skincarecheck
INCI ingredient

Cetyl Alcohol

Also listed as: Alcool Cétylique, (Cetyl Alcohol), Cetyl Cetyl Alcohol

A fatty alcohol that thickens and softens. It is a wax, not a drying alcohol.

What it triggers

  • Vegan originNot sureplant or animal source
  • FragranceNonot a perfume ingredient
  • ParabenNonot a preservative of this family
  • SulfateNonot a sulfate surfactant
  • SiliconeNonot a silicone
  • AlcoholNonot a drying alcohol

What it does

Cetyl alcohol is a waxy solid made from vegetable oils or, less often, animal fat. It gives creams a smooth, cushiony feel.

Like Cetearyl Alcohol it never counts against the alcohol-free check, and its origin makes the vegan check say not sure unless the label claims vegan.

Functions: emollient, thickener

Products with Cetyl Alcohol

in 1,164 products

Showing 24 of 1,164 products with this ingredient, most scanned first.

In the EU ingredient database

Functions listed by CosIng
  • skin conditioning - emollient
  • surfactant - emulsifying
  • emulsion stabilising
  • surfactant - foam boosting
  • fragrance
  • opacifying
  • surfactant - cleansing
  • viscosity controlling
  • skin conditioning - emollient: Acting as lubricants on the skin surface providing the skin with a soft and smooth appearance.
  • surfactant - emulsifying: Helping suspensions or dispersions of liquids in a second liquid by reducing the surface tension of the substances to be emulsified.
  • emulsion stabilising: Helping the process of emulsification and improving emulsion stability and shelf-life.
  • surfactant - foam boosting: Increasing foaming capacity and/or stabilize foams in general.

CAS 36653-82-4 · EC 253-149-0

EU regulation

Not on a restricted-substances annex. Listed as an allowed cosmetic ingredient.

Source: CosIng, European Commission. Informative, no legal value; the regulation text is the reference.

Classification from the INCI name; product lists from Open Beauty Facts.Report a mistake