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Cetyl Alcohol in Creams
Hello!
So I just got some cetyl alcohol to use as a thickener, and I was wondering about how much I should generally use to create a cream?
Thanks,
Nathaniel -
23 Replies
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Depends what and how much emulsifier and other solids or butters u got in there I think mate, but I use it at 3 percent in a few products.
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It depends on what other accompanying ingredients you use it with, such as if the emulsifier you use contains any other fatty alcohol, your gums, your synthetic thickeners, etc.
If i use it, i will use 1.5% to 3%. I combine it with an emulsifier and synthetic thickener. Sometimes i don’t use as well as the emulsifier already contain a fatty alcohol.
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@natzam44, if you don’t have any other thickeners (carbomers, polymeric emulsifiers, etc) start at 3%. But in general it depends on the formula. I use 5% in a conditioner for example.
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@ngarayeva001
Thanks for the advice!
I currently have the cetyl alcohol at 5% in my formula so we’ll see how it turns out. -
is the percentage of cetyl alcohol usage depending on percentage of oil phase and emulsifier?
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My experience on cetyl alcohol is that it is thickener and also emulsifier.
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Ciao. L’ alcool cetilico è un emulsionante lipolifolico con hlb 5 ed anche un fattore di consistenza addensante che rende la texture più asciutta. Solitamente lo si usa in una percentuale dall 1 al 5% . Io lo uso anche in percentuale minore abbinandolo ad altri due emulsionanti. Tutto dipende dalla tua fase grassa. Se mi dici la tua fase grassa e gli emulsionanti che hai in formula ti dico esattamente come dosarli
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It’s not an emulsifier and has a HLB requirement of about 15. However, it is useful as ‘co-emulsifier’. Alone (and also in conjunction with emulsifiers), it forms liquid crystal networks which can stabilise emulsions giving cetyl alcohol the apparent ability to actually emulsify the two phases (though the effect is closer to that of a polymeric stabiliser).
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@Pharma, thanks . You are right that it is co-emulsifier
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Pharma said:It’s not an emulsifier and has a HLB requirement of about 15. However, it is useful as ‘co-emulsifier’. Alone (and also in conjunction with emulsifiers), it forms liquid crystal networks which can stabilise emulsions giving cetyl alcohol the apparent ability to actually emulsify the two phases (though the effect is closer to that of a polymeric stabiliser).
Grazie per la spiegazione. Il mio fornitore lo vende per emulsionante. Non si finisce mai di imparare. Grazie 1000 🙏
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@Kriss68
when small percentage of oil phase , for example, 6% or less. It likely needs cetyl alcohol? -
Kriss68 said:Grazie 1000 🙏Prego! Mi italiano sucks… but I manage to understand a good part when reading it.I wonder how they got that HLB 5. Using HLB calculation blindfolded, cetyl alcohol would have a HLB value of 1.5. In reality it’s different because the hydrophilic part is too small to be effective and has to be ignored (easily proven: cetyl alcohol dissolves only in oil, not water) resulting in a hydrophilic value of virtually 0 or a calculated HLB of 0.08 which is equal to 0 or no emulsifier at all.It might however, and that’s why I’m asking, shift the apparent HLB of a mixture like it were of HLB 5??? Like mixing it 1:1 with something of HLB 15 resulting in a HLB 10… never heard of that but who knows.
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HLB of cetyl alcohol is 15.5 @Kriss68
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I have never found anything yet in which cetyl cannot be more usefully be replaced by cetearyl.
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@Belassi
I completely agree, however none of the suppliers I currently use sell cetearyl alcohol.If I truly wanted, I could obtain some, but for the time being I find it more convenient to keep my number of suppliers to a minimum.
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IMO Cetearyl alcohol feels more “draggy” than cetyl does.
You can make cetearyl alcohol yourself if you can find cetyl and stearyl alcohol.Some say behenyl alcohols feels even better and leaves a powdery-like residue but I haven’t tried it.
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I agree with @Gunther. Cetearyl is more draggy than cetyl.
Re: behenyl.. It’s a strange thing. Yes, it is silky-powdery but it’s also very draggy upon application. I managed to make one product where behenyl played well but it really depends on what else is in the formula and what result you want to achieve. Behenyl is definitely worth trying but it’s not very emollient.
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@Gunther
@ngarayeva001
Thanks for the extra input. I have considered making my own cetearyl alcohol and I might give it a try.
As for the behenyl alcohol, I will do some research and see if I might give it a try. -
@natzam44, get a sample if you can. Or you can get small amount here https://www.glamourcosmetics.it/it/behenyl-alcohol
it’s an interesting ingredient but whether you would like it or not is a matter of personal preferences.
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I have all the three - Cetyl, Cetostearyl and Behenyl. It’s true, I rarely use the Cetostearyl, so I can’t share any thoughts about it. In my lotions I use primarily Behenyl, but to be quite honest I can’t find any difference between Behenyl and Cetyl. In my point of view, the overall feeling of the emulsion is dependent of all of the components, and the way the emulsion is made.
Recently I use (thanks to ngarayeva001) a liquid crystal promoter, co-emulsifier and thickener called Oliwax LC (Hallstar). It’s quite moisturising, and allows to decrease the level of main emulsifier. One of the ingredients of Oliwax LC is Cetyl Palmitate - a simple ester, with realy dry feeling, but it softens the skin extremely. I mean it really softens the skin almost like the polyquads. I use Myristyl Myristate either, but can’t say that it has “powdery feeling”. It’s all depends of the overall formula.
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The only way to see the difference is to make the same base with different thickeners and compare. Myristyl Myristate isn’t powdery at all. It’s more similar to beeswax. Again it’s very subjective, something that one person finds draggy another might find silky.
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From my limited experience, adding some Cetyl Alcohol to creams already containing high levels of Cetearyl alcohol improved slip and glide without question.
I recently acquired some Stearyl Alcohol, I am assuming it will be somewhat draggy. It is contained in some of the products I am trying to reverse engineer, not sure why yet.
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