Cetyl Alcohol is Not Rubbing Alcohol (here's how THAT works...)

Cetyl alcohol can throw people off when they are first starting to read ingredient lists. And I have people ask about it at markets too. And I totally get that because whyyyy does it say alcohol if it’s not. . .traditional alcohol??

Ok so real talk, there are actually different families of ingredients that are called alcohol and behave nothing at all alike!

The alcohol people are (rightfully) avoiding

Short-chain alcohols are the drying ones on skin. These include isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, and denatured alcohol are the ones that evaporate fast, feel drying, and can strip your skin barrier with repeated use. These are the alcohols in hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol. They have their place but they definitely don’t belong in your moisturizer.

Cetyl alcohol is something else entirely

Cetyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol with lovely long chains and it’s derived from vegetable oils. The longer chains in it’s structure make it so it’s waxy and solid at room temperature. It doesn’t evaporate. It doesn’t dry your skin. It does the opposite.

In a conditioner bar or lotion, cetyl alcohol acts as an emollient and thickener. It gives the product its smooth, creamy texture and helps it feel luxurious on your skin and hair. It’s incredibly skin barrier friendly.

The same name but a totally different molecule.

The quick test

If an alcohol is listed near the top of an ingredient list and the product feels drying (like hand sanitizer), that’s probably a short chain alcohol. If cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, or stearyl alcohol appears? Those are fatty alcohols that are helping your skin.

Make sure you keep on reading the whole ingredient list! Learning more about the ingredients like these that are actually good for the skin and hair is the best way to do it.

You’ll find cetyl alcohol in our conditioner bars, where it contributes to that smooth, detangling texture your hair actually feels (and now you know what it is!).

A note from the formulator :

Cetyl alcohol shows up in our conditioner bar because of exactly what this post describes - it gives that smooth, creamy texture that detangles and thankfully, has nothing to do with drying alcohols! Easy to work with and actually works well as a co-emulsifier if you need extra stability in your recipe.