The Home Chemical Almanac · Chapter 2
Other surfactants
Correct as of November 2026.
If the label says "non-ionic", "cationic" or "amphoteric surfactants", or "soap"
Chapter 1 covered the anionic surfactants, the strong foaming cleaners. This chapter covers the rest:
- Non-ionic surfactants have no electric charge. They're strong on greasy, oily dirt.
- Cationic surfactants carry a positive charge, so they cling to fabric. Here that means fabric softeners. The disinfecting ones are elsewhere: benzalkonium chloride in Chapter 6, DDAC and cetrimonium chloride in Chapter 7.
- Amphoteric surfactants can carry either charge. They're used as co-surfactants in dishwashing liquid and hand wash.
- Soap is the oldest surfactant: fat or oil boiled with alkali.
Australian cleaning products don't have to list all their ingredients. Only a scheduled poison must be named on the label, with its strength, and a disinfectant must name its active ingredients. The safety data sheet is the best place to find the real name.
Cheat sheet
| Chemical | Badges | Also on labels as | Worst fact | Take care if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol ethoxylates | 🛢 💧 | laureth, C12-15 pareth, fatty alcohol ethoxylate | Non-ionic surfactants are the "primary mechanism" of harm in capsule poisonings | eyes, small children |
| Alkyl glucosides | — | decyl, lauryl or coco-glucoside, APG | "Plant-based" but still causes rare allergy | glucoside allergy |
| Amine oxides | 💧 | lauramine oxide, cocamidopropylamine oxide | Nitrosamines found in dishwashing liquids made with it (1982) | eyes |
| EO/PO copolymers | 🛢 💧 | poloxamer, alkoxylated alcohol | Spray mist caused lung injury in rats | sprays |
| Nonylphenol ethoxylates | 🛢 💧 | NPE, nonoxynol | Breakdown products in Australian sewage effluent at up to 25 times the safe level for aquatic life (combined risk score) | — |
| TEA esterquat | 🛢 | esterquat, fabric conditioner | Softener quats "can make them less absorbent" | towels, eyes |
| DEEDMAC | 🛢 | distearoylethyl dimonium chloride | 99% of company reports: skin and eye irritant | eyes |
| DHTDMAC | — | ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride | Replaced in softeners in several countries in the 1990s over toxicity to aquatic life | — |
| Cocamidopropyl betaine | 💧 | CAPB (related: lauramidopropyl betaine) | Allergen of the Year 2004 | eyelid or scalp eczema, eyes |
| Alkyl betaines | 💧 | lauryl betaine, coco-betaine | Eye irritant at 10 to 30% | eyes |
| Cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine | 💧 | CAHS, sultaine | Severe eye irritant in rabbits | CAPB allergy |
| Sodium lauriminodipropionate | — | lauriminodipropionic acid, disodium lauriminodipropionate | A 10% solution was corrosive to rabbit skin | — |
| Sodium tallowate | — | tallow soap | Swallowed bar soap: 2 deaths in 553 cases at a French poison centre, both people with dementia | dementia |
| Sodium and potassium cocoate | — | coconut soap, sodium cocoate, potassium cocoate | Pure sodium laurate irritated most volunteers' skin enough to stop the test | sensitive skin |
| Sodium palmate and palm kernelate | — | palm soap | Oil palm: 23% of Indonesian deforestation, 2001–2016 | — |
| Oleates, stearate and laurate | — | sodium oleate, sodium stearate, sodium laurate | Most soaps are pH 9 to 12; higher pH was linked to more irritation | home soap-making |
☠ Poison schedule (Australia) · ⚠ Officially classed skin allergen · 🛢 Made from a hazardous chemical · 💧 Contaminant risk
The chemicals
Part 1: Non-ionic surfactants
- Alcohol ethoxylates 🛢 💧
- Alkyl glucosides
- Amine oxides 💧
- EO/PO copolymers 🛢 💧
- Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) 🛢 💧
Part 2: Cationic surfactants (fabric softeners)
Softener quats coat fibres so they feel soft and don't cling. Australia's Poisons Standard schedules quaternary ammonium compounds, but exempts dialkyl or dialkoyl types whose fatty chains are "derived from tallow or hydrogenated tallow or similar chain length (C16/C18) sources", and any product with 5% or less.
