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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Palmitic Acid in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Palmitic Acid is a cosmetic ingredient that softens and smooths the skin. Whether it is vegan depends on the make. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 697 products, most often body care.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

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What does Palmitic Acid do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Palmitic Acid softens and smooths the skin, and keeps oil and water mixed. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: emollient and emulsifying.

emollientemulsifying

What other names and numbers does Palmitic Acid have?

CAS number
57-10-3
EC number
200-312-9
CosIng reference
78421

Is Palmitic Acid vegan?

It depends on the make. Palmitic Acid 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 Palmitic Acid?

Open Beauty Facts finds Palmitic Acid in the ingredient lists of 697 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often body care, shaving and hand creams.

  • Body care54
  • Shaving39
  • Hand creams36
  • Body creams22

Products with it, by country of sale: France 211 · Germany 103 · United States 89 · Australia 51.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Palmitic Acid 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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