Database/Emulsifying Surfactant/Coceth-6
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Coceth-6 natural?

Mostly not. The coconut fatty alcohol is natural; the ethylene-oxide chain is petrochemical.

INCI nameCoceth-6
CAS61791-13-7
FunctionEmulsifying Surfactant · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockCoconut fatty alcohols ethoxylated with about 6 mol…

How we scored it

Coceth-6: coco fatty alcohol about 200 Da (natural, mainly C12-C14) + 6 EO 264.3 Da (petrochemical) = 464.3 Da → 0.43. Same method as Coceth-7.
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

Coconut fatty alcohols ethoxylated with about 6 mol of ethylene oxide.

In plain English

A mild cleansing and emulsifying ingredient made from coconut-derived fatty alcohol reacted with a synthetic ethylene oxide chain.

CosIng definition: Alcohols, coco, ethoxylated (6 mol EO average molar ratio)

Natural alternatives with the same function

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. 2COCETH-6. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3COCETH-6. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=COCETH-6