Glycerin on a Canada CNF: INCI, CAS, and Function Codes

Glycerin is in so many formulas that filers sometimes rush past it on a CNF, treating it as too basic to think twice about. That's usually fine, it is a well understood, broadly permitted ingredient, but I still see small mistakes on function selection and blend math that are worth five minutes to get right.

The basics you need

Glycerin's INCI name is Glycerin. Its CAS registry number is 56-81-5. It is one of the oldest, most extensively used ingredients in cosmetics, valued primarily as a humectant, meaning it draws and holds moisture at the skin's surface, helping products feel hydrating rather than drying.

Detail	Value
INCI name	Glycerin
CAS number	56-81-5
Primary function	Humectant
Secondary uses	Solvent, viscosity modifier in some formulas

Picking the right function on the CNF

When you're filling out the Cosmetic Notification Form, you'll typically be asked to assign a function to each listed ingredient. For glycerin, humectant is almost always the correct primary selection, since that's the role it plays in the overwhelming majority of formulas, drawing water into the outer skin layer to improve the sensation of hydration.

That said, glycerin sometimes does double duty. In some formulas it also acts as a solvent, helping dissolve other ingredients into the water phase, or contributes mildly to viscosity in a way that supports overall texture. If your formula genuinely relies on glycerin for one of these secondary roles as much as or more than its humectant effect, note that in your formulation records even if the CNF only allows you to select a primary function. Consistency between what you tell Health Canada and what you can demonstrate in your own formulation documentation matters more than picking the "most impressive" sounding function.

Concentration and range selection

Glycerin is used across an enormous concentration range depending on product type, anywhere from a small supporting percentage in a lightweight lotion to a much higher percentage in some soap or specialty humectant-forward formulas. Because of that range, there is no single "typical" percentage worth quoting. What matters is that you declare your product's actual formula concentration, or an appropriate range bracket, based on your real formula rather than a percentage borrowed from a different product type.

Glycerin does not carry a restricted maximum concentration on the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist, but as always, verify current Hotlist status at the time of filing rather than assuming that stays true indefinitely, since the Hotlist is reviewed and updated periodically.

Where glycerin hides inside blends

Glycerin is a common carrier or diluent inside other raw material blends, sometimes used to help disperse a fragrance oil, a botanical extract, or an active ingredient at low concentration. When that happens, the glycerin contributed by the blend is a real part of your formula's total glycerin content, and in principle it should be accounted for the same way any blend component is: multiply the blend's use level by glycerin's percentage within that blend to find its true contribution.

In practice, filers sometimes report only the glycerin they added directly and forget the glycerin arriving as a carrier inside, say, a botanical extract blend or a fragrance dilution. For an ingredient with no restricted maximum, this rarely creates a compliance problem, but it does mean your declared concentration might understate the ingredient's true total presence in the formula. Good habit, not a hard requirement: track it accurately anyway, since your documentation should reflect the real formula.

A short filing checklist for glycerin

1. Confirm INCI name is entered exactly as Glycerin.
2. Confirm CAS number 56-81-5 is attached if your filing system requests it.
3. Select humectant as the primary function unless a secondary role clearly dominates in your specific formula.
4. Calculate total glycerin concentration including any contribution from carrier or blend ingredients.
5. Choose a concentration range bracket that reflects your real formula and batch variability.

None of this is hard chemistry, it is mostly bookkeeping discipline. But bookkeeping discipline across dozens of SKUs is exactly where manual filing starts to break down, which is the gap Cosmetic Comply is built to close: it resolves ingredients like glycerin to their correct INCI and CAS automatically, carries blend contributions through the math for you, and lets a real compliance reviewer sign off before your notification goes in.