Since their introduction to the market, amphoteric surfactants have been primarily used in personal care products. In recent years, their application has expanded to household cleaning products, such as hand-washing dishwashing detergents and hard surface cleaners.
Furthermore, amphoteric surfactants are widely used in daily chemical, textile, dye, pigment, food, pharmaceutical, machinery, metallurgical, and detergent industries.
In personal care products, their earliest application was in medicated shampoos containing quaternary ammonium salt biocides (Mannheimer H.S. 1958), which significantly reduced the irritation caused by the presence of quaternary ammonium salts.
In personal cleaning products such as shampoos, shower gels, and facial cleansers, amphoteric surfactants are commonly used due to their cleaning, foaming, wetting properties and gentleness on the skin.
In hair shampoo formulations, the combination of amphoteric and anionic surfactants alters the structure of deposits on the hair, resulting in soft, non-greasy hair.
In the cosmetics industry, amphoteric surfactants are widely used due to their lower irritation levels, such as the application of amphoteric imidazolines in makeup removers.
Amphoteric surfactants are often used in combination with anionic or cationic surfactants to produce synergistic effects, acting as softeners, antistatic agents, emulsifiers, dispersants, and bactericides in cosmetics.
Fluorobetaines are also used in foam fire extinguishers.
