How we scored it
Where it comes from
Made by ethoxylating stearic acid (from vegetable oil, sometimes tallow) with 45 moles of ethylene oxide. No natural ethoxylation route exists commercially.
In plain English
An emulsifier made from natural stearic acid, a vegetable fat, combined with a long synthetic ethylene-oxide chain, used to blend oil and water in creams.
CosIng definition: Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), .alpha.-(1-oxooctadecyl)-.omega.-hydroxy- (45 mol EO average molar ratio)
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References
- 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.
- 2PEG-45 STEARATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 3PEG-45 STEARATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=PEG-45%20STEARATE