T-Butyl Alcohol
Explained
T-Butyl Alcohol (aka tert-butanol) is a small, clear, camphor-smelling alcohol.
It has two main jobs:
- Solvent: that helps dissolve/blend ingredients that don't naturally play nice together.
- Denaturant: it makes the ethanol in a product tast bitter and undrinkable so it can't be repurposed into a beverage.
On the safety side, it's well-studied and has a solid track record. Human repeat-insult patch testing showed no skin irritation or sensitization even at 100%.
Typical use levels are pretty tiny, usually less than 1%.
You might see some fear-mongering around this ingredient:
Studies in male rats showed kidney effects but that's because of a rat-specific protein that humans don't make. So this study isn't really relevant to humans.
Though it's not a typical fragrance like parfum, it does have a natural scent. That's why the official COSIng database lists it as 'perfuming' ingredient. It can be used to modify the scent of a formula.
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