Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Hydroxypropylcellulose in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Hydroxypropylcellulose is a cosmetic ingredient that keeps oil and water mixed. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 23 products, most often deodorants.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

What does Hydroxypropylcellulose do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Hydroxypropylcellulose keeps oil and water mixed, makes the product thicker or thinner, and leaves a thin film on skin, hair or nails. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: emulsifying, viscosity controlling, film forming, binding and emulsion stabilising.

emulsifyingviscosity controllingfilm formingbindingemulsion stabilising

What other names and numbers does Hydroxypropylcellulose have?

CAS number
9004-64-2
CosIng reference
34539

Which products contain Hydroxypropylcellulose?

Open Beauty Facts finds Hydroxypropylcellulose in the ingredient lists of 23 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often deodorants, roll-on deodorants and shaving.

  • Deodorants5
  • Roll-on deodorants5
  • Shaving4
  • Anti-perspirants2
  • Bath and shower1

Products with it, by country of sale: France 9 · Denmark 3 · Belgium 2 · Germany 2.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Hydroxypropylcellulose turns up, not how much of the market it is.

On these listsEmulsifiers

Bravoora reads this ingredient for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dermatologists, dietitians and doctors

Sources

The job, the description and the EU annex entry are CosIng’s; the fragrance allergens are the EU Annex III names Bravoora’s label checker reads; the product counts are Open Beauty Facts’.

  1. European Commission: CosIng cosmetic ingredient database (functions, description, EU annex entry)
  2. Open Beauty Facts: product database, 77,506 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL

Contains information from Open Beauty Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this dictionary’s data · How we check

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