Poloxamer 188 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient functions mainly as a nonionic surfactant, solubilizer, and emulsifier, helping disperse oils, fragrance components, and actives in water-based formulas. It can also improve wetting and stabilize suspensions.
What does Poloxamer 188 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient functions mainly as a nonionic surfactant, solubilizer, and emulsifier, helping disperse oils, fragrance components, and actives in water-based formulas. It can also improve wetting and stabilize suspensions.
Is Poloxamer 188 clean?
It is generally low-sensitizing and widely used in pharmaceutical-style formulations, but it has clean-standard friction because it is a fully synthetic, ethoxylated polymer. Quality depends on tight control of trace processing residues such as ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane.
Is Poloxamer 188 sustainable?
This material is typically made from petrochemical feedstocks through ethoxylation and propoxylation chemistry. Its polyether structure is not considered readily biodegradable, so environmental persistence is the main sustainability concern.
Is Poloxamer 188 COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards as a conventional synthetic ethoxylated polymer. Its Green Chemistry fit is weak because it relies on fossil-derived epoxide chemistry and has limited biodegradability, despite being effective at low use levels.
How does Poloxamer 188 work chemically?
The molecule is a nonionic amphiphilic triblock copolymer with hydrophilic polyether end blocks and a more hydrophobic polyether center, giving it micelle-forming and solubilizing behavior. In personal care, it is commonly used around 0.1% to 5% depending on the solubilization or dispersion need, and it is generally stable across typical cosmetic pH ranges.
Last updated 2026-05-13