Cetyl alcohol

This short chain, saturated, fatty alcohol imparts an emollient feel to our lotions and creams and works with our cationicquaternary compounds to super-charge our conditioners.

Cetyl alcohol can be used like stearic acid to thicken our lotions for a creamier feel. You can use it up to 5% in lotions and creams, but I like to use it up to 3% because I don’t want things too thick! You can use it as the emollient – oil or butter – in a lotion for “oil free” moisturizing.

To learn more about this ingredient, click here for a longer post.