body wash for hair?

[LeMimi13]

Is it healthy dor your hair to wash it with body wash? I tried with uriage, it actually says it's for hair too, and my hair looked like Amanda Seyfried , soft waves. Is it bad? Cab I do it often? I also feel kt makes my hair last longer without washing..

[Loktra]

What is the surfactant in it? A lot of those combo products are just sulfates, so use it however you like. Doesn't really matter, in my mind, if it says body wash or shampoo.

[Nadine <3]

I've done it while traveling. I just didn't feel like bringing two different bottles of essentially the same thing. It didn't hurt my hair at all.

[missblueeyes]

Well, my boyfriend has been using a shower gel on his hair for the past 3+ years and his hair is absolutely fine. Just today I checked the ingredients lists and compared them to other shampoos and it's pretty much the same. :shrug:
If it works, go for it! If it stops working, you can always switch back to what you used previously.

[meteor]

Nothing too problematic with using a body wash (I've done that a few times while traveling without problems), since shampoos and body washes do tend to have similar formulations, but it's not formulated specifically for hair, so there might be problems with comb-ability and manageability of hair (especially if the hair is non-virgin, very long, and requires lots of conditioning ingredients).
(Also, the pH might be worth checking out with pH testing strips, just to be sure it's in the hair-friendly (somewhat acidic) range.)

[lapushka]

If you have gorgeous hair because of it, then by all means, but if there's an issue with your hair, I'd say stop using it, and that would be the only reason. There's not much difference between body wash / shower gel / bath gel and a shampoo. They are both with sulfates (usually) and "wash". And you have hair on your body as well (and those follicles don't suffer either).

[VisionOne]

Just like previous posters I don't think it would be very damaging to use body wash for your hair, since my body wash contains roughly the same ingredients as a sulphate shampoo. I have done the same thing as Nadine but reversed - One time when I was traveling my body wash got stolen and I washed my body with shampoo for a couple of days… :p

[Ingrid]

When I lived in Japan, I used bodywash for hair all the time. Not going to lie, they have the best personal care products, most of which are gentle and cleanising at the same time. And they also create a lot of multi-purpose products, many of which are sulfate-free. My hair looked great! Since moving away I prefer to just use soap with no additives since I can't really find decent enough products here.

[missblueeyes]

Nothing too problematic with using a body wash (I've done that a few times while traveling without problems), since shampoos and body washes do tend to have similar formulations, but it's not formulated specifically for hair, so there might be problems with comb-ability and manageability of hair (especially if the hair is non-virgin, very long, and requires lots of conditioning ingredients).
(Also, the pH might be worth checking out with pH testing strips, just to be sure it's in the hair-friendly (somewhat acidic) range.)

Would there be an issue if the forumlation was ph-skin neutral? That's what the manufacturer says (they don't give out exact values) that's why I was wondering. I think I heard that the skin is actually a little sour so wouldn't ph-skin neutral mean that it's slightly sour?

[lapushka]

"The skin's barrier, which is known as the acid mantle, is responsible for keeping in lipids and moisture while blocking germs, pollution, toxins, and bacteria," explains Patricia Wexler, M.D., a New York City dermatologist. "To work its best, the acid mantle should be slightly acidic, at a 5.5 pH balance."
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/ph-levels

I think hair likes a pH between 4 & 5 if I'm not mistaken, so... I don't think this "much" difference can hurt... *if* the products are pH balanced.

[meteor]

Would there be an issue if the forumlation was ph-skin neutral? That's what the manufacturer says (they don't give out exact values) that's why I was wondering. I think I heard that the skin is actually a little sour so wouldn't ph-skin neutral mean that it's slightly sour?

Yes, skin and hair are both somewhat acidic :agree: , but hair slightly more so:
"scalp pH is 5.5, and the hair shaft pH is 3.67", according to this source http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25210332, though there can be some variation.

Damaged, chemically treated hair seems to do even better with more acidic products, too, and acidic products help reduce frizz and interfiber friction, and low pH is more common in professional salon products, possibly for that reason (http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC4158629/).

Basically, as long as it's not an alkaline soap-based body wash (and many body washes are soap-based), it should be fine. :D If they say the product is pH-skin neutral, that's a good sign that this is probably good for hair, as well, but knowing the exact pH would be even better, just to be safe, if one is planning on using body wash on hair all the time. ;)

(This study "Evaluation of pH of Bathing Soaps and Shampoos for Skin and Hair Care" (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25284846) helps put the differences in the average pH of hygiene products for skin and hair in perspective "Majority of the soaps have a pH within the range of 9-10. Majority of the shampoos have a pH within the range of 6-7.")

[Nadine <3]

I always thought using something with a different PH balance was worse for the scalp than your hair. Could make it itchy? That's what happened when I washed with baking soda, and the PH is all sorts of wrong in baking soda.

[meteor]

"The skin's barrier, which is known as the acid mantle, is responsible for keeping in lipids and moisture while blocking germs, pollution, toxins, and bacteria," explains Patricia Wexler, M.D., a New York City dermatologist. "To work its best, the acid mantle should be slightly acidic, at a 5.5 pH balance."
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/ph-levels

I think hair likes a pH between 4 & 5 if I'm not mistaken, so... I don't think this "much" difference can hurt... *if* the products are pH balanced.

^Oh yes! :thumbsup:


I always thought using something with a different PH balance was worse for the scalp than your hair. Could make it itchy? That's what happened when I washed with baking soda, and the PH is all sorts of wrong in baking soda.

