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Beauty ingredient · pH adjuster

Triethanolamine (TEA)

CAS
102-71-6

An ethanolamine used to adjust pH in creams and cleansers.

  • Ethanolamine (MEA/DEA/TEA)
  • Expert review pending
Low concern Level 1 of 4 How concern levels work

A minor or very limited concern, such as being an ultra-processing marker only. The concern level sets how many points triethanolamine (TEA) costs on a product’s receipt.

What the evidence says

  • Restricted useRegulatory

    Limited to 2.5% in EU leave-on products and not to be used with nitrosating systems; IARC Group 3. [1][2]

Evidence tiers say how sure the evidence is, separately from how much it matters. About evidence tiers.

Rules around the world

WhereStatusDetailsDateSource
European Union Restricted Leave-on products up to 2.5%; maximum secondary amine content 0.5% (Annex III, entry 62). — [1]

“Banned” means explicitly prohibited or withdrawn after review; “not permitted” means never authorized there. We use each regulator’s own words.

Popular products that list triethanolamine (TEA)

2 of the 17,000 most-scanned products in the US with a GoodSwap page list triethanolamine (TEA).

Names GoodSwap recognizes on labels (4)
  • tea
  • trolamine
  • triethanolamine
  • triethanolamine tea

Sources

  1. Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products

    European Union (Official Journal) · Nov 30, 2009 · Law

    “cosmetic products shall not contain any of the following: (a) prohibited substances — prohibited substances listed in Annex II”

    eur-lex.europa.eu

  2. Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs, Volumes 1–142 (List of Classifications)

    International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO) · IARC

    monographs.iarc.who.int