What is it?
A thickening and foam-boosting ingredient made by joining stearic acid, a common fatty acid, with aminomethyl propanol (AMP), a small amino alcohol that is also used on its own in cosmetics to adjust pH. It is used in personal care products to build foam and thicken formulas. It is a chemical relative of other fatty amides made from amino alcohols, such as cocamide DEA, cocamide MEA and stearamide MIPA.
Key information
- We could not find an independent safety assessment of stearamide AMP by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review or other expert panels.
- Close relatives made from other amino alcohols, stearamide MIPA and stearamide MEA, were judged safe by the CIR when formulated to be non-irritating.
- The CIR cautions that those relatives should not be used in products where nitrosamines can form.
More information
Stearamide AMP is an amide: the acid group of stearic acid is joined to the nitrogen of aminomethyl propanol (AMP), leaving an alcohol group free at the other end. It is listed for cosmetic use as a foam booster and viscosity controller. It has not been the subject of its own Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) safety assessment that we could find, and we found no published safety studies on it. Its PubChem record lists no hazard classification.
What is known comes from its relatives. In 2009 the CIR Expert Panel concluded that AMP itself is safe as used as a pH adjuster. It noted that AMP is a primary amine, which is not a substrate for nitrosamine formation, but that it may carry secondary-amine impurities that are, so it should not be used with N-nitrosating agents. The CIR has also reviewed fatty amides made from other amino alcohols. It found stearamide MIPA and 13 related ingredients safe when formulated to be non-irritating, relying partly on data from the diethanolamides, the family that includes cocamide DEA. It found stearamide MEA safe when formulated to be non-irritating. For both groups it cautioned against use in products in which N-nitroso compounds can form.
Reality check: stearamide AMP is not diethanolamine (DEA) or ethanolamine (MEA), and we found no specific evidence that it is harmful. But there are also no direct safety data confirming that it is safe, and its closest relatives come with irritation and nitrosamine cautions. If you prefer to avoid ingredients made from amino alcohols, such as DEA, MEA and TEA, stearamide AMP belongs to the same broad group.
Sources: PubChem: Stearamide AMP; International Journal of Toxicology (2009): Final amended report on the safety assessment of aminomethyl propanol and aminomethyl propanediol (abstract, Penn State); Cosmetic Ingredient Review: Safety assessment of alkyl amide MIPA ingredients (tentative report, 2019); Cosmetic Ingredient Review: Quick reference table, safe-with-qualifications findings (2020)