One caution applies to softener in general. In lab tests, liquid rinse-cycle softener made fabrics burn more readily: in a 2003 US master's thesis (not peer-reviewed), cotton and polyester became more flammable with more washes, and treated polyester "did not pass the standard" for children's sleepwear. The thesis also reports a 2000 Consumer Reports test that flagged fleece, terry-cloth and velour garments. Dryer sheets made no significant difference. Neither the US CPSC nor the ACCC has issued a warning about it.
Part 3: Amphoteric surfactants
- Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) 💧
- Alkyl betaines 💧
- Cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine (CAHS) 💧
- Sodium lauriminodipropionate
Part 4: Soap
Soap is fat or oil boiled with an alkali: caustic soda makes sodium soaps, potassium hydroxide makes potassium soaps. Glycerol is the by-product. In hard water, soap reacts with calcium to form soap scum, so "more soap or detergent is needed to get things clean". In EU cleaners, soap makes up 0.1 to 10.5% of regular laundry powder, 2 to 20% of regular laundry liquid, and 0.1 to 3% of surface cleaners. Soap has no Poisons Standard entry.
- Sodium tallowate
- Sodium and potassium cocoate
- Sodium palmate and sodium palm kernelate
- Sodium oleate, potassium oleate, sodium stearate and sodium laurate
Safer alternatives
The EU banned nonylphenol ethoxylates from household cleaners in 2005. In the early 1990s, softener makers in Europe replaced DHTDMAC with esterquats that break down quickly. In 2016 the US FDA removed triclosan and 18 other antibacterial ingredients from consumer washes because manufacturers hadn't shown they were safe for long-term daily use or worked better than plain soap and water.
Look for these:
- Alcohol ethoxylates instead of nonylphenol ethoxylates: Australia's environment department calls them direct replacements "that have a lower environment hazard profile"
- Esterquats instead of DHTDMAC in fabric softener, or no softener for towels and flame-resistant clothing
- Lower-concern surfactants on the US EPA's Safer Choice list: alkyl glucosides, amine oxides, alkyl betaines and soaps are all green circles
- Plain soap and water for hands
- Certified sustainable palm oil if a soap uses palm
Sources
Regulators and official lists
- Australian Government. Poisons Standard October 2026 (SUSMP), F2026L01327: quaternary ammonium compounds; amidopropyl betaines; sodium hydroxide; dioxane (Appendix G).
- Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for alcohol ethoxylates, C10-12 alcohol EO/PO, cocamidopropyl betaine, nonylphenol, DODMAC, and for ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, dimethyl sulfate, methyl chloride, benzyl chloride, epichlorohydrin, DMAPA, monochloroacetic acid and 1,4-dioxane.
- NICNAS/AICIS. IMAP Tier II assessments: ethoxylated aliphatic alcohols (2019); alkoxylated aliphatic alcohols (2020); nonylphenols; nonylphenol ethoxylate sulfate and phosphate esters (environment, 2016); cationic surfactants; mono- and dialkyl quaternary ammonium compounds (environment, 2016); cocamidopropyl betaine; fatty acid amidopropyl dimethylamines. Public reports STD/1386 (esterquat, 2011) and STD/1363 (lauryl hydroxysultaine).
- Australian Government DCCEEW. IChEMS chemical profile and proposed scheduling decision: nonylphenols and nonylphenol ethoxylates (2026).
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Palm oil.
- Therapeutic Goods Administration. Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Goods) Determination 2018.
- European Union. Directive 2003/53/EC; Regulation (EU) 2016/26.
- US EPA. Nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates action plan (2010); Safer Choice Ingredient List.
