Steartrimonium Chloride ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a cationic conditioning agent and antistatic used mainly in hair conditioners, masks, and detangling products. It helps reduce combing force, smooth the cuticle feel, and improve wet and dry manageability.
What does Steartrimonium Chloride do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a cationic conditioning agent and antistatic used mainly in hair conditioners, masks, and detangling products. It helps reduce combing force, smooth the cuticle feel, and improve wet and dry manageability.
Is Steartrimonium Chloride clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, it has friction because many standards restrict conventional cationic conditioning salts due to irritation potential at higher levels and aquatic-organism concerns. It is generally used within tight concentration limits in mainstream formulations.
Is Steartrimonium Chloride sustainable?
This material is typically made from a fatty-chain feedstock that may be plant-derived or petrochemical-derived, plus synthetic quaternization chemistry. It is not considered a strong fit for readily biodegradable, low-impact ingredient design compared with newer ester-based conditioning agents.
Is Steartrimonium Chloride COSMOS-approved?
It is not permitted under COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic as a conventional synthetic cationic surfactant. Its Green Chemistry alignment is limited by its persistent cationic structure, aquatic-organism profile, and processing route.
How does Steartrimonium Chloride work chemically?
The molecule is a long-chain positively charged conditioning salt, so it adsorbs strongly to negatively charged hair and skin surfaces and can build substantive slip. In the EU, related long-chain cationic conditioning salts are typically capped by product type, with rinse-off hair products around low single-digit percentages and leave-on use lower.
Last updated 2026-05-13