Paraffin ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is primarily an occlusive, structuring agent, and viscosity builder in balms, sticks, ointments, and protective creams. It helps form a water-resistant film, adds firmness, and reduces moisture loss from skin.
What does Paraffin do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is primarily an occlusive, structuring agent, and viscosity builder in balms, sticks, ointments, and protective creams. It helps form a water-resistant film, adds firmness, and reduces moisture loss from skin.
Is Paraffin clean?
From a clean beauty perspective, it has friction because many standards exclude petroleum-derived materials, even though highly refined cosmetic grades are generally low-irritation and tightly purified. The main concern is not sensitization, but origin, refinement quality, and fit with natural-positioned formulas.
Is Paraffin sustainable?
This material is derived from nonrenewable petroleum streams and is not readily biodegradable. Its environmental profile is weaker than plant-derived waxes because it can persist and does not come from a renewable feedstock.
Is Paraffin COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is petrochemical in origin. Its Green Chemistry alignment is limited by nonrenewable sourcing and low biodegradability, despite being chemically stable and typically used without reactive processing in finished formulas.
How does Paraffin work chemically?
This material is a semi-solid to solid mixture of saturated straight-chain and branched hydrocarbons, commonly in roughly the C20 to C40+ range depending on grade. It is nonpolar, water-insoluble, stable across normal cosmetic pH, and often used from low single digits up to much higher levels in anhydrous sticks and balms, with melting behavior commonly around 47 to 65°C.
Last updated 2026-05-13