Shower gel

Body washes and shower gels have a lower pH value than the traditional soap, which is also known to feel less drying to the skin.

Shower gels are known to consist of the same basic ingredients as soap - water, betaines, and sodium laureth sulfate, or SLS.

But the main difference between the two products lie in its surfactants - compounds known to lower the surface tension between substances, which helps in the emulsification and the washing away of oily dirt.

[5] Surfactants can make up as much as 50 percent of the shower gel content, with the remaining proportion being made up of a combination of water and ingredients to thicken, preserve, emulsify, add fragrance, and color.

[11] They are too small to filter out of water systems and end up in waterways and oceans, potentially passing toxins to animal life and humans.

[12] Following the legislative actions of other countries, the United States passed the Microbead-Free Waters Act in 2015, which bans microbeads in the U.S. incrementally starting in 2017, with full implementation set for 2019.

This means that shower gels can also double as an effective and perfectly acceptable substitute to shampoo, even if they are not labelled as a hair and body wash.