Ceteth-2 is not a generic “emulsifier.” It is the low-EO cetyl ethoxylate that builds fine cream texture. Esteem’s co-surfactants and emulsifiers table publishes it next to Ceteth-20EO, Steareth pairs, laureths, and oleths. Specify the pair and the chassis—not one drum for every lotion.
What This Table Is For
Personal care emulsions fail for different reasons: lamellar cream body, antiperspirant electrolyte, perfume solubilization in a wash, or pigment wetting. The published co-surfactants table is one long INCI list. This guide ranks the fatty alcohol ethoxylate rows first—Ceteth-2 and the remaining alcohol-EO keywords on that page. PEG stearates, polysorbates, GMS, and castor ethoxylates stay on the same table but already have their own articles; they are mapped at the end so you do not treat every row as Ceteth-2.
Process context: required HLB and O/W cream design live in the O/W cream and lotion emulsifier guide and the HLB scale guide. This page is grade-by-grade from the published INCI column.
Ceteth-2 and the Cetyl Pair
Ceteth-2 is listed for skin-care creams and lotions: fine texture, wide pH. Two moles of EO on cetyl alcohol sit in the oil-preferring side of a nonionic pair. Ceteth-20EO is listed for skin, hair, color cosmetics, and sun care and imparts body and viscosity over a wide pH. Together they are the cetyl analogue of a low-HLB + high-HLB fatty alcohol ethoxylate pair. If the brief is a rich O/W cream, start here. If the brief is perfume in a bubble bath, look at laureths instead.
In the kettle, treat Ceteth-2 as the oil-phase co-emulsifier and Ceteth-20EO as the water-preferring partner that builds body. Melt both with the fatty alcohols and waxes so the lamellar network forms on cool-down. A water-white lotion that uses only Ceteth-20EO can emulsify oil and still feel thin; a cream that uses only Ceteth-2 often grains or weeps because the high-EO side is missing. That is why the table publishes both rows instead of one “Ceteth” drum.
Wide-pH language on both Ceteth rows is useful for leave-on skin care, but it is not a licence to skip electrolyte work. Aluminium chlorohydrate, high salt, and depilatory alkali are written against the Steareth and Laureth pairs, not against Ceteth-2. If you move a successful Ceteth cream into an antiperspirant chassis, you are changing the job—start the Steareth-2 + 20/21 or Laureth-4 + 23 screen instead of forcing Ceteth-2.
Published Fatty Alcohol Ethoxylate Grades
| INCI (as listed) | Role on the table | Start here when |
|---|---|---|
| Ceteth-2 | Fine-textured creams; wide pH | Low-EO co-emulsifier in skin creams/lotions |
| Ceteth-20EO | Body and viscosity; wide pH | High-EO partner; skin, hair, color, sun |
| Steareth-2EO | Co-emulsifier with Steareth-20/21 | Antiperspirant, depilatory, baby, DEO, bath creams |
| Steareth-20EO | Stable O/W; viscosity and body | High-EO stearyl pair member |
| Steareth-21EO | Stable O/W; viscosity and body | Same family plus foundation and hair care |
| Ceteareth-20EO | Emulsifier for stable emulsions | Cetearyl high-EO grade; baby, hair, skin, bath |
| Laureth-4EO | Co-emulsifier with Laureth-23 | Antiperspirants, depilatories, cuticle removers |
| Laureth-12EO | Solubilizer and cream emulsifier | Shampoo, shower, liquid hand soap, cleansing creams |
| Laureth-23EO | Cleansing agent; perfume solubilizer | Medicated shampoo, acne scrub, bubble bath |
| Oleth-10EO | Fragrance-oil co-emulsifier/solubilizer | Creams, after-shave, hair, toner, baby, bath |
| Oleth-20EO | Fragrance and polar-oil solubilizer | Same chassis as Oleth-10EO, higher EO |
| Tridecyl-12EO | Solubilizer for fragrances and polar compounds | Face wash, hand wash, serums, gels—not a cream wax pair |
Match the Pair to the Chassis
| Job on the brief | Start with (as listed) | Do not use as the only answer |
|---|---|---|
| Fine-textured skin cream or lotion | Ceteth-2 + Ceteth-20EO | Laureth-23EO or Tridecyl-12EO as the cream wax |
| Antiperspirant, depilatory, bleach cream | Steareth-2EO + Steareth-20/21, or Laureth-4EO + Laureth-23 | Ceteth-2 without a new electrolyte screen |
| Foundation make-up | Steareth-21EO (listed) with its low-EO partner | Ceteth-2 alone |
| Baby, hair, skin, bath O/W | Ceteareth-20EO, or Steareth high-EO grades | A solubilizer row used as a structurant |
| Perfume in shampoo, bubble bath, serum, gel | Laureth-23EO, Laureth-12EO, Oleth-10/20EO, Tridecyl-12EO | Ceteth-2 + Ceteth-20 as a fragrance solvent |
Required HLB and fatty-alcohol process still sit in the O/W cream and lotion emulsifier guide. This table only stops you picking the wrong INCI family before you open that worksheet.
