Database/Hair Conditioning/Ceramide 3
100% natural origin · ISO 16128

Is Ceramide 3 natural?

Yes. Both the fatty acyl chain and the phytosphingosine backbone are natural, oleochemical and fermentation-derived respectively, joined by a mass-neutral amide bond.

INCI nameCeramide 3
CAS34354-88-6
FormulaC36H73NO4 · 584.0 Da
FunctionHair Conditioning · Skin Conditioning
FeedstockMade by amide-coupling a natural fatty acid (oleochemical,…

How we scored it

N-acyl phytosphingosine: fatty acid (natural, oleochemical) amide-bonded to phytosphingosine (fermentation product, natural). Amide condensation loses only water. 100% natural.
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

Made by amide-coupling a natural fatty acid (oleochemical, saturated or unsaturated) with phytosphingosine produced by yeast fermentation. No petrochemical fragment is incorporated.

In plain English

A skin-identical lipid that helps restore the skin's barrier, built from a fatty acid and a fermentation-derived sphingoid base, both naturally occurring in skin.

CosIng definition: Ceramide 3 (Retired) is the N-acylated phytosphingosine having the erythro structure that conforms generally to the formula, where m has a value ranging from 12 to 28 in which the acyl moiety may be saturated, mono-unsaturated, or di-unsaturated and n has a value ranging from 10 to 20. The INCI Name, Ceramide 3, originally developed in 1997, was designated with a retired status in 2014. For an interim period of time, trade name assignments formerly published with the INCI Name Ceramide 3 will be retained in the retired monograph, and also published with the new name assignment, Ceramide NP.

Structure

2D structure of Ceramide 3

N-[(2S,3S,4R)-1,3,4-trihydroxyoctadecan-2-yl]octadecanamide

PubChem CID 9898642 ↗

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. 2Ceramide 3. PubChem CID 9898642. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3CERAMIDE 3. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4CERAMIDE 3. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CERAMIDE%203