Hydroxyethyl Urea ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a humectant that binds water in leave-on skin care, hair care, and cleansing formulas. It helps improve hydration feel without the tackiness often associated with some polyols.
What does Hydroxyethyl Urea do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a humectant that binds water in leave-on skin care, hair care, and cleansing formulas. It helps improve hydration feel without the tackiness often associated with some polyols.
Is Hydroxyethyl Urea clean?
It has a generally low irritation profile and is not a common allergen or major clean-standard flashpoint. The main clean-beauty caveat is that it is typically a synthetic humectant, so it may not fit natural-certification frameworks.
Is Hydroxyethyl Urea sustainable?
This material is usually made through synthetic chemistry, often from conventional petrochemical or industrial nitrogen-based feedstocks rather than direct plant sourcing. It is water-soluble and expected to have low bioaccumulation potential, with a lighter profile than many persistent film-formers.
Is Hydroxyethyl Urea COSMOS-approved?
It is not a standard fit for COSMOS-organic or COSMOS-natural formulas because it is a synthetic molecule and is not broadly listed as an allowed natural-origin processed ingredient. From a Green Chemistry view, it scores reasonably for efficient hydration performance and water compatibility, but less well on renewable feedstock alignment unless a verified bio-based route is used.
How does Hydroxyethyl Urea work chemically?
The molecule is a small, nonionic urea derivative with hydroxyl functionality, which supports hydrogen bonding with water and skin surface proteins. It is commonly used around 1% to 10% in aqueous systems and is generally stable across typical cosmetic pH ranges.
Last updated 2026-05-15