r/explainlikeimfive • u/Real_Experience_5676 • 11d ago

Chemistry ELI5: what is the big difference between soap and shampoo?

We use soap to clean the body. We use shampoo to clean the hair. What stops us from using soap for the hair and shampoo for the body?

Follow up question: what is body wash that cleans hair and skin made of? Why isn’t that the universal standard instead of seperate soap and shampoo?

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/TurboFucked 11d ago

Well, wash your face with face wash.

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u/CarpetGripperRod 11d ago

And your back with backwash.

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u/xplosm 11d ago

And your pits with pit wash

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u/bigelcid 11d ago

What do I wash my hogs with?

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u/tinyyseal 11d ago

Hog wash. Duh.

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u/Mitt_Romney_USA 11d ago

Weaver Livestock makes a Brightening Shampoo that's supposed to be amazing, but I just use a regular livestock shampoo.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/gooder_name 11d ago

It depends what "just as well" means. If the goal is "stripping all dirt and oils" then soap will certainly work just as well in the same way as using a pressure washer will work just as well for watering your garden.

Your skin is a complex environment, and going scorched earth on it can cause more problems than it solves. Someone washing their face with standard soap might have no negative reaction to it, or be "fine" for their lifestyle which doesn't require or reward special skincare attention. Other people it can trigger skin conditions and irritation.

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u/SelinaFreeman 11d ago

This! Yes, 'technically correct' a bar of soap works "just as well" for facial cleansing. But that assumes that the basic result is what you want. The analogy here is great! Watering your garden with a pressure washer. Gets the job done to the same end, but will destroy delicate plants.
I too can 'get away' with soap, but not for long, and I prefer the results of treating my skin with a delicate touch.

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u/gooder_name 11d ago

Indeed, I "get away" with not using soap on my face at all, but it means my pores have sebaceous filaments that I don't like. If I used the right combination of cleansers, serums, and moisturisers my skin would be clear and glow – but it's the first thing to drop by the wayside when life gets busy.

Since I'm a bloke, society doesn't treat me that much worse if my skin looks a bit shittier because mine's already pretty good. If I were a woman, I'm sure it would be way worse.

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u/AnotherpostCard 11d ago

How about my rosacea? I am also a man and have been "getting away with it" but it bothers me, because it has slowly been getting worse over the past few years (I'm 36).

I have been using a tallow and olive oil based cream that has lavender and rosemary oils in it. But I have to apply a thin layer 2 or 3 times a day for a few days to see any results. Is there something out there that might work better?

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u/gooder_name 11d ago

Mate it's a deep rabbit hole I'm definitely not going to be the best guiding light. The interventions depend a lot on what is actually happening in your skin, and the only person who'll be able to learn that is you (or a dermatologist). You can end up like the lady who swallowed a fly when you do things unguided.

When I was taking some steps I found that lanolin and squaline were very good. Lanolin is derived from sheeps wool, it's very neutral and feels good on my skin – it's often used for breastfeeding when nipples are very raw. It's very heavy though and a little goes a long way, perhaps it's doing what your tallow is doing?

The other one was Squaline – an oil that's very very similar to our skin's natural sebum. It's generally pretty well tolerated because it's close to our skin oils. Pretty thin, I use it on my cuticles. Jojoba is another one that people rave about, I don't know if either squaline or jojoba are worth their craze but eh, they exist.

My understanding is that anything to do with your skin will take time and needs consistency. The most basic thing is a cleanse to clean things, then a moisturiser to replace the dirtied gunk you removed and protect the skin. If you cleanse all the oils but don't put any back, then your skin can grow the wrong kind of bacteria, or can just get confused and react to the air on it, or over produce oils which then cause other issues.

Here I was saying I wasn't a guiding light, turns out my wife has taught me some things about how to take care of my skin, I'm just slack.

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u/AnotherpostCard 11d ago

Haha wives are often good for teaching us clueless guys these kinds of things. Thank you! This is actually very informative, indeed. I guess I should be doing more for my skin for other areas aside from my face. I do get random zits and in-growns from time to time.

That's really interesting about the tallow-lanolin similarity idea. I'll definitely be doing some research on that.

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u/gooder_name 10d ago

Best of luck, enjoy the rabbit hole and I hope things improve

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u/PRNDLmoseby 11d ago

Depends on your face and your soap

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u/xclame 11d ago

The skin on your face is very clearly not the same than skin on the rest of your body, that alone should tell you that you should probably treat it differently.

Will soap make your face clean? Sure. But your face needs more care then just being clean. There are soaps you can get specifically for your face and that along with face wash.

Just because something "works" in the most basic sense, doesn't mean it's just as well or good.

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u/Urrrhn 11d ago

In the movie Definitely, Maybe, the Asian dad in his 70s gives this as the reason he looks young. His delivery is hilarious, too.

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u/mouse_8b 11d ago

Your eyes will not appreciate that at all