Fatty alcohol mixtures R.sub.mix --OH of natural and, in particular, purely vegetable origin and ethoxylates thereof showing improved low-temperature behavior and corresponding to the general formula R.sub.mix --O--(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.x --H, in which x is a number of 2 to 10 and R.sub.mix represents selected mixtures of saturated and olefinically unsaturated fatty alcohol hydrocarbon radicals in the C 6-20 or C 12-20 ranges correspond to specification I for the chain length range R.sub.mix --=6-20 and to specification II for the chain length range R.sub.mix --=C 12-20:______________________________________ Specification I II structurally analogous to % by weight ______________________________________ C 6 caproic acid 0.1-0.6 -- C 8 caprylic acid 2.5-10 -- C 10 capric acid 2.5-14 -- C 12 lauric acid 37-52 39-69 C 14 myristic acid 10-20 10-27 C 16 palmitic acid 6-10 6-14 C 18 stearic acid 1-5 1-7 C 18' oleic acid 5-23 6-31 C 18" linoleic acid 1-4 1-6 C 18"' linolenic acid 0.1-1 0.1-2 C 20 arachic acid 0.1-1 0.1-2 ______________________________________