How we scored it
Where it comes from
Stearic acid from vegetable or animal fat is neutralised with triethanolamine, which is produced by reacting ethylene oxide with ammonia. No natural-origin amine is used commercially in this salt.
In plain English
A soap-like salt of stearic acid and triethanolamine used to emulsify oils and water and to help cleanse. The stearic acid comes from vegetable or animal fat; triethanolamine is made from petrochemical ethylene oxide and ammonia.
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Structure
octadecanoate;tris(2-hydroxyethyl)azanium
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.
- 2TEA-Stearate. PubChem CID 20701. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- 3TEA-STEARATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 4TEA-STEARATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=TEA-STEARATE