Natural gel builder, co-emulsifier. Recommended. Swells in water.

Plant-derived gel builders are e. g. guar flower (guar gum) or carob powder (especially in roll-on deodorants and hair care products), gum arabicum, agar agar, a gel builder made of red algae, alginate (from sea kelp or brown algae, mostly used in shampoos or masks) or starch from potatoes, rice or wheat. The often-used gel builder xanthan is biologically derived. Gelatine's mineral origin is from animals and bentonite. Cellulose and the often-used methylcelluloses are natural half-synthetic gel builders. Gel builders are found in many cosmetic preparations, also if they don't look like a gel. There are a number of products which are a gel in the aqueous phase which are built into an emulsion in the oil phase.

These are materials which have a characteristic ability to build deformable systems (gels) when in a liquid (dispersion material) -- mostly water, but also in lipids or liquid alcohols in distributed form (dispersed). A gel binder builds an area network in a dispersion medium in which parts can hang together at different points. The spaces between are filled with the dispersion material. In cosmetics, gel binders are used for the manufacture of gels (e. g. toothpaste, hair gel) or the stabilization of phases in emulsions which can be employed many times. There are natural (cellulose, guam flour among others) and synthetic gel binders (polymers) used.