Body wash and shampoo are effective at cleaning your hair and body, but most people don’t use them interchangeably. If you’ve just stepped in the shower and realized that you’ve run out of body wash, you might wonder if you can use shampoo as body wash. What’s the verdict?
You can use shampoo as body wash if you’ve run out of it. However, you shouldn’t make a habit of it because shampoos have ingredients that won’t clean your skin as thoroughly as a body wash or soap, and you may need to use more shampoo.
In this article, I’ll explore everything you need to know about using shampoo as a body wash. I’ll look at why you can use shampoo as soap if you’ve run out of the latter and provide tips on using different types of shampoos. Let’s get started!
Can You Use Shampoo As Body Wash?
Using shampoo as a body wash is fine, but it may not clean your skin as well. Shampoo is designed for cleaning hair and doesn’t have as many surfactants or cleaning agents compared to body washes.
The reason there aren’t as many surfactants in shampoo is that you don’t need to wash away as many oils in hair as with skin. This is the key difference between shampoo and body wash.
- Shampoo is designed to be gentle on the hair. Stripping the natural oils in your hair would leave it dry and brittle, the reason shampoo won’t leave your skin as clean as body wash. Shampoo has a moisturizing element to it, which can be beneficial if you have dry skin, but bad news if you’re dirty and need a thorough shower.
- Body washes are formulated to remove oil, dirt, and dead skin cells. They are more powerful than soap because they’re formulated to treat common skin conditions, such as dryness and skin flaking. Many body wash products also have moisturizing ingredients.
Can Shampoo Be Used As Soap?
Shampoo can be used as soap in a fix. However, it can leave your skin feeling slippery because shampoo has an acidic pH that allows them to smooth your hair. If you use shampoo as a soap, it may also make your skin feel irritated and dehydrated.
Shampoos that have an acidic pH lower than 5.0 reduce frizz. However, if you use products on your skin that are too acidic, it can increase your risk of developing various skin conditions, such as acne and eczema.
Soap, on the other hand, is formulated to clean your body because it dislodges dirt from the skin by breaking it apart and lifting bacteria away from your skin’s surface. Since your soap bar’s only job is to remove dirt and oil, it doesn’t contain additional ingredients that are in shampoo, such as surfactants.
Shampoos are formulated to treat certain hair problems, and it might feel like they’ll go to waste when you wash your body with shampoo because your skin doesn’t need this. Using shampoo occasionally to clean your body is fine, but it won’t moisturize or nourish your skin.
In case you’re eyeing out your hair conditioner bottle and wondering if you can use it as a body wash, it’s not a good idea because it won’t remove oils and dirt from your skin as well as a body wash can. Read our guide “Can You Use Conditioner As Body Wash? Here’s the Truth” to learn more about why it’s not the best idea.
Can Head and Shoulders Be Used As Body Wash?
Head and Shoulders shampoo can be used as a body wash in a fix. However, like other shampoos, they don’t have surfactants and are not ideal for the skin. It can, however, be used to treat skin acne.
As an anti-dandruff shampoo, Head and Shoulders contains selenium sulfide and pyrithione, both of which have antifungal properties. This means that they can be used to treat fungal acne on your face.
So, if you have fungal acne, you can use your Head and Shoulders shampoo as a body wash. However, you shouldn’t do this regularly as it can be bad for your skin – twice or three times a week is sufficient.
Using it too much can cause skin irritation and make it dry, so it’s not good to use it regularly. In addition, if you have a few pimples or bacteria-related acne on your body, Head and Shoulders won’t work well to treat them because it’s only effective at treating fungal acne (note: pus-filled pimples that are caused by fungal acne are uniform in size, whereas bacterial acne varies in size.)
Can You Use Baby Shampoo As Body Wash for Adults?
You can use baby shampoo as a body wash for adults because it doesn’t contain as many chemicals as you’ll find in adult shampoo products. It’s also moisturizing, which can be beneficial for a dry scalp and skin.
Cleaning ingredients in baby shampoo are formulated to be gentle, which is why it’s ideal for your skin and hair. It will keep your skin feeling soft, but you might have to lather it a bit more because it has mild ingredients. If you like your soap to foam a lot, you might feel frustrated when using baby shampoo.
Although baby shampoos contain milder surfactants that clean without causing eye irritation, they don’t foam up a lot and won’t work effectively to remove lots of product buildup and oil. You might have to wash your body a few times with baby shampoo to get a thorough clean if you’re very dirty.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve run out of body wash and have some shampoo handy, you can use it in the shower. However, you should avoid doing this every day. Shampoo contains ingredients formulated to keep your hair clean and doesn’t have what your skin requires, especially when it comes to keeping your skin moist and hydrated.
As with regular shampoo, you can use Head and Shoulders and baby shampoo in place of body wash, but they aren’t as effective.
