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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Cholesterol in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Cholesterol is a cosmetic ingredient that softens and smooths the skin. Whether it is vegan depends on the make. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 151 products, most often body care.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

Heads up

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What does Cholesterol do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Cholesterol softens and smooths the skin, keeps oil and water mixed, and keeps the skin in good condition. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: emollient, emulsifying, skin conditioning, viscosity controlling and stabilising.

emollientemulsifyingskin conditioningviscosity controllingstabilising

What other names and numbers does Cholesterol have?

CAS number
57-88-5
EC number
200-353-2
CosIng reference
74991

Is Cholesterol vegan?

It depends on the make. Cholesterol 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 Cholesterol?

Open Beauty Facts finds Cholesterol in the ingredient lists of 151 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often body care, skincare and skin cream.

  • Body care4
  • Skincare4
  • Skin cream4
  • Hair care3

Products with it, by country of sale: United States 50 · France 20 · Netherlands 12 · Morocco 7.

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

On these listsEmollientsEmulsifiers

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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