From a pop science book written by a surfactant (y'know, shampoo and detergent) chemist:
?Recently, some alarm has been spread about our familiar sodium lauryl sulfate, accused of the most pernicious effects on health. Some of you may have even happened to see signs on ?health stores? stating that all products on sale are absolutely ?SLS free?. Now, sodium dodecyl sulfate is a strong surfactant, but apart from a little skin irritation, I am not aware of any serious consequences.'
'Nonetheless, I once asked for advice about particularly gentle products, to be promptly reassured by the sales clerk that the one she was suggesting contained no trace of SLS. However, once I had recovered my precious spectacles (which, as usual, I had left at home), and carefully read the composition on the label, I was rather taken aback. True, there was no SLS, but that shampoo contained ammonium lauryl sulfate, which is just like SLS in chemical structure (and still includes the sulfate group, which is the skin irritant), except that it swaps the sodium ion for an ammonium ion. Now, the ammonium ion is surely no safer than sodium, which is abundant in the sea water we love to swim in. Yet that's it. The diabolical SLS is banished, and the customer is satisfied.?