"Potassium...' means the element potassium, 'tallate' salts/esters of fatty or resinous acids of tall oil (from the Swedish word 'tall' = pine), which is a by-product of the production of pulp, especially with pine wood.
Potassium tallate is used in cosmetic formulations. The mixture of substances acts as an antistatic agent (reduces static charges by neutralizing the electrical charge on the surface of the hair), emulsifier (a surface-active substance used as an additive in cosmetic products to combine two immiscible liquids - e.g. oil and water - to form an emulsion) and as a combing aid (reduces or prevents the tangling of the hair due to changes or damage on the hair surface and thus improves combability)