What is shampoo made of?

Question

What is shampoo made of and where did the name come from? i dont want the ingredient list.im just wondering why we use shampoo and soap.

Answer 1

Mostly, shampoo is sodium lauryl sulfate, some dyes, and some perfumes.  

Interestingly, toothpaste is also mostly sodium lauryl sulfate, some dyes, and saccharin to make it sweet.  

Kind of makes you wonder about the wisdom of brushing your teeth with the same stuff you wash your hair with eh?

Answer 2

pig fat

Answer 3

Ingredient claims

In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that shampoo containers accurately list ingredients. The government further regulates what shampoo manufacturers can and cannot claim as any associated benefit. Shampoo producers often use these regulations to challenge marketing claims made by competitors, helping to enforce these regulations. While the claims may be substantiated however, the testing methods and details of such claims are not as straightforward. For example, many products are purported to protect hair from damage due to ultraviolet radiation. While the ingredient responsible for this protection does block UV, it is not present in a high enough concentration to be effective. Shampoos made for treating medical conditions such as dandruff are regulated as OTC drugs in the US marketplace. In other parts of the world such as the EU, there is a requirement for the anti-dandruff claim to be substantiated, but it is not considered to be a medical problem

Vitamins and Amino Acids

The effectiveness of vitamins, amino acids and "pro-vitamins" to shampoo is also largely debatable. Vitamins and amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and enzymes within the body. While vitamins may be able to penetrate cells through the skin, amino acids and proteins are too large to enter a cell outside the bloodstream, and they can have no effect on dead tissue. Proteins are constructed from amino acids following an RNA blueprint inside the cell. A strand of hair is a long protein chain continually being added to at the root. The only way for an amino acid to be of any use is to be intentionally bound to other amino acids in a specific fashion by a living cell. Hair is not alive, and there is no possibility for an amino acid or protein to have any permanent effect on the health of the strand.

The case for vitamins is not as well understood. Some have demonstrated a moderate effectiveness in improving the health of skin, but most likely the benefit is derived from the effect of vitamins on living cells below the epidermis. Extending this benefit to hair, the vitamins and minerals could improve the health of new hair growth, but the benefit to existing hair is unsubstantiated. However, the physical properties of some vitamins (like vitamin E oil or panthenol) would have a temporary cosmetic effect on the hair shaft while not having any bioactivity.

Answer 4

Soap (and shampoo) are detergents, which are a molecular compound similar to the membranes that encase animal cells.  The molecules of soap are made of a fat-based tail, which is not soluble in water, and a head which is soluble in water.

The tail sticks into the fats on your skin (you secrete oils by sweating, and just to keep your skin healthy) and forms a little bubble that can be washed away by water.  Similarly, these molecules form bubbles around the fats in your hair (known as the sebum, which protects your hair) and carry them away.  In the process, dirt is removed.