Cetearyl alcohol derives its vegan and vegetarian status from fatty acids, ethylene.
| Vegan? Maybe | Vegetarian? Maybe |
Classifications are made based on the available commercial supply of the ingredient, and are made based on the criteria on our classifications page.
Commercially available cetearyl alcohol may be vegan depending on the source and may be vegetarian depending on the source.
Cetearyl alcohol is a white, waxy solid, usually in flake form used in cosmetics. According to the only reputable source I can find (from 1988) it is made from one of two methods. First, it can be produced by the catalytic hydrogenation of fatty acids. In this case, the fatty acids likely come from coconut or palm oil, but could come from animal sources. The second method is from the Ziegler process using ethylene. In this case, it would be vegan.
Sources
- (Ed.). (1988). 5 Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Isostearyl Alcohol, Myristyl Alcohol, and Behenyl Alcohol. Journal of the American College of Toxicology, 7(3), 359–413.
https://doi.org/10.3109/10915818809023137 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziegler_process