Database/Gel Forming/Steareth-100
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Steareth-100 natural?

Mostly not. Stearyl alcohol is oleochemical and natural, but one hundred ethoxylate units from petrochemical ethylene oxide make up almost all of the molecule's mass.

INCI nameSteareth-100
FunctionGel Forming · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockStearyl alcohol for Steareth-100 is typically oleochemical, from…

How we scored it

Stearyl natural fragment C18H37O 269.5 Da / total (stearyl+100 EO) ~4675.5 Da = 0.06.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Stearyl alcohol for Steareth-100 is typically oleochemical, from vegetable oil. It is reacted with about one hundred moles of petrochemical ethylene oxide, which dominates the final mass.

In plain English

A gel-forming, cleansing ingredient made from a coconut/palm-derived fatty alcohol (stearyl alcohol) reacted with a very large amount of ethylene oxide.

CosIng definition: Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), .alpha.-octadecyl-.omega.-hydroxy

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2STEARETH-100. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3STEARETH-100. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=STEARETH-100