In many applications surfactants are needed at one stage but unwanted at a later stage. For instance, surfactants are needed in paints as emulsifiers, dispersants and wetting agents. In the dried film the surfactant migrates to the surface and impairs properties such as hardness and water resistance. A way to overcome these problems is to use a surfactant that can polymerize, either through homopolymerization or by reaction with the binder. This paper discusses the design of polymerizable surfactants and demonstrates their applicability in selected applications, such as alkyd emulsions, micro-emulsions of alkyds, emulsion polymerization and surface modification. Surface modification includes the polymerization of a monolayer adsorbed from aqueous solution and the crosslinking of surfactants that have migrated to the surface of a lacquer film.