Cyclohexasiloxane is a volatile cyclic silicone fluid used as a light carrier and sensorial modifier in skin care, color cosmetics, hair care, and sun-care systems that need high slip with a clean, low-residue afterfeel.

With low viscosity and low surface tension, it spreads easily across skin, hair, and pigments, improves wetting and glide, and then progressively flashes off after application. This helps formulas feel less greasy and less tacky than systems built only with heavier oils or non-volatile silicones.

Product Highlights

• Light volatile silicone carrier for elegant slip and spreadability
• Helps reduce tack, drag, and heavy oil feel during application
• Supports smoother pigment wetting, payout, and leveling in color cosmetics
• Creates a clean dry-down while leaving the non-volatile oils, resins, elastomers, or conditioners to provide the final film and wear profile
• Useful in silicone-rich, oil-silicone, and anhydrous systems

Formulation Guidance

Pure Cyclohexasiloxane (INCI: Cyclohexasiloxane; CAS 540-97-6) is supplied as a clear, low-viscosity volatile silicone fluid. It is selected when the formula needs faster spread, lighter playtime, cleaner dry-down, and less persistent residue than heavier dimethicone grades.

In pigment systems, it can improve wetting and leveling. In skin and hair systems, it helps reduce drag during rub-in and leaves a smoother, drier feel after partial evaporation. Final long-wear, film persistence, and conditioning performance depend on the non-volatile ingredients left behind after the volatile carrier has flashed off.

Applications

Suitable for primers, foundations, concealers, sunscreen systems, lip products, eye products, hair styling products, serums, sprays, and other silicone-rich or anhydrous formulas where a light volatile carrier is useful.

How to Mix

• Add in the silicone phase or oil-silicone phase.
• Use in anhydrous systems, silicone gels, pigment grinds, and emulsions where the volatile silicone is preblended into the oil/silicone side before emulsification.
• Avoid unnecessary prolonged heating because volatility increases with temperature.
• For emulsions, keep high-temperature hold time as short as practical and add late in the oil/silicone phase when the process allows.
• pH is not an intrinsic limitation for the neat raw material because it is non-aqueous, but compatibility should still be checked in the final formula.
• Use well-sealed packaging and minimize headspace exposure during bulk handling to reduce evaporative loss.

Use Level

Recommended use range: 1-100% depending on the system. Lower levels can improve slip and reduce tack; mid-range levels are common in primers, color cosmetics, and hair styling products; very high levels are possible in anhydrous volatile-silicone carrier blends.

Product Characteristics

Appearance: clear, low-viscosity volatile silicone fluid with very low odor.

Solubility: insoluble in water; miscible with silicone fluids and many cosmetic oils/esters; not suitable for direct addition into a purely aqueous phase without an appropriate emulsification route.

Preservative-free non-aqueous silicone fluid. Store tightly closed in a cool, well-ventilated area away from heat and open containers.