This ingredient is used in many hair products, being that it contains the word alcohol sometimes it worries people as to what it is doing in the product. So lets learn a little more about it and see what exactly it does.

Cetearyl alcohol is derived naturally. This alcohol happens to be what is called a "fatty alcohol." It is a combination of Cetyl Alcohol and Stearyl Alcohol, both of which are also "fatty alcohols"

So what does it do in cosmetics??

Well, CETEARYL ALCOHOL is classified as:

EMOLLIENT, EMULSIFYING, EMULSION STABILIZING, FOAM BOOSTING, OPACIFYING, SURFACTANT, VISCOSITY CONTROLLING

Wow! What a resume, talk about multi-tasking! Well to put it in a more functioning hair language...

Emollients soften and smooth skin and hair.

Emulsifying agents help ingredients interact pleasantly with the water in their formulas so they stay creamy rather than separating out into their different parts. (i.e. oils and water do not mix, but emulsifying agents help the two mix together by reducing the tension between them so as to make a creamy mixture)

Emulsion stabilizing means that it helps with the process of emulsification^^ and with that helps keep formulas stable, which improves and lengthens their shelf-life. This is great because you get a longer life out of your products so that you are given the opportunity to use it all up!

Foam boosting is one of the more obvious functions. It helps products produce more foam by increasing its volume.

Opacifying this is a more superficial function, it just helps the 'coloring' of the product seem more opaque or less translucent/clear. It gives it a more cream or off-white type of coloring. This is done because people associate creaminess with opacity.

Surfactants help a product spread more easily by reducing surface tension between the ingredients in its formula.

Viscosity controlling means this product can be used to help a product maintain a certain level of viscosity. Viscosity is a measure of the ease with which a product will run. For instance, Molasses has a very HIGH viscosity because it is extremely thick and very slow moving when poured, where as water has a very LOW viscosity because it more quickly and is not thick at all.

This is important to us as consumers because we are trained to believe that the feel of a product can heavily determine how effective it is. Most of these expectations have been fed to us by the cosmetic industry through various avenues including advertisements and other marketing tactics.

Clearly this product has some very useful properties. So when you are reading your ingredient lists on products, remember this product is your friend!

Sources:

http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient_details.php?ingredient_id=481

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient/701236/CETEARYL_ALCOHOL/

http://www.specialchem4cosmetics.com/services/inci/ingredient.aspx?id=2464