Database/Emulsifying Surfactant/PEG-200 Castor Oil
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is PEG-200 Castor Oil natural?

Mostly not. A small castor-oil (natural triglyceride) core is heavily diluted by 200 units of petrochemical ethylene oxide.

INCI namePEG-200 Castor Oil
CAS61791-12-6
FunctionEmulsifying Surfactant · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockMade by reacting castor oil, pressed from castor…

How we scored it

Castor oil ~933Da natural + 200x C2H4O (44Da)=8800Da petrochemical. 933/9733=0.10.
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 reacting castor oil, pressed from castor beans, with 200 moles of petrochemical ethylene oxide. No alternative commercial route.

In plain English

A water-soluble cleansing and emulsifying ingredient made from castor oil heavily modified with a long petroleum-derived chain.

CosIng definition: Castor oil, ethoxylated (200 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. 2PEG-200 CASTOR OIL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3PEG-200 CASTOR OIL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=PEG-200%20CASTOR%20OIL