Stable liquid cleansing compositions containing high level of fatty acid isethionate surfactant products having more than 10 wt. % of fatty acid/fatty soap content

1. A personal liquid cleanser composition comprising:

(a) 15 to 50 wt % of fatty acyl isethionate surfactant product containing 10 to 50 wt % fatty acids and/or fatty soaps and 35 to 85 wt % fatty acyl isethionate in the said product, said product comprising at least 60% of total surfactant product of item a and co-surfactants of item b in the liquid composition;

(b) 0 to 15 wt % of a co-surfactant selected from the group consisting of anionic (excluding fatty acyl isethionate of (a)), amphoteric and nonionic surfactants and mixture thereof wherein the amount of said cosurfactant is 0 to 40 wt % of total amount of fatty acyl isethionate surfactant product of item a and cosurfactant of item b;

(c) 1% to 16% by wt. of an elevated temperature stabilizing system comprising:

(i) 0.1 to 8 wt % of a compound selected from the group consisting of mono- and di-ethanolamides, N-methyl-monoethanolamide, isopropanolamides of fatty acids having about 10 to 20 carbon atoms, and PPG-hydroxyethyl cocamides wherein the amount of said alkanolamide is;

(ii) 0.3 to 8 wt % of a compound selected from the group consisting of C9 to C30 aliphatic hydrocarbon oils, ammonium salt, organic amine, linear C8 to C13 fatty acid/fatty alcohol, branched fatty acid and mixtures thereof, wherein the total amount of fatty alcohols and branched fatty acids is no more than 2 wt % in the liquid composition;

wherein the ratio of fatty acyl isethionate surfactant product of item a to cosurfactant of item b is in the range of 10/0 to 6/4; the viscosity of the said liquid cleanser composition at 0.01 s −1 is at least 350 Pas; and the ratio of the viscosity at 40° C. to the viscosity at 25° C., when measured at 0.01 s −1 , is at least 0.2, wherein said composition is stable (i.e., (is physically stable and will not partition as can be visually observed) at 45° C. for at least 2 weeks; and

wherein at ambient temperature, said composition contains surfactant crystals with dissolution temperature between 30° C. to 50° C.; wherein said composition, in the absence of the elevated temperature stabilization system (d), either has ratio of viscosity at 40° C. to viscosity at 25° C. less than 0.2 or has a viscosity at 25° C. less than 350 Pas when measured at 0.01 s −1 and shows phase separation at 45° C. in less than two weeks.

2. A composition according to claim 1 , wherein a fatty acyl isethionate product used in a process for making said composition comprises mixtures of 45-85% fatty acyl isethionate and 15 to 40% free fatty acids.

3. A composition according to claim 1 , wherein total amount of items (c)(i) and (c)(ii) is ≧10 wt % of total amount of pure fatty acyl isethionate surfactant and synthetic co-surfactants of item a and b of claim 1 .

4. A composition according to claim 1 , wherein total amount of items (c)(i) and (c)(ii) is ≧15 wt % of total amount of pure fatty acyl isethionate surfactant and synthetic co-surfactants of item a and b of claim 1 .

5. A composition according to claim 1 , additionally comprising 1 to 20% emollient.

6. A composition according to claim 1 , wherein the aliphatic hydrocarbon oil is linear hydrocarbon having C 9 to C 20 chain length.

7. A composition according to claim 1 , wherein water-soluble and/or dispersible polymer is a polymer selected from the group consisting of starch granule xanthan gum, Carbopol, cross-linked soluble emulsion polymers, cationic guars and mixtures thereof.