church & Dwight, settled a class action lawsuit that was brought after Benzene contamination results were brought to light in its dry shampoos including Bare. The company will pay $2.5 Million, part of which will go towards refunds to those who purchased their dry shampoos. The settlement is not necessarily reassuring to those concerned about what they have already been exposed to, but let our refund claims be the last ever interaction with this brand.

The preservative Cetrimonium Chloride — found in dry shampoos such as Batiste — is another ingredient to avoid.

Harmful ingredients to avoid in dry shampoo brands like Dove and Batiste do not end with LPG and its contaminant Benzene. Cetrimonium Chloride is an ammonium salt that is found in dry shampoo sprays like Batiste as a preservative. This preservative is tied with irritation and is considered safe “only at concentrations of up to 0.25% in leave-on products” (6). Cetrimonium Chloride also has uses as a pesticide or biocide. As this research by Analytica Alimentaria states, “because Cetrimonium Chloride is able to damage the cell walls of microorganisms, the use of Cetrimonium Chloride is permitted as a biocide in the EU.”

The EWG also has a rating of 4 for Cetrimonium Chloride, citing high risks for the ingredient causing allergies and triggering immunotoxicity (7). All of this again begs the question, what’s an ingredient that’s a pesticide and has to be restricted at a 0.25% concentration due to toxicity concerns doing in our dry shampoo? Batiste’s dry shampoo pages on Amazon have the bold “The World’s #1 Dry Shampoo” text on them. Which is partly correct…I would rephrase that as “The World’s #1 Dry Shampoo TO AVOID.”

Alcohol Denat, Cyclopentasiloxane and Synthetic Fragrance round up harmful ingredients that should never be in our dry shampoo.

Let’s start with Denatured Alcohol or Alcohol Denat found in the Dove and Batiste dry shampoos. This cheap ingredient can excessively strip the natural oils from our scalp. Now, you will say, isn’t the purpose of a dry shampoo to freshen up oily and limp here? Well, sure. But we don’t want to achieve this with a harsh ingredient like Denatured Alcohol, which is very drying and excessively strips the scalp of its protective oils. Using too much dry shampoo with alcohol can thus damage our scalp and hair over the long run.

Now, since alcohol is excessively drying, how to these dry shampoos give us a feel of silky & smooth hair? Introducing the silicone Cyclopentasiloxane. Found in the Dove dry shampoo, Cyclopentasiloxane is considered unsafe by the European Commission in “hair styling formulations” and in “aerosols, pressurized sprays and powders” that can lead to “lung exposure” … i.e. aerosol dry shampoo sprays (8).

The European Commission further emphasizes, “exposure to Cyclopentasiloxane coming from hair styling spray products also triggers high level of aggregated exposure which may also lead to concentrations in the air above the value considered safe…” (9). And as mentioned, these silicones simply give the feel of silky & smooth hair, a temporary feel provided by a synthetic ingredient to allure us into thinking the product is actually nourishing for our hair…which it is not. Avoid any dry shampoo with this silicone.

Lastly, unless your dry shampoo specifically states that the fragrance is naturally derived, you can assume Fragrance to be a synthetic ingredient. Fragrance can denote any numbers of thousands of mystery chemicals used by the cosmetics industry, all with varying levels of toxicity. Fragrance is often the culprit behind allergic reactions to dry shampoo sprays. It’s best to avoid dry shampoos with synthetic Fragrance.

Can a dry shampoo be completely safe, effective at what it’s supposed to do and actually good for our hair?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes. You can still give new life to your limp hair and extend hairstyles quickly using natural dry shampoos with high quality ingredients. We just have to make sure to always read the full ingredients list and avoid dry shampoos with the above ingredients. There are natural ingredients such as arrowroot powder, aloe vera powder, corn starch powder and cocoa powder that form highly effective bases for dry shampoos — both for light and dark hair.

My best natural dry shampoos article goes over the attributes of such dry shampoos. I also give my best natural dry shampoo recommendations here. Two ingredient focused companies I like are Beauty by Earth and Prose — you can find their dry shampoos here and here.

Sources:

1. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/705305-PROPANE/

2. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/700839-BUTANE/

3. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/703156-ISOBUTANE/

4. https://www.valisure.com/valisure-newsroom/valisure-detects-benzene-in-dry-shampoo

5. https://www.cnet.com/health/personal-care/19-dry-shampoos-recalled-over-cancer-risk-check-if-yours-is-one-of-them/

6. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/109158197227152

7. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/701258-CETRIMONIUM_CHLORIDE/

8. https://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Article/2015/05/27/SCCS-publishes-new-opinion-on-use-of-cyclopentasiloxane-D5-in-cosmetics

9. https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consumer_safety/docs/sccs_o_174.pdf