Cetearyl Alcohol

It is a white solid that occurs in the form of white flakes at room temperature. It is more of a waxy solid. The word cetyl comes from the Latin word Cetus which actually means whale oil. It was discovered by Micheal Chevreul who was a French chemist in the year 1817. The scientist was heating Spermaceti which is actually a wax that is obtained from the sperm whale oil. He heated spermaceti with potassium hydroxide to obtain white solid flakes.

The main use of this whit flaky solid is as a surfactant. As a surfactant it finds its use in shampoos as well as conditioners. It has hair coating properties and is non ionic in nature. It can also be used as a lubricant.

One of the main uses of Cetearyl alcohol is as a skin softener. A skin softener is also known as an emollient. When applied to the skin, it forms a waxy kind of a layer on the skin and ultimately softens it when used for a long time. Since it is waxy in nature, it is also used as a thickening agent in many types of creams as well as body lotions. It can also be used as an emulsifier as it has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic chains. It forms micelles when added an oil and water mixture, thus allowing dispersing one phase into another. It also finds use in gardening. Since it is waxy in nature, it can be applied on the surfaces of leaves of plants that lose water very soon. Its oily nature forms a thick coat on the surface and prevents water from evaporating. This allows the plants to conserve water preventing it from drying out too soon. It finds its use in the cosmetic industry as well, where it forms a part of the wax base for lipsticks and other types of creams.

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