Cetearyl Alcohol
Cetearyl alcohol · INCI Cetearyl alcohol
The word alcohol on a moisturiser label puts some people off, and the worry is a fair one. Cetearyl alcohol belongs to a different branch of the alcohol family from the drying kind, and it does a different job.
It shares a name and a hydroxyl group with the drying kind, and little else. It is a waxy solid, and it softens skin.
What it is
The word alcohol covers a very large family of molecules, and the members behave nothing alike. The ones that dry your skin are small and volatile: ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, the thing labelled alcohol denat. They evaporate quickly, and they take some of your skin's moisture with them, which is exactly why they are used in toners and hand gels and why they are worth thinking twice about in a leave-on product.
Cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol, made from plant oils, and it is a waxy white solid at room temperature. Its molecules are far too large to evaporate. On the skin it behaves like the other emollients in the formula. It softens, it smooths, and it helps hold moisture in. It belongs to the same chemical family as ethanol, with a carbon chain eight or nine times as long.
It also does structural work. Cetearyl alcohol is much of the reason a cream has body, and it helps the emulsifier keep the oil and water together.
What it does in our formulas
Cetearyl alcohol softens the skin and gives the cream its body.
It softens the skin
Cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol, which despite the name is a waxy, oily material. On the skin it behaves like the emollients it sits alongside. It smooths the surface and helps slow the water escaping from it.
Well characterisedIt gives the cream its body
It thickens the emulsion and helps the emulsifier hold the oil and water together. It is used at the level that job needs, which puts it mid-list. It is partly responsible for the feel of a cream when you rub it between your fingers.
Well characterisedWhat the research does not show
The worry about alcohol on a moisturiser label is reasonable. It comes from one word covering two very different kinds of molecule.
Marketed as Alcohol in a moisturiser will dry your skin out
Marketed as Any product with alcohol in it is one to avoid
On the label and in the range
Cetearyl alcohol appears in every one of our formulations, mid-list, where a structural ingredient belongs. It is the only thing on our labels with the word alcohol in it, and this page explains why it is there. The exact percentage is published on each product page.
Is it suitable for me?
Cetearyl alcohol is one of the most widely used cosmetic ingredients in the world and has been reviewed and found safe as used by the independent expert panel that assesses these things. It suits a vegan routine and carries no restrictions under UK or EU cosmetic law. It turns up occasionally in allergy clinics, partly because it is in so many products, so if your skin reacts easily a patch test is sensible.
Cetearyl alcohol is well tolerated, though as one of the more widely used cosmetic ingredients it does show up occasionally in allergy testing. If your skin reacts easily, patch test first.
The research behind this page
We review the published literature. We do not conduct the studies below.
- Elder RL, ed. Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Isostearyl Alcohol, Myristyl Alcohol, and Behenyl Alcohol. Cosmetic Ingredient Review. J Am Coll Toxicol 1988;7:359-413. →