Take this skin quiz to find the best ingredients for your skin and build your skin care routine.
Take The Skin Quiz
Cetearyl alcohol is fatty alcohol (not to be confused with rubbing alcohol) commonly used in skincare and beauty products. It’s a white, waxy mixture of cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol, which are both fatty alcohols. These combinations can be either synthetic or naturally sourced from palm or coconut oil. Unlike rubbing alcohol, fatty alcohols are moisturizing to the skin.
Lotions, creams, and other topical ointments include cetearyl alcohol to create a smoother texture, thicken lotions, and stabilize foams.
Cetearyl alcohol is an ingredient best used in creams, lotions, and ointments. It improves the texture of these products, making them smoother and easier to absorb into the skin. It also keeps other ingredients from separating out into oil and water-based ingredients. It also can act as a moisture barrier for moisturizers and day and night creams.
Unless you have a specific allergy to cetearyl alcohol, there aren’t any real drawbacks as far as side effects or irritation to the skin. It does not have the same chemical structure as rubbing alcohols that irritate and dry the skin.
This unfortunate name comes from the craft tissue called crepe paper, which is thin and wrinkled. Crepey skin, therefore, refers to skin that is thin and wrinkled in appearance. Crepey skin typically appears as we age and our skin loses its ability to hold moisture to stay plump and firm. We also lose our ability to produce as much collagen as we age, which also contributes to thinner, less pliable skin. The likelihood of your skin becoming crepey as you age is determined, in part, by genetics as well. Smart skincare routines and lifestyle changes can help prevent areas of thin skin from becoming crepey in appearance.
To prevent crepey skin caused by sun damage, it’s best to moisturize daily and wear sunscreen. Additionally, antioxidants protect the skin from free radicals that damage cells and speed up aging. Ingredients and nutrients like rosehip oil, jojoba oil, peptides, red tea extract, retinol/vitamin A, coenzyme Q10, alpha-hydroxy acide and salicylic acid are all beneficial for preventing and reducing wrinkles. Collagen, ingredients that boost the production of collagen like vitamin C, and moisture barriers are all useful in plumping the skin and making skin firmer and tighter.
cetearyl alcohol may be effective for crepey skin, but there are many other factors that may affect whether this ingredient would work on your skin or if there are better ingredients that may work for you. Take this skin quiz to find the best ingredients for your skin and build your skincare routine.
Next: Does collagen work on pigmentation ?