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Isostearyl Alcohol

What Isostearyl Alcohol is & what it does

Isostearyl Alcohol is a branched fatty alcohol used as an emollient and thickening agent in skincare and sunscreen products. It gives formulas a smooth, conditioning skin feel and helps stabilize the texture of creams and lotions. Unlike drying, low-molecular-weight alcohols such as ethanol, fatty alcohols like this one are nourishing and are not associated with the same drying effect.

Is Isostearyl Alcohol drying like other alcohols?

No, Isostearyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol, which behaves very differently from drying alcohols such as ethanol or alcohol denat. Fatty alcohols are emollients that soften and condition the skin rather than dry it out. It also helps thicken and stabilize creams and lotions.

Is Isostearyl Alcohol comedogenic?

Fatty alcohols like Isostearyl Alcohol are generally considered low risk for clogging pores, though responses vary by individual and formula. It is used mostly as a texture and emollient ingredient at modest levels. If your skin is very acne-prone, patch testing a product is a reasonable precaution.

Is Isostearyl Alcohol natural or synthetic?

Isostearyl Alcohol is usually synthesized, though its fatty-acid feedstocks can come from plant or other sources. It does not require animal-derived material and is commonly used in vegan formulations.

Sunscreens with Isostearyl Alcohol

We rate 49 sunscreens that contain it, showing the top 10 by overall score:

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