Steareth and Ceteareth vs Ceteth
Steareth-2EO is written as the co-emulsifier used with Steareth-20/21. That is the same low+high EO logic as Ceteth-2 + Ceteth-20, on a stearyl hydrophobe, aimed at antiperspirants, depilatories, bleaches, baby care, DEO, and bath. Steareth-21EO adds foundation make-up and hair care. Ceteareth-20EO is the mixed C16/C18 high-EO emulsifier for baby, hair, skin, and bath. Do not relabel Ceteth-2 as Ceteareth-20. Hydrophobe chain length changes melt, lamellar gel, and electrolyte tolerance—re-screen freeze–thaw when you change family.
Stearyl (C18) grades typically set a firmer gel network than cetyl (C16) at the same EO. That is why Steareth-20/21 are the cream-body grades on the viscosity builders table, while Ceteth-20EO is written there for body over a wide pH in skin, hair, color, and sun care. Cream viscosity from fatty alcohol ethoxylates is still not a shampoo salt curve—see viscosity builders for creams and shampoos.
Ceteareth-20EO is a mixed cetearyl hydrophobe at 20 EO. It can look like a shortcut (“one high-EO emulsifier instead of a pair”), but the table does not publish a Ceteareth-2 partner. If your current system is Ceteth-2 + Ceteth-20 or Steareth-2 + Steareth-21, Ceteareth-20EO is a new architecture, not a drop-in. Trial it with the same fatty alcohols and the same oil phase; do not assume the lamellar gel will match.
Laureths and Oleths: Solubilizer Jobs
Laureth-4EO is explicitly a co-emulsifier with Laureth-23 in high-pH or high-salt cosmetics (antiperspirants, depilatories, cuticle removers). Laureth-23EO is a cleanser and perfume solubilizer for shampoos and bubble baths. Laureth-12EO sits in between as solubilizer/emulsifier for washes and cleansing creams. Oleth-10EO and Oleth-20EO are listed for solubilizing fragrance (and polar oils at 20EO) in leave-on and rinse-off cosmetics. Tridecyl-12EO is a fragrance/polar solubilizer for face washes, serums, and gels.
Laureth hydrophobes are shorter (lauryl) than cetyl/stearyl, so they rinse cleaner and solubilize perfume more readily—and they build less cream wax structure. That is why Laureth-23EO is written for medicated shampoos, acne scrubs, scalp treatments, and bubble baths, not as a night-cream structurant. Oleths add an unsaturated oleyl chain, which the table uses for fragrance and polar-oil hold in creams, after-shaves, toners, baby care, and bath. Use Oleth-20EO when polar oils as well as fragrance must stay clear or finely dispersed; use Oleth-10EO when the load is mainly perfume.
These rows compete with polysorbates and hydrogenated castor ethoxylates for perfume hold. Use the alcohol-EO row when the chassis is already a fatty alcohol ethoxylate system; use polysorbate or HCO-40/50EO when the brief is bath-oil spreading or pigment wetting—see polysorbate 20/60/80 and castor oil ethoxylate solubilizer.
