Alcohol In Your Cosmetics!? Cetyl Alcohol. Is It Good or Bad?

[African American woman applying cream on face]. (2020)

Alcohol in your cosmetics! Cetyl alcohol is an ingredient that you can find in your lotions, hair conditioners, and other cosmetics. Why is cetyl alcohol added to lots of products that claim to moisturize your hair and skin? Doesn't alcohol cause skin dryness and irritation? In this article, we will discuss some of cetyl alcohol’s features, why it’s added to cosmetic products, and its difference from regular alcohols.

To answer the question of why is cetyl alcohol added to moisturizing products, we need first to understand what are fatty alcohols and how they are different from the regular type of alcohol that we know. Cetyl alcohol is one type of fatty alcohol which has a special chemical structure. They consist of long carbon chains which is the reason for their thick and waxy consistency unlike other types of alcohol that are usually liquid form (Cafasso, 2022). This property makes cetyl alcohol a very useful ingredient for cosmetic products. 

Fatty alcohols have so many great properties that make them useful to add to cosmetic products. One of the great qualities of fatty alcohols is that they provide thickness to the products (Cafasso, 2022). That will prevent products from melting or becoming too liquid in hot weather. Additionally, unlike other alcohols that are used in sanitizing products such as rubbing alcohol which can cause skin dryness and irritation, fatty alcohols are considered amazing moisturizers (Cafasso, 2022). They prevent dryness and chapping of the skin because of their ability to bind water (1-Hexadecanol chemical structure, 2004). Finally, they consider great emulsifiers as they aid in blending oils and liquids which means that it helps creams to not separate into oil and liquid when it is added (Britannica, 2011).

Finally, In terms of toxicity, Based on the International Journal of Toxicology 2016’s report,  cetyl alcohol is a safe ingredient for cosmetics products in accordance with current usage habits. Therefore, you can keep using cetyl alcohol as it is an important ingredient in so many cosmetic products.

References 

Britannica, T. (2011, November 11). cetyl alcohol. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/cetyl-alcohol 

Cafasso, J. (2022). Cetearyl Alcohol: What you need to know about this common ingredient. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/cetearyl-alcohol 

International Journal of Toxicology. (2016). 5 Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Isostearyl Alcohol, Myristyl Alcohol, and Behenyl Alcohol. International Journal of Toxicology, vol. 7, no. 3, 1988, pp. 359-413. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3109/10915818809023137  

Shimazaki, S. (2020). African American woman applying cream on face [photograph]. Pexel. https://www.pexels.com/photo/african-american-woman-applying-cream-on-face-5938590/

9  [1-Hexadecanol chemical structure]. (2004). National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/1-Hexadecanol.