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Stearyl Alcohol

What Stearyl Alcohol is & what it does

A fatty alcohol that softens skin and thickens and stabilizes emulsions, adding a smooth, creamy texture. It helps the oil and water phases stay blended.

What is Stearyl Alcohol and what does it do in sunscreen?

Stearyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol that works as an emollient and a thickener. In a sunscreen it softens the skin, gives the cream a smooth, creamy texture, and helps stabilize the emulsion so the oil and water phases stay blended. It is the kind of ingredient that makes a lotion feel rich and spread evenly rather than splitting or running.

Is Stearyl Alcohol the same as the alcohol that dries out skin?

No. Despite the name, Stearyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol, not a drying solvent alcohol like denatured alcohol or ethanol. Fatty alcohols are waxy, oil-like ingredients that soften and condition skin, the opposite of the lightweight alcohols that can feel stripping. Seeing it on a label is no reason to expect dryness.

Is Stearyl Alcohol safe?

Yes. It is a long-standing, widely used cosmetic ingredient considered well tolerated and non-irritating for most people. Fatty alcohols like this sit on the surface to condition skin and thicken the formula, and they have a strong safety record across creams, lotions and sunscreens.

Does Stearyl Alcohol clog pores?

Generally no. It is not flagged as comedogenic in our data, and it is used as a structural emollient rather than a heavy pore-clogging oil. Very acne-prone skin can occasionally react to rich fatty ingredients, but in a balanced sunscreen Stearyl Alcohol is not a notable concern.

What else is Stearyl Alcohol called on an ingredient list?

Stearyl Alcohol is the INCI name printed on the label, and it usually appears in the middle of the list alongside other thickeners and emollients. You may also see it described simply as a fatty alcohol or octadecanol. It is closely related to Cetearyl Alcohol and Cetyl Alcohol, which do a very similar job.

Sunscreens with Stearyl Alcohol

We rate 418 sunscreens that contain it, showing the top 10 by overall score:

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