Peg-75 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient primarily acts as a humectant, solvent, binder, and viscosity-support agent in personal care formulas. It helps hold water in a formula and can improve texture in creams, gels, cleansers, and hair products.
What does Peg-75 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient primarily acts as a humectant, solvent, binder, and viscosity-support agent in personal care formulas. It helps hold water in a formula and can improve texture in creams, gels, cleansers, and hair products.
Is Peg-75 clean?
From a clean beauty perspective, this ingredient has friction because it is made through ethoxylation and can carry trace processing residues such as 1,4-dioxane if purification is weak. It is generally low-irritation on skin, but many clean standards flag this ingredient class for manufacturing-related concerns rather than day-to-day use performance.
Is Peg-75 sustainable?
This material is typically petrochemical-derived and highly water-soluble. Its environmental profile is less aligned with readily renewable, readily biodegradable ingredients, especially at higher molecular weights.
Is Peg-75 COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because this ingredient class is ethoxylated and synthetic. From a Green Chemistry perspective, it scores weakly on renewable sourcing and biodegradability, though it is usually efficient and stable in small formula amounts.
How does Peg-75 work chemically?
This compound is a high-molecular-weight polyether built from repeating oxyethylene units, which gives it strong water affinity and broad compatibility in aqueous systems. It is commonly used at low single-digit percentages, remains stable across typical cosmetic pH ranges, and is not prone to rancidity because it has no fatty acid unsaturation.
Last updated 2026-05-13