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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Propylene Glycol in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Propylene Glycol is a cosmetic ingredient that holds water in the skin or the product. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 2,919 products, most often shampoos.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

What does Propylene Glycol do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Propylene Glycol holds water in the skin or the product, keeps the skin in good condition and makes the product thicker or thinner. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: humectant, skin conditioning, viscosity controlling and solvent.

humectantskin conditioningviscosity controllingsolvent

What other names and numbers does Propylene Glycol have?

CAS number
57-55-6
EC number
200-338-0
CosIng reference
37269

Which products contain Propylene Glycol?

Open Beauty Facts finds Propylene Glycol in the ingredient lists of 2,919 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often shampoos, hair care and deodorants.

  • Shampoos224
  • Hair care213
  • Deodorants110

Products with it, by country of sale: France 866 · Germany 420 · United States 261 · Australia 157.

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

On these listsHumectants

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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