Beauty Question: Can you wash yourself with shampoo?

Can you wash yourself with shampoo? Good question! Shampoos clean and so do body washes. In general you’ll find it beneficial to use both a body wash and a shampoo. But there is really no reason you couldn’t use a shampoo to clean your entire body. If you use a daily moisturizer, then there is no need for a separate body wash.


Water & detergent:
  Shampoos and body washes are designed to clean which means they’re mostly water and detergent. And for cleaning oil off of surfaces nothing beats surfactants. Body washes like Dove, Olay and Herbalessences all use Sodium Laureth Sulfate. This is the same surfactant that many shampoos use.

Fragrance & Color:
No differences here. Body wash and shampoo use the same ingredients to make the product smell good and look pretty.

Conditioning ingredients:
  Since detergents can be a bit harsh, ingredients are added to improve the after-feel of hair and skin. Often body washes and shampoos use the same types of ingredients.

While shampoos and body washes are quite similar there are some important differences.

Body wash uses less harsh detergents:
 Since skin is generally more sensitive than hair, body wash formulas are made with slightly less detergent and also less harsh detergents. The low cost shampoos use SLS or ALS which are excellent cleaners but can be drying to skin.

Different conditioning ingredients:  Some of the ingredients that conditioner hair can also provide a nice feel on skin. However, many will not and this is often a key difference between shampoos & body washes.

A great comparison is to look at the list of ingredients of the Herbal Essences Body Wash versus their Shampoo.  Companies have actually picked up on the similarities. In the Old Spice High Endurance Body Wash they show a guy washing his hair and body with the same product.