Educational guide
Plum Goodness Coconut Milk & Peptides Strength & Shine Shampoo Versus Minimalist Maleic Bond Repair Complex Hair Treatment Shampoo
Plum Goodness Coconut Milk & Peptides Strength & Shine Shampoo Versus Minimalist Maleic Bond Repair Complex Hair Treatment Shampoo What's inside Key Ingredients Benefits Concerns Ingredients Side-by-side Water Sodium Laureth Sulfate Cocamidopropyl Betaine Dime
This guide cannot diagnose a condition or recommend a personal treatment plan. Discuss medical questions with a qualified professional.
Plum Goodness Coconut Milk & Peptides Strength & Shine Shampoo Versus Minimalist Maleic Bond Repair Complex Hair Treatment Shampoo
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Dimethiconol
Tea-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate
Trideceth-10
Propylene Glycol
Milk Extract
Glycerin
Xanthan Gum
Pisum Sativum Extract
Phenoxyethanol
Sodium Benzoate
Sodium Chloride
Carbomer
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride
Sodium Hydroxide
Salicylic Acid
Disodium EDTA
Parfum
Mica
Titanium Dioxide
Citric Acid
Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Dimethiconol, Tea-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Trideceth-10, Propylene Glycol, Milk Extract, Glycerin, Xanthan Gum, Pisum Sativum Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Chloride, Carbomer, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Salicylic Acid, Disodium EDTA, Parfum, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Citric Acid
Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
Polyquaternium-7
PEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate
Amodimethicone
Divinyldimethicone/Dimethicone Copolymer
Glycol Distearate
Maleic Acid
Sodium PCA
Betaine
Decyl Glucoside
Panthenol
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Alanine
Arginine
Proline
Tyrosine
Cysteine
Isoleucine
Phenylalanine
Histidine
Lysine
Methionine
Glutamic Acid
Leucine
Valine
Threonine
Glycine
Aspartic Acid
Tryptophan
C12-13 Alketh-23
C12-13 Alketh-3
PPG-5-Ceteth-20
Sodium Isethionate
Polyquaternium-10
C11-15 Pareth-7
Laureth-9
Polyglyceryl-3 Laurate
Tocopheryl Acetate
Ceramide AP
Trideceth-12
Ethylhexylglycerin
Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
Water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Polyquaternium-7, Propylene Glycol, PEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Divinyldimethicone/Dimethicone Copolymer, Glycol Distearate, Maleic Acid, Sodium PCA, Betaine, Decyl Glucoside, Panthenol, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Phenoxyethanol, Alanine, Arginine, Proline, Tyrosine, Cysteine, Isoleucine, Phenylalanine, Histidine, Lysine, Methionine, Glutamic Acid, Leucine, Valine, Threonine, Glycine, Aspartic Acid, Tryptophan, C12-13 Alketh-23, C12-13 Alketh-3, PPG-5-Ceteth-20, Sodium Isethionate, Polyquaternium-10, C11-15 Pareth-7, Laureth-9, Polyglyceryl-3 Laurate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ceramide AP, Trideceth-12, Ethylhexylglycerin, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
Alternatives
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a fatty acid created by mixing similar compounds in coconut oil and dimethylaminopropylamine, a compound with two amino groups.
This ingredient is a surfactant and cleanser. It helps gather the dirt, pollutants, and other impurities in your skin to be washed away. It also helps thicken a product and make the texture more creamy.
Being created from coconut oil means Cocamidopropyl Betaine is hydrating for the skin.
While Cocamidopropyl Betaine was believed to be an allergen, a study from 2012 disproved this. It found two compounds in unpure Cocamidopropyl Betaine to be the irritants: aminoamide and 3-dimethylaminopropylamine. High-grade and pure Cocamidopropyl Betaine did not induce allergic reactions during this study.
Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.
Topically, glycerin does several things at once:
Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.
Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.
This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.
Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.
Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.
Phenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).
It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.
On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.
Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).
You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.
Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.
Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.
Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.
Propylene Glycol is a synthetic, colorless, odorless liquid that has been a staple in cosmetics for decades. It is a skin conditioning agent, humectant, and solvent.
As a humectant, it draw water to the skin to reduce flaking and restore suppleness. It's also a solvent that helps dissolve other actives and keeps formulas stable across temperature changes.
The CIR Expert Panel has confirmed this ingredient to be nontoxic and clinical studies show no sensitization at cosmetic use concentrations.
True allergic reactions are quite rare: a 15-year retrospective study of 6,751 patients found only 0.31% had a positive reaction (and less than half were considered clinically relevant).
It seemed that when sensitization does occur, it's most commonly linked to topical medication (like corticosteroids) and not cosmetics. Allergic contact dermatitis also appears largely limited to individuals with underlying skin conditions.
Overall, propylene glycol is a well-studied ingredient that most people can tolerate without issue.
Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.
So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.
You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!