What Is Coco-Glucoside?
Coco-glucoside is an ingredient used in skincare formulations to help improve the cleansing abilities of cleansers, body washes and soaps. It is a mixture of fatty alcohol derived from coconut and glucose. Generally, coco-glucoside is derived from coconuts but can also be made synthetically, minimizing the pressure on natural resources and reducing environmental issues with harvesting, processing, and transportation.
To get into the nitty-gritty, coco-glucoside is an alkyl glucoside. Alkyl glucosides are a class of ingredients that are made by mixing alcohols and a sugar, in this case, glucose and fatty alcohols derived from coconut.
Coco-glucoside is used as a surfactant that helps to lift dirt and oils from the skin, allowing them to be washed away. This is why you will often find coco-glucoside in cleansing products such as washes and cleansers.
Coco-Glucoside
the good: Helps to improve the cleansing abilities of products. Acting as a surfactant coco-glucoside helps to lift dirt and oil, allowing them to be washed more easily from the skin.
the not so good: Like any ingredient, it can cause allergies for some people. Coco-glucoside is generally considered to be non-irritating, however can cause irritation in some skin types.
Who is it for? All skin types except those that have an identified allergy to it.
Synergetic ingredients: Works well with most ingredients.
Keep an eye on: Nothing to keep an eye on here.
Why Is Coco-Glucoside Used?
Coco-glucoside is mainly used as a surfactant. Surfactants help to break down the surface tension between two liquids allowing for a deeper clean. This is why coco-glucoside is used in products such as cleansers, shampoos, body washes, hand soap, and eco-friendly household cleaning products.
Is Coco-Glucoside Comedogenic?
While coconut oil and some other coconut-derived ingredients can be comedogenic or clogging to your pores, coco-glucoside is considered non-comedogenic. As coco-glucoside is a surfactant and is used in cleansing products it doesn’t have the ability to clog the pores.
Is Coco-Glucoside Safe?
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel, a group responsible for evaluating the safety of skincare and cosmetic ingredients has reviewed the research available for coco-glucoside. The Expert Panel concluded that lauryl glucoside is safe for its current uses and in the current concentrations in which it is used.
There has been some research to suggest that high concentrations of coco-glucoside can cause some irritation or allergic reaction to the skin. This is most likely to occur with household cleaning products that contain a high concentration of coco-glucoside, however, this reaction isn’t particularly common.
