The Beauty & Personal Care Brand Builder Series

Ingredient Deep Dive

Cetearyl Glucoside

The Beauty & Personal Care Brand Builder Series

Ingredient Deep Dive

Cetearyl Glucoside

The Sugar-Derived Emulsifier

Cetearyl Glucoside is a gentle, naturally-derived oil-in-water emulsifier made from plant sugars and fatty alcohols — a mainstay of natural, skin-friendly creams.

It binds oil and water into stable, soft emulsions with a natural, cushiony feel, and often teams with cetearyl alcohol for body and stability.

Quick Insights

Ingredient Rating:

GOOD

Type of Ingredient:

Emulsifier

Intended Function:

A gentle, naturally-derived sugar-based o/w emulsifier for soft, stable creams and lotions.

Common Applications:

Used across moisturizers, serums and lotions and treatment formulas.

Target Audience:

Natural and sensitive-skin brands wanting a plant-derived emulsifier.

Also Known As:

Cetearyl Glucoside

Benefits of Cetearyl Glucoside

A gentle, sugar-derived o/w emulsifier for natural, cushiony creams.

Natural Emulsification: Binds oil and water into stable oil-in-water emulsions.
Gentle: Non-ionic and mild, suited to sensitive-skin formulas.
Soft, Cushiony Feel: Lends a natural, comforting texture.
Plant-Derived: Made from renewable sugars and fatty alcohols.
Team Player: Pairs with cetearyl alcohol and co-emulsifiers for body.

How It Works

Cetearyl Glucoside is a non-ionic sugar-based surfactant: its glucose “head” loves water while its fatty-alcohol “tail” loves oil, so it gathers at the oil–water interface and stabilizes an oil-in-water emulsion. It typically forms liquid-crystal structures that give a soft, skin-friendly feel.

Formulating with Cetearyl Glucoside

Cetearyl Glucoside is melted into the formula (often supplied with cetearyl alcohol) and used at low to moderate levels as the primary or co-emulsifier for o/w creams and lotions. Observe good manufacturing and preservation practice.

Safety Analysis

Cetearyl Glucoside is well tolerated and popular in natural formulating. As always, substantiate the finished product’s safety (e.g. patch / HRIPT testing) in line with MoCRA requirements.

References

https://incidecoder.com/ingredients/cetearyl-glucoside

https://cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/cetearyl-glucoside/

https://cosmeticanalysis.com/cosmetic-ingredients/cetearyl-glucoside

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