A cosmetic dispersing agent wets and holds pigments, UV filters, or oils in a personal-care chassis. Esteem’s personal care dispersing agents are INCI-named nonionics. They are not Product PIO. Specify the particle, then the grade.
Why Cosmetics Need Their Own Dispersants
Foundations, BB creams, and sunscreens fail as streaks, settling, or SPF drop when solids agglomerate. Esteem’s industrial dispersing agents page is naphthalene sulfonate for coatings and paper. The personal-care table is hydrogenated castor ethoxylate, methyl ether PEG, PPG oleate, polysorbates, and glyceryl tristearate.
Esteem Grades by Dispersion Job
| INCI (as listed) | Role | Start here when |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrogenated Castor Oil-50EO | Solubilizer, pigment disperser, wetter, co-emulsifier | Color cosmetics, baby/skin/hair/sun care |
| PEG-6-Methyl Ether | Dispersant for anti-microbial actives | AP/deo, foaming cleanser, baby wash |
| PPG-26-Oleate | Dispersant for moisturizers, sunscreens, EOs | Sun, makeup, essential-oil load |
| Polysorbate-20 / 60 / 80 | Bath-oil spreading; anhydrous water-dispersibility | Bath oil, anhydrous to rinse-off |
| Glyceryl tri Stearate | Lubricant; ointment matrix | Ointment/vehicle—not pigment mill |
Pick the Grade by What You Are Dispersing
| What must stay uniform | Start with (as listed) | Wrong default |
|---|---|---|
| Pigment in makeup, baby, skin, hair, sun | Hydrogenated Castor Oil-50EO | Industrial naphthalene sulfonate (Product PIO) |
| Anti-microbial active in AP or foaming cleanser | PEG-6-Methyl Ether | HCO-50EO as an AP antimicrobial dispersant by default |
| Moisturizer, sunscreen oil, essential oil | PPG-26-Oleate | Glyceryl tri Stearate as a millbase dispersant |
| Bath oil spread; anhydrous rinse-off | Polysorbate-20, -60, or -80 | Polysorbate as a foundation pigment grind |
| Ointment vehicle / cosmetic lubricant | Glyceryl tri Stearate | Using it to replace HCO-50EO in color mill |
Hydrogenated Castor Oil-50EO
The table lists Hydrogenated Castor Oil-50EO for baby, skin, hair, and sun care as a solubilizer, pigment disperser, wetting agent, and co-emulsifier with other products. That is the first cosmetic pigment row. Use it when lakes, iron oxides, or inorganic UV filters must wet into an oil or emulsion phase. It can also hold fragrance oils—related chemistry is on castor oil ethoxylate as a solubilizer. The co-surfactant table also lists Hydrogenated Castor Oil-40EO; this dispersing page is the 50EO pigment/wetting row. Do not treat 40EO and 50EO as one drum.
Industrial dispersing agents (naphthalene sulfonate for coatings and paper) are a different product family. Keep those samples out of the cosmetic lab book. A mill that works in a paint grind will not automatically pass a baby-lotion irritation or a makeup shade-stability screen.
PEG-6-Methyl Ether and PPG-26-Oleate
PEG-6-Methyl Ether is listed for anti-perspirants, foaming cleansers, baby, hair, skin, bath, and shower products as a dispersing agent for anti-microbial actives. That is not a color-cosmetic pigment grind by default. If the brief is ACH or an antimicrobial in a wash or AP, start here. If the brief is a foundation millbase, start with HCO-50EO instead.
PPG-26-Oleate is listed for hair, baby, skin, sunscreens, and makeup as a dispersing agent for moisturizers, sunscreens, and essential oils. Use it when the load is an emollient, a UV-filter oil, or an essential oil—not a lake pigment. Sun-care emulsions still need a real emulsifier pair; this grade helps keep the oil/filter load uniform. Chassis design: sunscreen emulsifier selection.
Polysorbate-20/60/80 vs Glyceryl tri Stearate
Polysorbate-20, Polysorbate-60, and Polysorbate-80 share the same published comment on this table: spreading aid for bath oils and water dispersibility for anhydrous systems, in skin, hair, color cosmetics, and sun care. Grade number vs HLB is already in polysorbate 20 vs 60 vs 80. This article only places those three rows next to HCO-50EO so you do not use PS-20 as a TiO2 grind aid. Pick 20 vs 60 vs 80 from the HLB of the oil you must spread or rinse, not from a pigment mill SOP.
Glyceryl tri Stearate is listed as a lubricant in cosmetics and as a matrix for ointments in medicine, for baby, skin, sun, bath, shower, and hair. It is a vehicle, not an electrostatic pigment stabilizer. Do not substitute it for HCO-50EO in a foundation millbase. Triglyceride structurant language also appears on the co-surfactant table as Glyceryl tri Stearate—same chemistry family, cream/ointment job, not a dispersing mill.
The site solubilizer product page includes diesel GMO/GTO grades. Do not confuse those industrial solubilizers with cosmetic polysorbates or HCO-50EO. Related emollient chemistry: emollients.
Trial order from the published rows: mill pigments or inorganic UV with Hydrogenated Castor Oil-50EO; disperse AP/antimicrobial actives with PEG-6-Methyl Ether; hold moisturizer, sunscreen, or essential-oil loads with PPG-26-Oleate; spread bath oils or water-disperse anhydrous systems with a named Polysorbate-20, -60, or -80; use Glyceryl tri Stearate only as lubricant or ointment matrix. Check shade, SPF, or oil bloom after freeze–thaw and 45 °C—not after a single overnight mill. Keep Product PIO naphthalene dispersant out of that notebook.
HCO-50EO is a nonionic wetter. It will not replace a polymeric dispersant if the millbase is already flocculated, and it will not replace an O/W emulsifier pair in a sunscreen. PPG-26-Oleate helps keep polar oils and filters from pooling; it is not listed as a pigment grind aid. PEG-6-Methyl Ether is listed for anti-microbial actives in AP and foaming cleansers—do not stretch that row to a color-cosmetic mill because “dispersing” appears on the page title. If two jobs exist in one SKU (pigmented sunscreen), trial HCO-50EO for the solid and PPG-26-Oleate for the oil, then freeze–thaw the finished emulsion. Polysorbate-20 vs 60 vs 80 is a bath-oil HLB choice, not a mill SOP. Glyceryl tri Stearate belongs in an ointment or as a lubricant; if a foundation “needs wax,” that is a structure problem, not a missing dispersant. Re-mill only after the right row is in the grind—extra shear on the wrong INCI will not recover shade. Baby-care and sun-care briefs should name the solid (oxide vs organic filter) on the sample request so HCO-50EO and PPG-26-Oleate are not sent as a random pair.
How to Specify with Esteem
- Name pigment, inorganic UV, organic UV, antimicrobial, or bath oil.
- State baby care vs color cosmetic vs sun care.
- Request HCO-50EO vs PPG-26-Oleate vs a named polysorbate from the dispersing table.
- Keep industrial PIO samples out of the cosmetic lab book.
- Name oxide vs organic UV vs lake pigment so 50EO and PPG-26-Oleate are not shipped as a random pair.
Related: emollients, sunscreen emulsifiers, personal care chemicals.
Contact Esteem for samples, or custom synthesis for a non-catalogue ethoxylate.