Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.
EWG Home EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning EWG’s Food Scores Healthy Living App Open menu

EWG's Skin Deep®
Find products and ingredients Learn how Skin Deep® works Meet our experts Discover EWG VERIFIED®
GET UPDATES DONATE
Score legend
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Good

Cetyl Betaine

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

SEARCH PRODUCTS

Other Concerns

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low)

SYNONYMS

● AMMONIUM, (CARBOXYMETHYL)HEXADECYLDIMETHYL-, HYDROXIDE, INNER SALT
● PRODUCT HDN
● LONZAINE 16S
● UNII-2L35144H4P COMPONENT TYIOVYZMKITKRO-UHFFFAOYSA-N
● C16BET
● (CARBOXYMETHYL)HEXADECYLDIMETHYLAMMONIUM HYDROXIDE, INNER SALT (7CI)
● N-(CARBOXYMETHYL)-N,N-DIMETHYL-1-HEXADECANAMINIUM HYDROXIDE INNER SALT
● N,N-DIMETHYL-N-HEXADECYLGLYCINE
● AMMONIUM, (CARBOXYMETHYL)HEXADECYLDIMETHYL-, HYDROXIDE, INNER SALT (8CI)
● CETYL BETAINE

Restricted

Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation

Cetyl Betaine is a zwitterion (inner salt).

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

  • LOW
    Cancer
  • LOW
    Allergies & Immunotoxicity
  • LOW
    Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
  • LOW
    Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

  • CONCERNS
  • DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

Expand content Collapse content
shampoo48 products
facial cleanser12 products
facial moisturizer/treatment1 products
makeup remover1 products
body wash/cleanser27 products
liquid hand soap15 products
serums & essences1 products
baby shampoo3 products
exfoliant/scrub2 products
baby bubble bath1 products
after shave1 products
depilatory1 products
beard cleanser2 products
beard care1 products
bubble bath5 products

Enhanced skin absorption

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Absorbs into the skinUptake of two zwitterionic surfactants into human skin in vivo(1993-06-01)

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmfulEnvironment Canada

Persistence and bioaccumulation

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be persistentEnvironment Canada
Not suspected to be bioaccumulativeEnvironment Canada

Ecotoxicology

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxinEnvironment Canada

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Limited evidence of eye irritationEuropean Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
Limited evidence of skin irritationEuropean Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
skin/eye/lung irritation - weight of evidence unknown/unassessedCosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR)

Allergies/immunotoxicity

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Limited evidence of dermal toxicity or allergiesEuropean Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
One or more animal studies show effects at moderate dosesCosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR)
  • Uptake of two zwitterionic surfactants into human skin in vivo(1993-06-01)
  • Environment Canada
  • European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
  • Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR)

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.


HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG Verified® mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Score legend
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST
Low Availability
Moderate Availability
High Availability
NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

Can’t find your product?

Enter the ingredients in EWG’s Build Your Own Report tool to get an approximate score for that product.

BUILD YOUR OWN REPORT

News & updates

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
RESEARCH
Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
RESEARCH
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
NEWS RELEASE
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
NEWS RELEASE
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
READ ALL ARTICLES
Skindeep Healthy Living App

EWG research
on the go

Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.

DOWNLOAD THE APP