How we scored it
Single C18 saturated fatty acid fragment, oleochemical hydrolysis product of natural fats; no petrochemical portion → 1.00.
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
Produced by hydrolysing (splitting) tallow or vegetable fats such as palm or shea, then separating the C18 fatty acid fraction. A minor synthetic paraffin-oxidation route exists but is not typical for cosmetic grade.
In plain English
A waxy fatty acid from animal fat or vegetable oil, used to thicken creams and stabilise emulsions. It is made by simply splitting natural fats apart, not by chemical synthesis from petroleum.
Structure
octadecanoic acid
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.
- 2Stearic Acid. PubChem CID 5281. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- 3STEARIC ACID. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 4STEARIC ACID. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=STEARIC%20ACID