What is Cetyl Alcohol?

Cetyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol with a chain length of sixteen carbon atoms (C16). You get it as white, odourless pellets that melt around 49°C. In a formula it does three things at once: it thickens, it stabilises the emulsion and it softens the skin. This makes it one of the most commonly used base ingredients in creams, lotions and conditioners.

Our Cetyl Alcohol is plant-based, consists of at least 98% of the C16 fraction and is RSPO Mass Balance certified. Fatty alcohols with this chain length come from the palm chain, because palm oil is naturally rich in palmitic acid (C16). We therefore deliberately choose RSPO-certified sources. We'll explain further down what that means exactly.

Not to be confused with ordinary alcohol

The name is confusing. Fatty alcohol has nothing to do with the alcohol in disinfectant or perfume. That's ethanol: volatile, drying and irritating. Fatty alcohols are solid, waxy substances found in plants that protect the plant from drying out. On your skin they work exactly the same way: softening, protective and moisture-retaining.

What are the benefits of Cetyl Alcohol?

Thickens and stabilises your formula
Cetyl Alcohol gives creams and lotions body and keeps the emulsion together, so your product doesn't separate. Batch after batch the same structure.

Soft, gliding skin feel
Of the fatty alcohols, C16 gives the lightest and most gliding feel. Your product spreads smoothly and doesn't feel heavy or sticky.

Supports the skin barrier
It forms a thin, breathable layer that helps limit transepidermal water loss. Pleasant for dry or quickly tense skin.

Completely odourless
A neutral base that doesn't influence your fragrance profile. Ideal in fragrance-free formulas or when you want essential oils to take centre stage.

Gentle on the skin
Fatty alcohols are well tolerated by almost every skin type, including sensitive skin.

How do you use Cetyl Alcohol?

Add to the oil phase. Cetyl Alcohol must melt completely before you start emulsifying. Heat the fat phase to 60 to 70°C. You cannot add it to a cold mixture.

Recommended dosage: 1 to 3%. Within that range, the more you use, the thicker and firmer your final product. For a light lotion you're around 1%, for a rich cream or body butter towards 3%.

Always combine with a primary emulsifier such as Olivem 1000 or Vegetal / Montanov 68. Cetyl Alcohol is a co-emulsifier and structure former, not a standalone emulsifier.

Tip: let your emulsion cool slowly. Too fast cooling can give slight graininess or white spots.

What's so special about it?

Transparent about the origin
On an INCI list you never see where a fatty alcohol comes from. Cetyl Alcohol is called Cetyl Alcohol, whether it comes from palm, coconut or petrochemistry. We think you should be able to know that. Our Cetyl Alcohol comes from the palm chain and is RSPO Mass Balance certified. Mass Balance means that certified sustainable palm and non-certified palm can be mixed in the supply chain, but no more certified material can ever be sold than is actually produced sustainably. For this chain length, this is currently the most responsible route that is actually available.

The difference with the other fatty alcohols
C16 is the lightest of the three. Stearyl Alcohol (C18) gives a firmer, more waxy result and Cetearyl Alcohol is a blend of both, which gives you the middle ground. If you want a light, quickly absorbing cream, then Cetyl is your choice.

A name with a past
Cetyl comes from the Latin cetus, which means whale. Fatty alcohols were indeed obtained from spermaceti, whale oil, in the past. That's long gone. Nowadays all cosmetic Cetyl Alcohol is plant-based or synthetic.