3 Butylene Glycol ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is primarily used as a humectant and solvent, helping water bind in the skin while improving the spread, clarity, and stability of formulas. It also helps dissolve preservatives, extracts, and fragrance components.
What does 3 Butylene Glycol do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is primarily used as a humectant and solvent, helping water bind in the skin while improving the spread, clarity, and stability of formulas. It also helps dissolve preservatives, extracts, and fragrance components.
Is 3 Butylene Glycol clean?
Clean-beauty standards generally treat this ingredient as acceptable and low-irritation, with little allergen concern at normal cosmetic use levels. The main clean-standard friction is source transparency, since the same listing can represent either petrochemical or bio-based material.
Is 3 Butylene Glycol sustainable?
This material can be made from petroleum feedstocks or from plant sugar fermentation, so its sustainability profile depends heavily on sourcing. It is generally considered readily biodegradable and not known for environmental persistence.
Is 3 Butylene Glycol COSMOS-approved?
It can align with COSMOS when the grade is bio-based and made under approved processing conditions, but conventional petrochemical grades are not a strong fit for COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic certification. From a Green Chemistry view, renewable sourcing and biodegradability are positives, while fossil sourcing weakens the profile.
How does 3 Butylene Glycol work chemically?
This molecule is a small, water-miscible two-alcohol compound that lowers water activity, improves solubilization, and contributes a light moisturizing feel. Typical use levels are about 1 to 10 percent, and it is broadly stable across common cosmetic pH ranges with good compatibility in water-based emulsions, gels, and serums.
Last updated 2026-05-13