Laundry Myth Busters

What’s in Fabric Conditioner? Long lasting freshness & softness ingredients explained.

Fabrics feel better to the skin, have a delightful scent & last longer when you use Lenor Fabric conditioner. At Lenor we have high standards and carefully select ingredients for our products. Internal and external experts have thoroughly assessed the ingredients for our fabric conditioner so we can guarantee they are of a high quality and safe for the intended use.

Lenor fabric softeners consist of several actives and supporting ingredients giving your clothes the fresh scent and softness that you love so much. Lenor contains fragrance actives and softening actives. The supporting ingredients are water, thickener, preservatives, stabilizer, colorant and antifoam. You can find Lenor’s full ingredients list here.

Cationic surfactants

Cationic surfactants are most commonly used as a softening active ingredient in fabric softeners including Lenor. Cationic surfactant makes up less than 10% of the formula and adds certain properties to fabrics such as anti-static & softness. The cationic surfactant is a readily biodegradable ingredient.

Where is it made from?

Cationic surfactant is the result of an industrial process but is made of natural oils. These natural oils can be both plant-based and/or of animal origin which is called tallow. Tallow is rendered animal fat, a by-product from food production (waste). The natural oils and fats are processed in an industrial process into a new ingredient that doesn’t carry any of the original characteristics and provides the same softness.

What else is tallow found in?

Tallow has had many uses for centuries and can be found in a variety of everyday products including:

• £5 and £10 English bank notes
• Make-up (lipstick, foundations and eye makeup)
• Bike tyres
• Candles
• Crayons
• Plastic bags

Is using tallow bad for the environment?

Cationic surfactant softening actives in Lenor are made of natural oils. These oils can be plant-based or tallow-based. When assessing the total environmental impact of both through a “Life Cycle Assessment” the tallow has a better profile vs. the most common plant-based alternative.

Does this mean Lenor contains animal fat?

Although the final end-product of Lenor Fabric Conditioner does not contain any animal fat, the products are not Vegan certified. This is because a softening active, ‘Cationic Esterquat Surfactant’ is derived either from vegetable oils or tallow. The vegetable oils or tallow are processed in a way that finally creates a brand-new ingredient which does not maintain any of the original raw material properties or characteristics and completely removes all bovine (animal) characteristics. Regardless of what it’s derived from (plant or tallow), the end product always is the same. We allow our suppliers to produce that ingredient however they choose (plant-based or tallow) to minimise waste in the circular economy.

Responsible sourcing

We give our suppliers the freedom to choose between plant-based oils or tallow in creating the softening active. Both have been used for centuries to create actives in detergents. Tallow is mostly used in the food industry but is also used in many household items such as soaps, cosmetics, bank notes, candles, crayons and tyres. Tallow is a by-product of food production and burned when not sourced. Making use of this ingredient therefore contributes to a more circular economy as we make good use of the waste. With plant-based ingredients it is important these are sourced responsibly. In Lenor we only used RSPO certified plant-based oils to ensure they are sustainably sourced.