Surfactant & Detergent Ingredients or Chemicals
Description of Surfactants & Detergents: surfactants are substances that lower surface tension. These Surface-Active Ingredients can reduce the surface tension between two liquids, between a liquid and a solid, or between a liquid and a gas. Surfactants have many functions, such as dispersing, emulsifying, degreasing, wetting or spreading. What all these functions have in common is that they work by having a long hydrophobic tail and a hydrophilic head, allowing surfactants to form micelles. The tails are very similar in most surfactants, they mainly differ in the hydrophilic head. This head can either be non-ionic, anionic, cationic or amphoteric. The capability of surfactants to form micelles, makes it possible to trap grease, oils and other water insoluble substances inside. This makes them the most common component used in personal care, cleaning and detergent formulations.
See also the blog series Surfactants part 1 - What is a surfactant and Surfactants part 2 - Types of surfactants and Surfactants part 3 - Surfactant subtypes and Surfactants part 4 - Natural Surfactants for a more in depth explanation about surfactants.