I am loving behenyl in lotion. It’s a bit dry feeling with the slickness of Cetyl without the ‘oiliness’ and doesn’t thicken as much as Stearic acid. So I guess behenyl is the posh cousin of Cetyl and Stearic acid. I guess it just depends on what you like, I will pick stearic over Cetyl for a lotion though because I have so much oil in my recipes, I don’t want the ‘oiliness’ of Cetyl added to my combo. Or better still use glyceryl stearate if you have that instead of Cetyl.
Lotion Pro, I love because thickening the lotion is my job and I really prefer it that way because other emulsifiers will thicken your lotion for you and Lotion Pro won’t so you can play with additives you would like to thicken your lotion with. Maybe simulgreen? The generic emulsifiers lik e-wax, BTMS, Polawax will give a totally different feel, in fact I would personally lose the thickeners and stabilizers like Cetyl, stearic etc... if I have to use any of those but this is just based on what I like so your YMMV.