Build my profileBuild my profile

Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

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

Polyvinyl Alcohol is a cosmetic ingredient that makes the product thicker or thinner. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 58 products, most often face masks.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

What does Polyvinyl Alcohol do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Polyvinyl Alcohol makes the product thicker or thinner and leaves a thin film on skin, hair or nails. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: viscosity controlling and film forming.

viscosity controllingfilm forming

What other names and numbers does Polyvinyl Alcohol have?

CAS number
9002-89-5, 25213-24-5
CosIng reference
79330

Which products contain Polyvinyl Alcohol?

Open Beauty Facts finds Polyvinyl Alcohol in the ingredient lists of 58 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often face masks, face care and volumizing mascaras.

  • Face masks6
  • Face care6
  • Volumizing mascaras3
  • Face scrubs2

Products with it, by country of sale: Germany 13 · France 12 · United States 6 · Canada 4.

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

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

Create a website profile with the things you avoid and the people you check for.

Build my profile

Save and edit your profile on this website. App transfer is not available yet.