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Ingredient on hair labels

Cocamide Mea

TheWashDay editorial · Updated · From the EU ingredient register and the makers’ own labels · How we match names

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Cocamide Mea is on 3 of the 177 hair-product labels we compare, all of them shampoos, from 3 makers. Its uses in the EU ingredient register are foam-boosting surfactant and viscosity controlling. None of these labels names it among its first five ingredients.

See it on each label Products without it

What it is

In the register’s words: “Cocamide MEA is a mixture of ethanolamides of Coconut Acid.”

EU register name (INCI)
COCAMIDE MEA
CAS number
68140-00-1
EC number
268-770-2

What the register lists it for

These are the uses the European Commission’s CosIng register lists for Cocamide Mea in any cosmetic, hair roles first. They say why a maker might add it, not what it does in one formula, and they aren’t a safety rating.

Foam-boosting surfactant

Makes a shampoo foam more or keeps the foam from collapsing. Foam on its own says nothing about how clean hair gets.

Register definition: “Increasing foaming capacity and/or stabilize foams in general.”

Viscosity controlling

Makes a product thicker or thinner, so a gel holds its shape or a shampoo pours. Gums, cellulose and some salts carry this role.

Register definition: “Increasing or decreasing the viscosity (thickness) of cosmetics.”

Where it sits on each label

US labels list ingredients from most to least, except that those at 1% or less may follow in any order. A name near the top is a large part of the formula. A label doesn’t mark where the 1% point falls, so further down, the order says little about how much is in it.

Every label, product by product (3)

Each line runs from the first name on a label to the last; a dot is where this ingredient sits. Makers change formulas now and then; if the list on your bottle differs, go by your bottle.

Your next step

Find products without Cocamide Mea Check every name on your own label All ingredients on the labels we compare

Other foam-boosting surfactant ingredients on these labels

Updated · The name, numbers and uses come from the European Commission’s CosIng entry (CC BY 4.0); we write the uses in US spelling and put the hair ones first. The labels are each maker’s own. The order rule is the FDA’s Cosmetics Labeling Guide. All our sources are on the Sources page.