Database/Emulsifying Surfactant/Steareth-11
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Steareth-11 natural?

Mostly not. The natural fatty-alcohol chain is increasingly diluted by petrochemical ethoxylation as EO units rise.

INCI nameSteareth-11
FunctionEmulsifying Surfactant · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockMade by ethoxylating oleochemical stearyl alcohol with petrochemical…

How we scored it

Stearyl alcohol 270.5 Da (natural) + 11x EO 484.6 Da (petrochemical) = 755.1 Da. 270.5/755.1 = 0.36.
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 oleochemical stearyl alcohol with petrochemical ethylene oxide, at 11 mol EO average.

In plain English

Steareth-11 helps cleanse and emulsify in a formula. It's made from a fat-derived fatty alcohol reacted with ethylene oxide, a petroleum-based ingredient.

CosIng definition: Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), .alpha.-octadecyl-.omega.-hydroxy

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. 2STEARETH-11. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3STEARETH-11. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=STEARETH-11