when you look at the ingredient lists of products like shower gel, conditioner etc. there are often several types of alcohol included…what’s the difference between these alcohols?

Question

A shower thought of mine haha

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Alcohols have the structure R-OH. It’s the R that differs. There’s almost no limit to what R can be.
The OH tends to make the compound more water friendly, but can be overwhelmed by a fatty R.