Emulsifying Wax NF

It is made from Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Polysorbate 60. Polysorbate 60 emulsifies, while cetearyl alcohol thickens and stabilizes the emulsion. Emulsifying Wax NF is approximately 70–80% cetearyl alcohol and 20–30% polysorbate 60 (source).

In cleansing oils and balms it creates products that self-emulsify on contact with water and rinse off the skin well. It also brings the “cleansing” element as the Polysorbate 60 in Emulsifying Wax NF is made up of molecules that have an oil-loving and a water-loving end; the oil-loving end grabs the oil on your skin, and the water-loving end grabs the water you are washing with to rinse away easily (this is how soap cleanses, too).

If you want to make a formulation thicker/harder, Emulsifying Wax NF is not the ingredient to use/increase. While it does add some viscosity to our formulations, it’s not the best choice if thickening/hardening is the primary goal. Instead, try incorporating plain cetearyl alcohol (or a different fatty alcohol) into the heated oil phase.

If using Emulsifying Wax NF for rinse-off in an anhydrous formulation (cleansing balm, emulsified sugar scrub, creamy mask, etc.), 20–25% is almost always far too much and will leave the skin feeling stripped once the product is rinse off. 5–10% is typically enough for such formulations.

Ritamulse SCG, Olivem 1000, BTMS-50, and BTMS-25 will typically work as well, but there will be consistency changes with the first two, and BTMS-50 & BTMS-25 are cationic, so that will impact the skin feel and may interact with other ingredients in the formula. Make sure you are researching each of these emulsifying waxes to understand how the differ from Emulsifying Wax NF. Some will have different requirements for pH, charge, and phase sizes, and your formulation may or may not meet those requirements.

You cannot use a solubilizer, like Polysorbate 80, in place of Emulsifying Wax NF.

You cannot use a true wax, like beeswax, in place of Emulsifying Wax NF. True waxes are not emulsifiers and will not create an emulsion. Watch this video to see what will happen if you do! (You can create emulsions using a combination of beeswax and borax, but the structure of those formulations is very different—you cannot use beeswax and borax as the emulsifier in a formulation designed to use Emulsifying Wax NF as the emulsifier).

You cannot use plain cetearyl alcohol instead of Emulsifying Wax NF, even though cetearyl alcohol is a component of it. It is not an emulsifier and will not create an emulsion.

Be sure to check the INCI of a non-“NF” emulsifying wax so you know what you are purchasing; without the “NF” you cannot be sure it will perform the same wax as Emulsifying Wax NF. Check the description & reviews to ensure what you are purchasing is a complete emulsifier; I’ve found some suppliers that sell cetearyl alcohol as “emulsifying wax”, and that won’t work!