For decades, alkanolamides like cocamide DEA, cocamide MEA and cocamidopropyl betaine have been workhorses in personal care formulation. Walk into any drugstore and you’ll find them listed in the majority of shampoos, body washes and hand soaps. For years, these secondary surfactants have thickened products, enhanced foams and helped stabilize formulations. However, with the growing need for a cocamide DEA replacement, formulators seek effective alternatives.
But the formulation landscape is changing. Regulatory pressures, retailer requirements and consumer awareness are pushing the industry toward alternatives. The question isn’t whether alkanolamides will be phased out—it’s what will replace them, especially the cocamide DEA replacement, and whether those replacements can actually deliver the performance formulators need.
Cocamide diethanolamine (DEA), in particular, has been valued for its ability to broaden the salt viscosity curve, making it easier to dial in the perfect product consistency.
Specific Concerns
Multiple concerns about alkanolamides have emerged:
Nitrosamine Formation: Under certain conditions, diethanolamine can react with other ingredients to form nitrosamines, which are classified as potential carcinogens. While the risk in finished products is debated, regulatory bodies and retailers are taking a precautionary approach.
Clean Beauty Standards: Some major retailers have restricted or banned DEA and its derivatives in products they carry. Brands seeking shelf space in these channels need compliant formulations.
Consumer Perception: Whether scientifically justified or not, ingredients ending in “-DEA” or “-MEA” have developed negative perceptions among conscious consumers. Brands are reformulating to avoid the PR challenges.
Regulatory Uncertainty: Different regions are taking different approaches to alkanolamide regulation, creating complexity for brands with global distribution. The path of least resistance is often reformulation.
Current Alternative Approaches
Formulators have tried several strategies to move away from alkanolamides:
Guar-Based Thickeners: Natural polymers can build viscosity but often don’t enhance foam the same way. They also can leave residue or affect rinse-off properties.
PEG Derivatives: PEG-150 distearate and similar ingredients work but come with their own clean beauty concerns. Many “free-from” brands want to avoid PEGs entirely.
Synthetic Polymers: Carbomers and acrylates provide thickening but don’t contribute to foam. Moreover, they’re purely synthetic and not aligned with natural/sustainable positioning.
Increased Salt Levels: Some formulators simply use more salt to achieve viscosity, but this narrows the formulation window and can be hit-or-miss.
Multiple Ingredients: Another strategy is to use 2-3 different additives to replace what cocamide DEA did alone. While possible, this adds cost and complexity to formulations.
The reality is that none of these options fully replicates what alkanolamides bring to formulations: the combination of thickening, foam enhancement and formulation ease in a single ingredient at reasonable cost.
What Formulators Actually Need
Based on conversations with formulators working on sulfate-free clean beauty products, the ideal alkanolamide replacement would:
- Broaden the salt viscosity curve (not narrow it further)
- Enhance foam quality (density, creaminess, stability)
- Work at similar use levels (3-5%, not require major reformulation)
- Be compatible with sulfate-free primary surfactants (AOS, sulfoacetates, etc.)
- Meet clean beauty standards (amine-free, PEG-free ideally)
- Maintain good sensory properties (rinse-off feel, skin conditioning)
- Be cost-competitive (sustainable doesn’t have to mean expensive)
- Have a positive sustainability story (for brand marketing)
Finding an ingredient that checks all these boxes has been the formulation challenge of the past few years.
The global market for personal care surfactants is massive, and viscosity builders/secondary surfactants represent a significant portion. Brands reformulating to remove alkanolamides need solutions, not compromises.
Several ingredient suppliers have launched alternatives, but most fall into the “partial solution” category. They solve one problem while creating another. The ideal replacement hasn’t emerged at scale.
Until now.
The Cocamide DEA Replacement
The next generation of surfactant ingredients needs to be built for the formulation challenges of today, not the chemistry of 30 years ago.
In other words, it must be:
- Designed for sulfate-free systems from the ground up
- Naturally derived but high-performing
- Addressing multiple functions (not requiring formulators to swap 1 ingredient for 3)
- Based on novel chemistry that provides advantages conventional ingredients can’t match
In upcoming posts, we’ll explore what this looks like in practice—how new surfactant chemistry is enabling formulators to create products that meet both performance and clean beauty standards without the compromises that have defined the transition away from conventional ingredients.
The alkanolamide era isn’t ending because the ingredients stopped working. It’s ending because formulators are discovering better options.
Interested in learning more about next-generation viscosity builders for clean formulations? Contact us for technical information and samples.