Cosmetic Ingredients Series : Stearyl Alcohol

Is Stearyl Alcohol Bad For Skin? Find out in this useful little article about natural cosmetics and the common ingredients that go into them.

Stearyl Alcohol

---

Cosmetic Ingredients Series

GHS Classification

Stearyl alcohol is an emollient and helps to thicken cosmetic products. It helps to reduce moisture loss from skin and has mild antibacterial and anti-allergenic properties. Stearyl alcohol is a plant, human and algal metabolite. Metabolites are small molecules used in metabolism. A metabolite is a  biological compound used as fuel, for structure, in cell communication, for stimulating and inhibiting enzymes and as part of the immune response.  Primary metabolites are involved in cell growth mediation and reproduction.

TOXICITY

The LD50  is the Lethal Dose in 50% of the population. It is used as the basis for calculating how safe a chemical is for subsequent use in products such as food, cosmetics, colourants and medicines. It is normally calibrated using animal testing.

LD50 Rabbit dermal >3 g/kg

The amount needed on the skin to kill 50% of the rabbits tested was greater than 3g per kg of body weight.

LD50 Rat oral 20 g/kg

The amount needed to kill 50% of the rats orally was 20g per kg of body weight.

HUMAN TOXICITY

pubchem source link