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Cellulose Gum

Carboxymethylcellulose

Well toleratedThickenerthickenerfilm-formerbinder

No meaningful concern for most people; irritation is possible but rare.

Also written as: Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose · Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose · Carboxymethylcellulose · CMC · E 466

What it is

Cellulose Gum is the sodium salt of carboxymethylcellulose - plant fibre chemically modified until it dissolves in water and thickens it. It is the same substance as the food additive E 466, so it is already in ice cream and toothpaste. In a mask it builds body, keeps a gel from sliding off the face and helps a sheet hold its essence.

What it does well

  • Thickens water reliably and keeps a gel in place

    This is one of the best-characterised thickeners in use anywhere, across food and cosmetics alike, and safety assessments have found it safe as used in cosmetics at levels up to 20%. Masks use far less than that; the function is textural and entirely predictable.

    Strong evidence

Worth knowing

  • It does nothing for skin

    Cellulose Gum thickens water and holds the formula together. As a food additive, celluloses are not absorbed and pass through intact, and on skin the polymer is not doing anything to the barrier either. That is not a fault - a mask needs structural ingredients - but it should not be read as an active.

Where the EU stands

No specific restriction

Not restricted under the EU Cosmetics Regulation; it appears in no annex and has no concentration limit.

Sources (2)

Every link goes to the original: a journal, a PubMed record or an EU document.

  1. [1]
    Quick Reference Table: ingredients found safe in the present practices of use and concentration

    Cosmetic Ingredient Review · 2017

    The Cosmetic Ingredient Review quick reference table lists Cellulose Gum (amended) with an S conclusion - safe in the present practices of use and concentration - with a limitation of up to 20%, citing an amended safety assessment of March 2009 and the original report at JACT 5(3):1-59, 1986. Checked 16 August 2026.

  2. [2]
    Re-evaluation of celluloses E 460(i), E 460(ii), E 461, E 462, E 463, E 464, E 465, E 466, E 468 and E 469 as food additives

    EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food, EFSA Journal 16(1):5047 · 2018 · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5047

    Cellulose Gum is the food additive E 466, sodium carboxy methyl cellulose. The Panel found that celluloses are not absorbed and are excreted intact in the faeces, that acute toxicity was low with no genotoxic concern, and concluded there was no need for a numerical ADI and no safety concern at the reported uses and use levels. Checked 16 August 2026.

Masks that contain Cellulose Gum