A skin cleansing composition, comprising(A) an alkyl ether carboxylic acid or a salt thereof represented by formula (1):wherein, R1 represents an alkyl group having 8 to 18 carbon atoms, n represents a number of from 0 to 20, and M represents a hydrogen atom, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, ammonium, or organic ammonium,wherein, R1 has an average carbon number of from 10.8 to 12.8 and the average value of n is from 2.5 to 3.4,and wherein, the alkyl ether carboxylic acid or a salt thereof contains a component in which n = 0 in an amount of from 9.9 to 27% by mass, and contains a component in which n = 1 and a component in which n = 2 in a total amount of less than 40% by mass, and(B) an alkyl sulfate or polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfate represented by formula (2):wherein, R2 represents an alkyl group or an alkenyl group having 8 to 22 carbon atoms, m represents a number of from 0 to 20 and the average of m is less than 2, and Y represents a hydrogen atom or a cation selected from alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, ammonium, alkyl ammonium, alkanol ammonium, and glucammonium. R1-O-(CH2CH2O)n-CH2-COOM (1) R2-O- (CH2CH2O)m-SO3Y (2)