- US FDA. Consumer antiseptic wash final rule (2016); Antibacterial soap consumer update; Use of materials derived from cattle in human food and cosmetics, final rule (2016).
- US CPSC. Lye recall (2020).
- US CDC. Hand sanitizer guidance (2024).
- US Geological Survey. Hardness of water.
- RIVM (Netherlands). DTDMAC in surface and drinking water (1991).
- Danish EPA. Household detergents, chapter 5: cationic surfactants (2001).
- HSDB (US National Library of Medicine), via PubChem, including Gosselin, Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products (1984); ECHA C&L Inventory (company notifications, via PubChem); JECFA, sodium oleate (via PubChem).
Industry and other assessments
- HERA. Alcohol ethoxylates (2009); esterquats (environment 2008, human health 2009); cocamidopropyl betaine (2005); fatty acid salts (2002).
- Cosmetic Ingredient Review: alkyl glucosides (2013); poloxamers (2008); cocamidopropyl betaine and amidopropyl betaines (2012); alkyl betaines (2018); alkyl sultaines (2024); lauriminodipropionates (2013); coconut oil and related ingredients (2011); fatty acids and fatty acid salts (2019).
- RSPO. Annual communications of progress 2025; Impact Report 2026.
Studies
- Day R et al. Laundry detergent capsules and pods: a review of their emerging toxicity. Clin Toxicol 2019.
- Gijbels D et al. Allergic contact dermatitis caused by alkyl glucosides. Contact Dermatitis 2014.
- Nitrosamines in dishwashing liquids and surface cleaners (1982), PMID 6890512.
- Tumours in rats given nitrosatable amines and nitrite (1984), PMID 6541624.
- Mishra S, Tyagi VK. Esterquats: the novel class of cationic fabric softeners. J Oleo Sci 2007.
- Guo J. Effects of fabric softener on the flammability of cotton and polyester fabrics. MS thesis, Virginia Tech, 2003.
- DEEDMAC exposure in US wastewater treatment plants (2019), PMID 31153071.
- Tubbing DMJ, Admiraal W. Inhibition of bacterial and phytoplanktonic metabolic activity in the lower River Rhine by ditallowdimethylammonium chloride. Appl Environ Microbiol 1991.
- Garcia MT et al. Anaerobic degradation of cationic surfactants. Chemosphere 2000.
- Jacob SE, Amini S. Cocamidopropyl betaine. Dermatitis 2008.
- Angelini G et al. 3-Dimethylaminopropylamine: a key substance in contact allergy to cocamidopropylbetaine? Contact Dermatitis 1995.
- Foti C et al. The role of 3-dimethylaminopropylamine and amidoamine in contact allergy to cocamidopropylbetaine. Contact Dermatitis 2003.
- Fowler JF Jr et al. Allergy to cocamidopropyl betaine and amidoamine in North America. Dermatitis 2004.
- Santucci B et al. Cutaneous response to irritants. Contact Dermatitis 2003.
- Blaak J, Staib P. The relation of pH and skin cleansing. Curr Probl Dermatol 2018.
- Weber B et al. Co-reactivity of a cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine-containing facial cleanser with dimethylamines and amidoamine (letter, 2026), PMID 40936378.
- De Pralormo S et al. Bar soap ingestion, Angers Poison Control Centre. Clin Toxicol 2019, PMID 30307335.
- Tupker RA et al. Irritancy of sodium laurate. Skin Res Technol 1997, PMID 27333375.
- Baranda L et al. Correlation between pH and irritant effect of cleansers marketed for dry skin. Int J Dermatol 2002;41:494.
- Botwe BO et al. Caustic soda ingestion in children, Ghana. BMC Res Notes 2015, PMID 26576563.
- Austin KG et al. What causes deforestation in Indonesia? Environ Res Lett 2019.
- Voigt M et al. Global demand for natural resources eliminated more than 100,000 Bornean orangutans. Curr Biol 2018.