Sulfates are surfactants, and two of them, SLS and SLES, ended up on every free-from list in the category. They clean efficiently and lather generously, which is exactly why they became the default, and they also carry off more of the scalp's own lipids than some scalps can spare.
The alternatives behave differently. Sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate, decyl glucoside and cocamidopropyl betaine are milder surfactants, and a formula built on them can clean thoroughly without the squeaky, stripped finish. Our shampoo uses all three.
The part that rarely makes it onto a bottle is that mild surfactants and hard water are an awkward pairing. Calcium and magnesium interfere with cleansing agents and cut the lather, and the milder the surfactant, the more obvious that becomes.
Which matters here more than in most places. Dubai water is desalinated and then deliberately re-mineralised before it reaches your building, arriving at roughly 100 to 250 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre, so a sulfate-free shampoo that performs beautifully in a soft-water city can feel like it's barely working in a Dubai shower.
The gap closes with chelating agents. They bind the mineral ions so those stop interfering, and they are the reason some sulfate-free formulas hold up in hard water while others disappoint. EDTA is the familiar one, phytic acid and gluconolactone do the same work from plant sources, and our shampoo is formulated with sodium phytate and gluconolactone.
It also means less lather isn't the same thing as less clean. Foam is a sensory cue rather than a measure of cleansing, though that's a hard habit to unlearn after years of reading one as the other.
So the ingredient list turns out to be more useful than the claim on the front. A mild formula without chelators is a shampoo working against the water it meets, and the same formula with them is a shampoo that suits it.