And why is mens and womens shampoo so different.
In: Chemistry
The core part of most cleaners (from body wash to soap to hand soap to shampoo to many household cleaners) is a “surfactant”. These are often identical between soap, body wash, and shampoo, particularly “Sodium Laureth Sulfate” and others with similar names. Sodium Laureth Sulfate is [even in Tide Pods](https://tide.com/en-us/ingredients/tide-detergent-ingredients-a-to-z), but this does not mean you should wash with Tide Pods. Most products have >1 surfactant.
Cleaners usually differ by the following:
1. Concentration. More concentrated things are stronger; the less something is intended to touch skin, the stronger it’s likely to be. Shampoos are generally slightly stronger but not dangerous for skin or anything.
2. Some surfactants are bad for the skin or hair. If something is expected to touch your skin or hair, they won’t include these ingredients, but detergents for machines, and strong cleaners to be used with gloves are likely to be unsafe here. (This is why you should not wash by dumping a tide pod in your bath).
3. Solutions can be “Acidic” or “Basic”. Acidic means something has extra Hydrogen; Basic means it doesn’t have enough. This can help clean (vinegar works by being acidic) as they try to balance out their hydrogen with their environment, which creates water as a byproduct. “Soaps” – Things specifically *named* Soap and not “Body Wash” or “Beauty Bar” or “Detergent” – must have the only surfactants be “alkali salts of fatty acids”, at least in US regulation; this is a mouthful, but it means in practice the surfactant is mildly basic. This is fine for the skin – nothing used for the body is strongly acidic or basic – but there is evidence it can be bad for the hair in the long run, if a mild acidic [hair](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Acidic+Hair+Rinse) [rinse](https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Bronners-Hair-Conditioner-Rinse/dp/B0017QT5UM) (or even just diluted vinegar) is not used to rinse the hair after. Shampoos (or 2/3-in-1 body washes) are generally neutral, neither acidic nor basic.
4. Some ingredients are targeted specifically for hair or skin or dishes, such as moisturizing ingredients, or ingredients to make your hair feel smooth after washing, or a many low-concentration ingredients intended to strengthen or repair hair or skin. They don’t necessarily interfere with using the product for different purposes and are generally low concentration. They don’t always have strong science behind them.
5. Men and Women’s shampoos are generally just marketing, but often have different fragrances and shampoos targeted at women are probably more likely to include the ingredients in (4).
The differences here amongst things used for the body are pretty minor, and you could use them fairly interchangeably (apart from using acidic rinse with Soaps used on hair). That’s one reason Dr. Bronner’s markets as 18-1 Soap; it’s a vegetable oil based soap with no specialized ingredients, so you can use it pretty widely, but it’s not necessarily unique on reusability.
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