Dawn Ultra: 22 Ingredients, Fully Listed, and Three Worth a Second Look
P&G's disclosure here is the gold standard. The honest read is mostly reassuring.
Credit where due: Dawn publishes all 22 ingredients in plain English with their functions, the most transparent label in this set. Most of it is exactly what dish soap should be, detergents and water softeners. Three are worth knowing: sodium laureth sulfate (which can carry trace 1,4-dioxane), methylisothiazolinone (a common preservative and contact allergen), and the usual single-word fragrance. It rinses off your dishes, which matters. This is a teardown that mostly clears.
The label, flagged
Water
Sodium Lauryl SulfateCAUTION
It does NOT cause cancer, that viral claim is a myth. What it actually does is strip and irritate skin, which matters if yours is reactive.
Sodium Laureth SulfateCAUTION
The sulfate itself just cleans, the real issue is 1,4-dioxane, a probable carcinogen created when it's made, that never appears on the label.
can carry trace 1,4-dioxane
C10-16 Alkyldimethylamine Oxide
surfactant
Alcohol Denat.
solvent
PhenoxyethanolCAUTION
The default paraben replacement, cleared by the EU at up to 1%, but France moved to keep it off babies' skin. Fine for most; watch it around infants.
preservative
FragranceCAUTION
Not a hazard in itself, but a legal black box. “Fragrance” can shield ingredients (including EU-banned ones) that you are never told are there.
undisclosed blend
MethylisothiazolinoneCAUTION
A preservative the EU banned from all leave-on products after it triggered an allergy epidemic across Europe. Capped hard in rinse-off there; uncapped here.
preservative / contact allergen
Acid Blue 9
dye
Propylene GlycolACTUALLY FINE
Fine on its own, the one honest caveat is that it's a penetration enhancer, so it helps everything else in the formula sink in deeper.
Glycerin
Source: Dawn (P&G) official ingredient page. View label. Tap any flagged ingredient for the evidence.
What to use instead
The fix isn’t complicated: a fragrance-free or fully-disclosed alternative, with the ingredients flagged on this label designed out, closes these gaps at once. We pick the ones worth your money.
Shop fragrance-free dish soap →Editorial analysis of the publicly listed label and regulatory/peer-reviewed sources. Not medical advice, not affiliated with the brand. Verdicts are evidence-graded, we flag what the data flags and clear what it clears.