Silicones ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is mainly used as an emollient, conditioning agent, slip enhancer, and film-former. It helps formulas spread smoothly, reduces tack, adds softness, and can improve water resistance or shine.
What does Silicones do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is mainly used as an emollient, conditioning agent, slip enhancer, and film-former. It helps formulas spread smoothly, reduces tack, adds softness, and can improve water resistance or shine.
Is Silicones clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, this ingredient has significant restricted-list friction because of environmental persistence concerns, especially for some small cyclic forms. Skin tolerance is generally good, so the main issue is not irritation but clean-standard alignment.
Is Silicones sustainable?
This material is typically made from mineral-derived silicon chemistry and petrochemical inputs, with energy-intensive processing. It is not readily biodegradable and can persist in the environment, which weakens its sustainability profile.
Is Silicones COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards for cosmetic ingredients. It has a weaker Green Chemistry fit because it is synthetic, persistent, not renewable, and not readily biodegradable.
How does Silicones work chemically?
The molecule family is built around a silicon and oxygen backbone with organic side groups, and members can be linear, branched, or cyclic with very different volatility and viscosity. Use levels vary widely, from below 1% for sensorial modification to 5% to 20% or more in leave-on conditioning, makeup, hair care, and water-resistant formats.
Last updated 2026-05-13