Polyurethane-11 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is primarily a film-former that helps create a flexible, durable coating on skin, hair, or nails. It can improve wear, hold, water resistance, and transfer resistance in color cosmetics, hair styling, and long-wear formulas.
What does Polyurethane-11 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is primarily a film-former that helps create a flexible, durable coating on skin, hair, or nails. It can improve wear, hold, water resistance, and transfer resistance in color cosmetics, hair styling, and long-wear formulas.
Is Polyurethane-11 clean?
Clean-beauty frameworks often flag it as a synthetic film-forming polymer, especially where non-biodegradable polymer or microplastic policies apply. Direct irritation potential is generally low, but its clean-standard friction comes from polymer persistence rather than routine skin reactivity.
Is Polyurethane-11 sustainable?
This material is typically petrochemical-derived and is not readily biodegradable. Its environmental profile centers on persistence of polymer residues, particularly in rinse-off formats where wastewater release is more relevant.
Is Polyurethane-11 COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is a synthetic film-forming polymer outside the allowed ingredient categories. From a Green Chemistry perspective, it has weak alignment due to nonrenewable feedstocks and limited biodegradability, although its durability can support lower reapplication in some leave-on products.
How does Polyurethane-11 work chemically?
The molecule is a synthetic high-molecular-weight polymer built from repeating carbamate-type linkages, which form cohesive films as solvent or water evaporates. It is usually used at low to moderate levels as supplied in dispersions or solutions, and formulation performance depends more on resin solids, solvent system, and plasticizer compatibility than on pH-driven activity.
Last updated 2026-05-14