Acquisitions and Divestitures (Details 1) (Sanex Personal Care Business [Member])	Jun. 20, 2011
Europe/South Pacific [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Allocation of goodwill (in hundreths)	90.00%
Greater Asia/Africa [Member]
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Allocation of goodwill (in hundreths)	10.00%

Allocation percentage of acquired goodwill between segments as of the measurement date.

No definition available.

Name:	cl_AllocationPercentageOfAcquiredGoodwillBetweenSegmentsAsOfMeasurementDate
Namespace Prefix:	cl_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant