Database/Emulsifying Surfactant/PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil natural?

Mostly not. The castor triglyceride core is natural; 60 ethylene-oxide units added for water solubility are petrochemical.

INCI namePEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
CAS61788-85-0
FunctionEmulsifying Surfactant · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockMade by ethoxylating natural hydrogenated castor oil with…

How we scored it

Hydrogenated castor oil 933 Da (natural) + 60 x C2H4O ethylene oxide 2643 Da (petrochemical) = 3576 Da; 933/3576 = 0.26.
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 ethoxylating natural hydrogenated castor oil with 60 moles of petrochemical ethylene oxide to create a water-soluble emulsifier. The long EO chain dominates the final mass.

In plain English

An emulsifier that lets oil and water mix, made from castor oil reacted with many units of ethylene oxide. Used in cleansers and fragrance solubilisers. Most of its weight comes from the added ethylene oxide, not the castor oil.

CosIng definition: Castor oil (Ricinus communis), hydrogenated, ethoxylated (60 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-60 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3PEG-60 HYDROGENATED 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-60%20HYDROGENATED%20CASTOR%20OIL