This invention relates to an external structuring agent for application in liquid detergent and personal care products. It has been found that cellulose based particles, which comprise cell wall material and their networks of cellulose based fibers and nanofibrils can advantageously be used to structure liquid detergent and personal care products, providing certain benefits that are much sought after in the design of such products. It is assumed that the organization of the cellulose fibrils, as it exists in the parenchymal cell walls, is at least partly retained in the cellulose based particles of the invention, even though part of the pectin and hemicellulose is removed there from. The process of making the structuring agent involves processing under relatively mild conditions, of a biological material that is currently considered a by-product.