Electrolyte, pH, and Process Checks
The co-surfactant table already tells you which pairs are written for hard chassis: Steareth-2/20/21 and Laureth-4 + 23 for antiperspirants, depilatories, bleaches, and cuticle removers. Those formulas combine high electrolyte (ACH, salts) or high pH with a cream texture. A Ceteth pair that is “stable over a wide pH” in a simple moisturizer can still fail when aluminium salts collapse the lamellar gel. Screen freeze–thaw and centrifugation on the real water phase, not on deionized water plus mineral oil.
Heat both phases until the fatty alcohol ethoxylates and consistency factors are fully melted (the cream-process window in the O/W guide is typically 70–80 °C). Combine with controlled agitation, then cool with sweep so the gel network can set. Shock-cooling a Ceteth or Steareth cream is a common cause of grain. Fragrance and actives go in below about 40 °C so you do not strip perfume into the headspace or split a hot emulsion.
For solubilizer jobs, the check is different: clarity or haze of the perfume oil in the surfactant chassis, not cream yield stress. A Laureth-23 or Oleth-20 sample that “works in a beaker of SLES” can still fail in a sulfate-free wash. Specify the primary surfactant when you request a solubilizer grade.
Remaining Keywords on the Same Product Table
The co-surfactant page also lists grades that are not fatty alcohol ethoxylate cream pairs. Rank them on their own guides rather than stuffing every INCI into a Ceteth-2 brief:
- Glycereth-7EO and QGlycereth-26EO (Glycereth-26 as listed) — humectant, lubricity, detackify; see humectants in skincare.
- PEG-20 / 40 / 100-Stearate and PEG-200 / 400 / 1500 / 1750 / 2000 esters — numbered PEG MW rows (laurate, stearate, oleate; wetting vs micro-emulsion vs cream body) are in the PEG-200/400/1500 ester emulsifiers guide. MPEG 350 / glyceryl PEG cocoate: PEG esters and methoxy PEG. Cream body vs shampoo salt-curve: viscosity-builders guide.
- Hydrogenated Castor Oil-40EO and -50EO — perfume solubilizer, pigment disperser, co-emulsifier; dispersing and castor-EO guides.
- PEG-6-Methyl Ether — antimicrobial dispersant in antiperspirants and foaming cleansers; PC dispersing agents.
- Polysorbate-20 / 60 / 80 — medium/fine creams, bath-oil spreading, fragrance solubilizer; polysorbate guides.
- Diethylene Glycol Mono Stearate / Laurate — cosmetic emulsifiers; often overlap pearl/opacity with pearlizing agents.
- Propylene Glycol Mono Stearate and Glycerol Mono Stearate (40 SE/NSE) — opacifier, bodying, O/W emulsifier; glycerol esters.
- Sorbitan Mono Oleate — low-HLB emulsifier, bath-oil spreading, anhydrous water-dispersibility; sorbitan ester articles.
- Glyceryl tri Stearate — cream emulsifier / triglyceride structurant; do not treat as Ceteth-2.
How to Specify with Esteem
- Name the job: O/W cream texture (Ceteth-2 + Ceteth-20EO or Steareth-2 + 20/21), mixed cetearyl high-EO (Ceteareth-20EO), AP/depilatory pair (Laureth-4 + 23), or fragrance solubilizer (Laureth-23, Oleth-10/20, Tridecyl-12EO).
- List pH, electrolyte (ACH, salt), oil phase, and leave-on vs rinse-off.
- Request named INCIs from the co-surfactants table—not “any nonionic emulsifier.”
- Freeze–thaw and centrifugation on the real chassis; do not scale a beaker of mineral oil to a pigmented sunscreen.
Related chemistry: emulsifying waxes, sunscreen emulsifiers, alkoxylates.
Contact Esteem for samples, or custom synthesis for a non-catalogue ethoxylate window.