A CLEANSING COMPOSITION COMPRISING AN ALKYL ETHER CARBOXYLIC ACID OR A SALT THEREOF REPRESENTED BY THE FOLLOWING FORMULA (1): WHEREIN, R1 REPRESENTS AN ALKYL GROUP HAVING 4 TO 22 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 CONTAINS TWO OR MORE ALKYL GROUPS AND HAS AN AVERAGE CARBON NUMBER OF FROM 10.8 TO 12.5, AND WHEREIN, THE ALKYL ETHER CARBOXYLIC ACID OR A SALT THEREOF CONTAINS A COMPONENT IN WHICH N = 0 IN AN AMOUNT OF FROM 8 TO 27 % BY MASS, A COMPONENT IN WHICH N = 1 AND A COMPONENT IN WHICH N = 2 IN A TOTAL AMOUNT OF FROM 28 TO 38% BY MASS, AND COMPONENTS IN WHICH N ≥ 6 IN TOTAL AMOUNT OF 10% BY MASS OR MORE. R1-O-(CH2CH2O) N-CH2-COOM (1)
