Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a powder texture modifier, oil absorbent, and anti-caking agent. It helps formulas feel drier and smoother, especially in powders, makeup, sunscreens, and emulsions.
What does Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a powder texture modifier, oil absorbent, and anti-caking agent. It helps formulas feel drier and smoother, especially in powders, makeup, sunscreens, and emulsions.
Is Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, it is usually treated as low-irritation and not a major restricted-list concern. The main caveats are its chemically modified nature and general inhalation considerations for fine powders in loose or spray formats.
Is Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate sustainable?
It is built on a plant-derived polysaccharide backbone, commonly sourced from crops such as corn, potato, or tapioca. It is expected to be biodegradable, but its synthetic modification step and agricultural inputs keep its sustainability profile from being fully straightforward.
Is Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate COSMOS-approved?
It is not a simple COSMOS-organic match, and COSMOS-natural acceptance is supplier-specific because the molecule is chemically modified and must meet natural-origin, processing, and residue criteria. It aligns reasonably with Green Chemistry through renewable content and biodegradability, with a compromise around the added synthetic hydrophobic groups.
How does Calcium Starch Octenylsuccinate work chemically?
This material is a calcium-neutralized, esterified plant polysaccharide with bulky C8 hydrophobic side groups, which improves oil binding, slip, and powder flow. It is used mainly in anhydrous powders, emulsions, and makeup bases at low single-digit percentages, and it is generally stable across typical cosmetic pH ranges when kept dry and protected from microbial contamination.
Last updated 2026-05-16