Foaming surfactant compositions

Claim 1

A foaming composition comprising (1) an alkylpolysaccharide surfactant having the formula RO(R 1 O) t (Z) x where Z is a moiety derived from a reducing saccharide containing from 5 to 6 carbon atoms and wherein R is a hydrophobic group selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkylphenyl, hydroxyalkylphenyl and hydroxyalkyl groups and mixtures thereof in which said alkyl groups contain from about 8 to about 20 carbon atoms; R 1 contains from 2 to about 4 carbon atoms; t is from 0 to about 30; and x is a number from about 1.5 to about 10; (2) an anionic cosurfactant selected from the group consisting of sulfates, sulfonates, carboxylates and mixtures thereof, neutralized with one or more cationic moieties, the ratio of (2) to (1) being from about 1:10 to about 10:1 except that when the cosurfactant is an alkylbenzene sulfonate, the ratio of (2) to (1) is at least about 1:2, and when the cosurfactant is soap the ratio of (2) to (1) is at least about 1:2, and when the anionic cosurfactant does not contain a sulfonate or carboxylate x must be from 1.5 to 3 and the alkylpolysaccharide surfactant must have a free fatty alcohol content of less than about 2% by weight.