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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Cetearyl Alcohol in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Cetearyl Alcohol is a cosmetic ingredient that softens and smooths the skin. Whether it is vegan depends on the make. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 2,596 products, most often body care.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

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What does Cetearyl Alcohol do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Cetearyl Alcohol softens and smooths the skin, lets oil and water mix, so the product can wash dirt away, and keeps oil and water mixed. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: emollient, surfactant, emulsifying, viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising, foam boosting and opacifying.

emollientsurfactantemulsifyingviscosity controllingemulsion stabilisingfoam boostingopacifying

What other names and numbers does Cetearyl Alcohol have?

CAS number
67762-27-0, 8005-44-5
EC number
267-008-6
CosIng reference
75132

Is Cetearyl Alcohol vegan?

It depends on the make. Cetearyl Alcohol can be made from plants or from animals, and a label rarely says which, so a vegan profile gets Heads up.

VeganHeads upIt can be made from plants or from animals, and a label rarely says which.
VegetarianHeads upIt can be made from an animal source, and a label rarely says which.

Which products contain Cetearyl Alcohol?

Open Beauty Facts finds Cetearyl Alcohol in the ingredient lists of 2,596 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often body care, hair care and hand creams.

  • Body care196
  • Hair care150
  • Hand creams107
  • Hair conditioners87

Products with it, by country of sale: France 639 · Germany 451 · United States 287 · Australia 155.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Cetearyl Alcohol turns up, not how much of the market it is.

On these listsSurfactants and cleansersEmollientsEmulsifiers

Bravoora reads this ingredient for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dermatologists, dietitians and doctors

Sources

The job, the description and the EU annex entry are CosIng’s; the fragrance allergens are the EU Annex III names Bravoora’s label checker reads; the product counts are Open Beauty Facts’.

  1. European Commission: CosIng cosmetic ingredient database (functions, description, EU annex entry)
  2. Open Beauty Facts: product database, 77,506 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL

Contains information from Open Beauty Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this dictionary’s data · How we check

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