FATTY ALCOHOL
Butyloctanol
- fatty alcohol
A liquid fatty alcohol used for slip and to keep a formula fluid.
- products in our library
- 29
- of researched products
- 0.7%
- on the label, in our shampoos
- usually #30
- most common in
- Shampoo
- in water
- Oil-soluble
At a glance
Four named levels, read from this ingredient’s chemical class, its charge, its solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have. More dots means more of the property named — never “better”.
How much of it is left on hair between washes.
What it takes to get it off the hair again.
Where the class sits between an ester and a butter.
How much it slows water leaving the strand.
| Property | Level | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Buildup risk | Needs a cleanser | 4 of 5 |
| Rinse-out behaviour | Rinses with a cleanser | 2 of 5 |
| Weight | Medium | 3 of 5 |
| Sealing | Moderate | 3 of 5 |
What it does for a formula
What Butyloctanol does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
Nothing like a drying alcohol: a waxy solid that softens and thickens.
Smooths the feel of the strand without adding hold or cleaning.
It takes a surfactant to remove — worth knowing on a low-detergent routine.
Charge
Charge is not recorded for this ingredient.
Solubility
Needs a surfactant to remove. On a low-detergent routine it can build up over time.
Where it appears
Where it appears
One row per product category in our library: how many products list it, what share of that category that is, and where it typically sits on the label.
| Product type | How common | Typical position on label ? |
|---|---|---|
Shampoo
9 products
|
secondary · #30 | |
Conditioner
7 products
|
secondary · #29 | |
Leave-in
6 products
|
secondary · #27 | |
Heat protectant
2 products
|
secondary · #15 | |
Mask / treatment
2 products
|
secondary · #25 | |
Styler: mousse
2 products
|
secondary · #18 | |
Styler: gel
1 product
|
secondary · #22 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shampoo | 9 | 1% | 30 | 20 | secondary |
| Conditioner | 7 | 1% | 29 | 7 | secondary |
| Leave-in | 6 | 1% | 27 | 22 | secondary |
| Heat protectant | 2 | 1% | 15 | 13 | secondary |
| Mask / treatment | 2 | 1% | 25 | 19 | secondary |
| Styler: mousse | 2 | 1% | 18 | 17 | secondary |
| Styler: gel | 1 | 1% | 22 | 22 | secondary |
No product-type differences have been researched yet — the reading below is computed from where it sits on the labels in our library.
Position footprint
Every listing in our library, by position on the label.
| Positions | Zone | Listings |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Leading | 0 |
| 4-8 | Supporting | 1 |
| 9-15 | Secondary | 1 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 10 |
| 26+ | Trace | 20 |
How to read this
US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order.
So position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
Who should pay attention
Conditional formulation guidance, scoped to a hair condition and to the positions where it is meaningful. It is not a conclusion about any finished product, and not a conclusion about you.
The waxy solid that gives a conditioner its body. It deposits a soft lubricating layer, which is most of what makes hair feel smooth after rinsing.
Deposits with the cationic conditioners and helps them lie flat along the strand, which is where the detangling actually comes from.
Near the top of a conditioner it is doing most of the conditioning, and most of the weighting, at the same time.
Read where it is listed in the first three ingredients or positions 4–8.Read from this ingredient’s chemical class. Where we have researched the ingredient itself, that reading replaces the class one.
Why it matters to shoppers
What this ingredient is evidence of, what it is not evidence of, and what our own method can and cannot tell you.
- a rich cream texture
- a softer feel
- something that lasts through the day
- moisture that stays on coarse or porous hair
- an exact safety score — we do not publish one, for any ingredient
- how a finished product performs by itself — that is the whole formula, not one line of it
- the exact percentage in a bottle — label position never converts into a number
- a secondary fatty alcohol, listed below the main ingredients in our shampoos
- it was on the label of every product we counted — we read printed ingredient lists, not marketing copy
- dryness — it is a waxy solid, not a drying alcohol
- that a product is right or wrong for you
We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
Commonly paired with
Ingredients that appear alongside this one most often in our library. Near-universal ingredients are excluded — they pair with everything and tell you nothing.
- Undeceth-5 · 24
- Undeceth-11 · 24
- Silicone Quaternium-16 · 23
- Disodium EDTA · 18
- Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate · 16
- Butylene Glycol · 15
- Isopropyl Alcohol · 15
- Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride · 11
- Propanediol · 10
- Behentrimonium Chloride · 10
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to clean and build foam, smooth the surface, and keep the formula stable.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
amika · Conditioner
Big Hit Volumizing Conditioner
#7 on the label · $2.89/oz
Kenra Platinum · Heat protectant
Silkening Heat Creme
#13 on the label · $7.35/oz
IGK · Heat protectant
Good Behavior Smoothing Spray
#17 on the label · $7.41/oz
Sexy Hair · Styler
Healthy Sexy Hair Active Recovery Repairing Blow Dry Foam
#17 on the label · $3.23/oz
Bed Head · Styler
Foxy Curls Curly Hair Mousse For Strong Hold
#18 on the label · $2.50/oz
CHI · Mask / treatment
Tea Tree Oil Revitalizing Masque
#19 on the label · $1.85/oz
Kevin Murphy · Shampoo
STIMULATE-ME.WASH
#20 on the label · $4.38/oz
Bumble and bumble · Leave-in
Illuminated Color Leave-In Seal Light for Color Treated Hair
#22 on the label · $7.40/oz
IGK · Styler
Rich Kid Coconut Oil Gel
#22 on the label · $4.35/oz
Keratin Complex · Mask / treatment
PicturePerfect Hair Bond Sealing Masque
#22 on the label · $7.75/oz
Joico · Shampoo
Moisture Recovery Moisturizing Shampoo
#23 on the label · $2.06/oz
Ouidad · Leave-in
Get Hydrated Ultra-Moisturizing Splash Mask
#25 on the label · $3.77/oz
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
Butyloctanol
- CAS 3913-02-8
- PubChem 19800
- emollient
- butyloctanol
For your hair?
Whether Butyloctanol matters for your hair depends on your hair.
29 products in our library list itWhat this ingredient does, and where it sits on the labels we have researched.
A verdict on any product that contains it, and never a safety grade.
We do not physically test your hair. Everything above is read from the ingredient lists in our library and from published references — the consultation is what turns it into a plan.
References
Sourced Backed by a manufacturer or regulatory source.
This ingredient
- Manufacturer or regulatory PubChem — Compound identity: CID 19800, CAS 3913-02-8, C12H26O · accessed 2026-08-28
How this page was made
- Every number above is counted from the ingredient lists in our own product library — 29 of 3889 researched products list this ingredient. Nothing on this page is written per ingredient.
- The dots are named levels read from an ingredient’s chemical class, charge, solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have — never a score.
- US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order. Position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
- The prominence bands (leading, supporting, secondary) are the same ones the product pages use to read a single label, applied here to the median position across a category.
- We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
- Identifiers and references appear only when a published source is attached to this entry; where none is, the row is simply absent rather than filled in.
- This is cosmetic information, not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats a health condition.
- Entry last updated 2026-08-28. Product-page methodology: the product library.