I agree :agree:, focusing on scalp is probably the most important thing (while hair can be taken care of with more acidic conditioners ;) ), and their optimal pH levels are not too far from each other anyway. But shampoos are already formulated with that concept in mind, while sometimes body washes are more alkaline (details in the evaluation (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25284846) posted above), and shampoos often tend to be formulated to be more acidic, so pH is something that might be worth checking out if you are planning to use that body wash from now on as your shampoo. ;)

[missblueeyes]

Thanks for the clarification! :)

[meteor]

^ Any time, missblueeyes! :D :blossom:
By the way, it's such a great question how exactly are body washes different from shampoos... :thumbsup:

Aside from the usual conditioning ingredients in shampoos (polyquats, etc), I wonder what else is different... For example, I've always felt like body washes were a lot more cleansing than shampoos, when I tried them on hair, as if the SLS/ALS concentration was higher or something... :hmm: I can't know this for sure, since the ingredients lists on packaging don't list % concentrations of anything other than active/medicinal ingredients (if those are present).

I did a quick google search and found something relevant though:

Body washes typically consist of the following:
Water (aqua) to 100%
Thickening Agents 0 — 4%
Primary Surfactants 8 — 20%
Opacifiers or Pearlizing Agents 0 — 2%
Secondary Surfactants 3 — 8%

:scissors:

Body washes are compositionally very similar to shower gels and liquid soaps, and have higher surfactant loads than shampoos since hair has a much greater surface area upon which to generate foam.
http://chemistscorner.com/cosmetic-formulations-body-wash/

And more:

As I wrote in the previous posts about formulation of detergents (shampoo, bubble bath, shower gel, face wash), the amount of the TOTAL Active Matter of surfactants has to vary according to the purpose of our detergent.
Generally this is the scheme:
– face wash: <10%
– detergent for intimate use: <10%
– shampoo: 10%-15%
– shower gel: 15%-20%
– bubble bath: 20%-25% (in case you really use it only to make bubbles in the bath tub and you never use it directly on your skin, you could even reach 35%… but I don’t suggest it).
http://itsallinmyhands.com/2013/04/23/on-surfactants-and-formulation-face-wash-shampoo-and-shower-gels/

[missblueeyes]

My boyfriend's shower gel actually has some polyquats. I wonder if, because it's a shower gel for men, the company just assumes they'd use it as a shampoo and formulate it so it's really similar to a shampoo? Might be a cliché but I guess that most guys, especially the ones with shorter hair, wouldn't want to use two seperate products.

This is the ingredients list of the one my boyfriend uses:
Fa Active Sport Ginkgo Shower Gel

Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Niacinamide, Polyquaternium-7, Parfum, Cocamide MEA, Laureth-10, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Glycol Distearate, Citric Acid, Linalool, Limonene, Coumarin, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Salicylate, CI 42090, CI 17200


I actually checked the website and they said that it's designed so it can be used for daily hair washing too. :D Guess that clears it up.

[meteor]

My boyfriend's shower gel actually has some polyquats. I wonder if, because it's a shower gel for men, the company just assumes they'd use it as a shampoo and formulate it so it's really similar to a shampoo? Might be a cliché but I guess that most guys, especially the ones with shorter hair, wouldn't want to use two seperate products.
[...]
I actually checked the website and they said that it's designed so it can be used for daily hair washing too. :D Guess that clears it up.

Ha-ha! :lol: Makes sense! :thumbsup: And it is true that polyquats (like polyquaternium-7 (http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/polyquaternium-7-0) listed in your BF's product) can be used in soaps, shower gels, though they are probably even more useful in hair care products (inhibiting build-up of static electricity and forming a protective film).

[hennalonghair]

http://m.sephora.com/product/P4682
This one is a popular body wash/ shampoo - Philosophy

[EdG]

I do the opposite: use shampoo as body wash. I think they are largely the same.
Ed

[lapushka]

When you're in the shower and washing your hair, the shampoo travels down to your body, so... I mean...

[Arctic]

I used The Body Shop's sulphate free shower gels as one of my main shampoos for a while some years ago. I really liked how it made my hair feel, although after some time (months, if I recall correctly) my scalp didn't like it very much - which isn't something new, it's very sensitive and doesn't like many shampoos either.

[missblueeyes]

I used The Body Shop's sulphate free shower gels as one of my main shampoos for a while some years ago. I really liked how it made my hair feel, although after some time (months, if I recall correctly) my scalp didn't like it very much - which isn't something new, it's very sensitive and doesn't like many shampoos either.

Oh man, now I really want this shower gel. It's so hard to find a sulphate-free cleanser in Austria! I even sent TBS an e-mail if it'll be available soon. :)

[Arctic]

Oh man, now I really want this shower gel. It's so hard to find a sulphate-free cleanser in Austria! I even sent TBS an e-mail if it'll be available soon. :)

It was the Earth Lovers sulphate free shower gels. Hmm, I just looked at the Finnish BS site, and looks like these are not available anymore :( I wonder why, they were lovely!

[missblueeyes]

It was the Earth Lovers sulphate free shower gels. Hmm, I just looked at the Finnish BS site, and looks like these are not available anymore :( I wonder why, they were lovely!

They're still available on the US website, though, so maybe there's hope. I don't usually care for limited editions anyway... what use is it to have a product I like only for it to be discontinued a couple months later?