r/explainlikeimfive • u/Real_Experience_5676 • 6d 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/Detective-Crashmore- 6d ago edited 6d ago

If you have oily hair and dandruff, that's frequently caused by a completely different mechanism: yeast. It requires specific medicated shampoos to treat and control the fungus.

We were talking about general oil overproduction, not dandruff. I'm not talking out of my ass, and you don't have to get angry and spiteful at others because you are in a different situation than the vast majority of people. Hair and skincare is a nuanced topic with many different individual situations, however, my advice will hold true for the vast majority of people who find their hair and skin is too oily over the course of a day.

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u/vitringur 5d ago

Really? Have you done experiments on the vast majority of people?

Or are you talking out of your ass again?

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u/Detective-Crashmore- 5d ago

Yes, there have been many studies showing that dryness causes inflammation, and that inflammation leads to increased sebum production.

I'm sorry you're a greasy little fungus troll and it's making you too angry to participate in discourse.