Surfactants & Emulsifiers
Surfactants let cleansers lift dirt and oil from skin, while emulsifiers keep creams and lotions from separating. This category covers common members like glycerin-derived cleansers and emulsifying waxes.
Surfactants & Emulsifiers (11)
Carbomer
The gel-builder behind every clear serum — an invisible thickener with a confusing name and a clean safety record.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersCellulose Gum
Plant cellulose made water-loving — the thickening fiber in ice cream, toothpaste, and the gut-permeability research debate.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersCetearyl Alcohol
The fatty-alcohol blend that gives creams their body — a 'drying alcohol' by name only, and an emollient in fact.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersCetyl Alcohol
The C16 fatty alcohol behind silky creams — a moisturizing thickener from coconut/palm, not a drying alcohol.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersCocamidopropyl Betaine
The foam-boosting co-surfactant from coconut — gentle enough for baby shampoo, with an allergy reputation built on impurities.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersDecyl Glucoside
The sugar-based cleanser — genuinely plant-derived, genuinely gentle, and the backbone of the 'clean' cleansing era.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersGuar Gum
The bean-derived thickener and fiber — a functional food ingredient with real cholesterol and blood-sugar data.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersPolysorbate 20
The gentler, water-loving polysorbate — a mild cleanser and solubilizer with less gut controversy than its big sibling.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersPolysorbate 80
The emulsifier that makes oil and water mix — essential in vaccines, ice cream, and creams, controversial in some gut studies.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersSodium Laureth Sulfate
SLS's gentler cousin — the ethoxylated cleanser behind most shampoos, milder by design and by decades of data.
Surfactants & EmulsifiersSodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
The foaming workhorse of shampoo and toothpaste — an effective, safe-at-rinse-off cleanser with an irritation reputation to manage.