Edge caseUnited StatesBeauty & personal care

“Alcohol free” rules out one alcohol, not all

FDA states that “alcohol” used by itself in cosmetic labelling refers to ethyl alcohol, and that products labelled “alcohol free” may still contain fatty alcohols such as cetyl, stearyl, cetearyl or lanolin alcohol, whose effects on skin differ from ethyl alcohol’s.

The claim is narrower than a shopper reads it, so it is defensible to print and a live complaint risk to lean on, and the ingredient list is where the argument will actually be had.

93 of a possible 97Tier A, primary document or measured outcome. Nothing at this tier is allowed past 97, however good it looks.

Verified August 5, 2026Rechecked every 365 days, next by August 5, 2027.

Signal grammar

Held since August 5, 2026What kind of message reads as credible here. The earliest date we are willing to say this held. It may well have been true before that; we do not backdate a record past the evidence we have read. Supported, version 1.

This entry is wrong if

FDA states that “alcohol free” on a cosmetic label excludes fatty alcohols, or defines the term to cover alcohols other than ethyl alcohol.

Written before the record was published, not after. If you can show this, send it to hello@tryorbt.com and the correction goes on the record with the entry.

Evidence

Tier Aregulation
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “Alcohol Free”
Cosmetic products, including those labeled “alcohol free,” may contain other alcohols, such as cetyl, stearyl, cetearyl, or lanolin alcohol.
Read 2026-08-05 · Public domain · page hash cff832be0f73

History

v1createdAugust 5, 2026
Initial entry from primary regulator text, read 2026-08-04.

Append-only. Nothing in this list is edited or removed once written, including the entries that record our own mistakes. Every change to every record is on the corrections page, and the same log is in entries.json under revisions.

labelling
marketing-claims
ingredients
alcohol-free
beauty

Cite this entry

““Alcohol free” rules out one alcohol, not all”, The Orbt Market Index 0.1.0, entry omr:us:alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol, retrieved September 9, 2026, https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/us--alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol. Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22679129

Orbt, "“Alcohol free” rules out one alcohol, not all," Orbt Market Index, entry omr:us:alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol, verified August 5, 2026, https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/us--alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol.

@misc{orbt-us-alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol,
  title        = {“Alcohol free” rules out one alcohol, not all},
  author       = {{Orbt}},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22679129},
  note         = {The Orbt Market Index 0.1.0 (dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22679129), entry omr:us:alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol. Verified 2026-08-05},
  howpublished = {\url{https://tryorbt.com/markets/entry/us--alcohol-free-refers-only-to-ethyl-alcohol}},
  license      = {Orbt Index Public Licence. Free to quote and cite; not to redistribute}
}

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