PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning agent hardly running off after application and having thixotropic nature suitable for massaging the scalp or the like.SOLUTION: In a cleaning agent, a laminar clay mineral, a higher alcohol, a cationic surfactant and an anionic surfactant are compounded. When measured using a rheometer under specific conditions, the storage elastic modulus is larger than the loss elastic modulus at an angular frequency of 90 rad/s. The ratio of the viscosity at a shear rate of 90 sto the viscosity at a shear rate of 18 sis 0.50 or less.