Hydroxypropyl Cellulose ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a nonionic thickener, film-former, binder, and suspension stabilizer. It helps build gel texture, improve spread, and keep pigments or powders evenly dispersed.
What does Hydroxypropyl Cellulose do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a nonionic thickener, film-former, binder, and suspension stabilizer. It helps build gel texture, improve spread, and keep pigments or powders evenly dispersed.
Is Hydroxypropyl Cellulose clean?
It is generally well tolerated, not a common allergen, and has little friction in clean-beauty restricted-list systems. The main quality note is control of residual processing reagents from manufacture, which is handled through raw-material specifications.
Is Hydroxypropyl Cellulose sustainable?
This material starts with plant-derived it, usually from wood pulp or cotton, then is chemically modified for solubility and performance. It is considered biodegradable, though the modification can make it break down more slowly than unmodified it.
Is Hydroxypropyl Cellulose COSMOS-approved?
It can be permitted under COSMOS-natural and COSMOS-organic formulations when the raw material meets the standard, but it does not count as organic content. From a Green Chemistry view, it has a renewable backbone and low use levels, with some compromise from chemical modification and nonrenewable reagent inputs.
How does Hydroxypropyl Cellulose work chemically?
The molecule is a nonionic it ether, where part of the hydroxyl functionality on the sugar backbone is substituted to make the polymer more compatible with water and polar solvents. It is commonly used around 0.1% to 3%, hydrates best with good dispersion to prevent clumping, and viscosity can drop at elevated temperatures because this class shows thermal gelation or clouding behavior.
Last updated 2026-05-16