Beeswax (Cera Alba): INCI and CAS for Balms and Salves

If you make balms or salves, beeswax is probably the first ingredient you learned to trust and the last one you actually looked up properly. It's simple, it works, and it's easy to assume there's nothing to get wrong on a filing. Mostly true, but there are a couple of details worth nailing down.

The INCI name

Beeswax's INCI name is Cera Alba. Not "beeswax," not "cire d'abeille," not the supplier's product code. When you're filling out a Cosmetic Notification Form or any ingredient declaration, Cera Alba is what goes on the list. If your supplier's spec sheet says "Yellow Beeswax NF" or "White Beeswax Pastilles," that's a trade or grade descriptor, and Cera Alba is still the INCI term underneath it.

CAS numbers

Beeswax is a natural, variable material, and like a number of botanical and animal-derived substances, it can carry more than one CAS registry number depending on how it's processed and referenced. You'll commonly see:

• 8012-89-3, frequently listed for beeswax generally
• Some references distinguish white (bleached) beeswax with a separate identifier

Because beeswax isn't a single pure chemical compound but a complex mixture of esters, fatty acids, and hydrocarbons, don't be surprised if different suppliers' documentation cites slightly different CAS references. When in doubt, use the CAS number your specific supplier provides on their certificate of analysis or safety data sheet, since that's the number tied to the actual material you're buying.

White versus yellow beeswax

This is a formulation and marketing choice more than a compliance one, but it affects your labeling accuracy:

Grade	Description	Common use
Yellow beeswax	Unbleached, natural color and honey-like scent	Rustic balms, lip balms where the scent is a feature
White beeswax	Bleached or filtered to remove color and odor	Products where you want the fragrance oil or essential oil to be the dominant scent note

Both are Cera Alba on an ingredient list. The bleaching process for white beeswax can sometimes involve additional processing aids, so if you're using a heavily processed white beeswax, it's worth checking your supplier's documentation for anything else that might need its own line on the ingredient list.

Its job in the formula

Beeswax is a structuring agent. In an anhydrous balm or salve, it's typically doing one or more of these jobs:

• Raising the melting point of the overall blend so the balm holds its shape at room temperature
• Adding a slight tack or grip that helps a salve stay put on skin
• Contributing a bit of water resistance in lip balms and protective salves

It's not functioning as a preservative and it's not an emulsifier on its own, though it does show up in emulsified creams in smaller amounts as part of the oil phase, sometimes paired with borax or another emulsifying system in traditional formulations.

Where it sits on a notification

Because beeswax is such a common, well-characterized ingredient, it's not something that typically raises flags on the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. Your job on the filing side is just accuracy: list it as Cera Alba, note the concentration or concentration range you're using, and make sure that number reflects the real percentage in your finished balm, not a rounded guess.

If your balm recipe is "1 part beeswax to 4 parts oil by weight," don't just write "20%" on the notification if your actual batch ratios vary. Use the percentage from the specific formula version you're filing, and if you tweak the ratio later for a firmer or softer balm, that's a formula change worth an amendment.

A quick formulator's checklist

1. Confirm your supplier's CAS number matches what's on their CoA, not a generic reference you found online
2. Use Cera Alba on the ingredient list, always
3. Note whether you're using white or yellow grade for your own batch records, even though both file as Cera Alba
4. Recalculate your beeswax percentage any time you adjust the balm's oil-to-wax ratio

Beeswax is about as low-drama as cosmetic ingredients get, but the INCI and CAS details still matter for a clean filing. If you're mapping out a longer ingredient list for a balm line and want to make sure every wax, oil, and butter has the right INCI and CAS attached before you file, that ingredient-matching step is exactly what Cosmetic Comply handles, expanding any blends and carrying percentages through automatically so you're not hunting down CAS numbers one by one.