It has uses as a nonionic surfactant emulsifier emollient and thickener in skin creams lotions and many other cosmetic products including shampoos and hair conditioners. It has also been investigated as a carrier for delivering medications through the skin or mucus membranes particularly the lungs.

For R&D use onlynot for drug household or other uses.

Oleyl alcohol[pronunciation] octadecenol[pronunciation] or cis-9-octadecen-1-ol is an unsaturated fatty alcohol with the chemical formula C18H36O or CH3(CH2)7-CHCH-(CH2)8OH.It can be produced by the hydrogenation of oleic acid esters which can be obtained naturally from beef fat fish oil and in particular olive oil (from which it gains its name).