Beauty

[Porcelain]

You'll very often find cetearyl alcohol in body moisturizers, which is totally fine. It's a moisturizer (aka emollient). Cetyl and Steryl alcohols are okay too.

Like others have said, avoid plain alcohol, denatured alcohol, or ethanol. Also avoid isopropyl, propyl, sd alcohol, and propynol. These are all drying and bad for you.

If it ends in "yl" and doesn't include "prop," you are probably okay.

Occasionally one of these drying alcohols is part of a blend for an active ingredient, so the cosmetics company has to include it in the ingredient list because those are the FDA rules. In that case, you might see a drying type alcohol way far down in the list, and the product may still be just fine. But if a drying alcohol, not a fatty one like cetearyl alcohol, is in the first 5 ingredients, run far far far away.

[SilleeMee]

In FDA labeling of cosmetic alcohol ( not the fatty alcohols) the term alcohol used by itself means it is of the ethanol type. When you see the term SD Alcohol, that means it is Specially Denatured (ethyl) alcohol. This form of cosmetic alcohol is used to avoid implications of the illegal use of ethanol...ethanol is the kind you drink. SD alcohol, for all practical cosmetic applications, acts the same topically as good ol' Everclear grain alcohol.

Isopropyl, methanol or plain (non-cosmetic grade) denatured alcohols are rarely if not ever used in cosmetics.

[Porcelain]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

In FDA labeling of cosmetic alcohol ( not the fatty alcohols) the term alcohol used by itself means it is of the ethanol type. When you see the term SD Alcohol, that means it is Specially Denatured (ethyl) alcohol. This form of cosmetic alcohol is used to avoid implications of the illegal use of ethanol...ethanol is the kind you drink. SD alcohol, for all practical cosmetic applications, acts the same topically as good ol' Everclear grain alcohol.

Isopropyl, methanol or plain denatured alcohols are rarely if not ever used in cosmetics.

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I love that you are a chemist, @SilleeMee. Always enjoy reading your educated views. I do have to say, though, that denatured alcohol is really common in some of the most popular skincare.

Lancome uses it all over the place.

Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector Serum

Water, Cyclohexasiloxane, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Sodium Tetrahydrojasmonate, Polysilicone-11, Octyldodecanol, HDI/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Dipropylene Glycol, Bis-PEG/PPG-16/16 PEG/PPG-16/16 Dimethicone, CI 77891 / Titanium Dioxide, Mica, Secale Cereale Extract / Rye Seed Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Phenoxyethanol, Adenosine, Poloxamer 338, Ammonium Polyacryldimethyltauramide / Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Dimethicone, Dimethiconol, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Disodium EDTA, Methyldihydrojasmonate, Citronellol, Inulin Lauryl Carbamate, Fragrance

Even in their eye cream.

Rénergie Lift Multi-Action Lifting And Firming Eye Cream
Aqua / Water / Eau, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Alcohol Denat., Squalane, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Paraffinum Liquidum / Mineral Oil / Huile Minerale, Palmitic Acid, PEG-100 Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-20 Stearate, Cera Alba / Beeswax / Cire Dabeille, Octyldodecanol, CI 77891 / Titanium Dioxide, CI 16035 / Red 40, CI 19140 / Yellow 5, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Mica, Saccharomyces/Xylinum/ Black Tea Ferment, Hydrolyzed Linseed Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Adenosine, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-9, Caffeine, Silica, Polyacrylamide, Chlorphenesin, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Polyethylene, Dimethiconol, Limonene, Benzyl Alcohol, Linalool, Capryloyl Salicylic Acid, Cera Microcristallina / Microcrystalline Wax / Cire Microcristalline, Paraffin, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter / Shea Butter, Citronellol, Laureth-7, Coumarin, Parfum / Fragrance

It's a big part of the Clinique 3 step system as well.

Clarifying Lotion 2 - For Dry Combination Skin
Water / Aqua / Eau, Alcohol Denat., Glycerin, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel), Menthol, Acetyl Glucosamine, Trehalose, Sodium Hyaluronate, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Bicarbonate, Red 6 (CI 15850), Red 33 (CI 17200), Ext. Violet 2 (CI 60730)

Makes me very skeptical of mainstream cosmetics lines.

[SilleeMee]

Thanks for posting those ingredients showing the denatured alcohol. The term denatured can include any kind of alcohol ( excluding the fatty ones) and most likely the alcohol used before denaturation was ethanol in it's full glory. Denaturation breaks some of the carbon-hydrogen bonds so it can't be technically labeled as ethanol  which would require legal permission to use...but it is in all practicality the same class of alcohol. @Porcelain

eta - Cosmetic grade alcohol denat. is the same thing as SD alcohol. @Porcelain

[SilleeMee]

@Porcelain

This FDA publication explains it pretty well:

https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/labeling/claims/ucm2005201.htm