(more than) Me,Myself & I

Revising a bit of Chemistry

I'm so happy with the wifi here that I forget about bathing...Oops...
That reminds me of my body shampoo. I used it this afternoon to wash my container (which I use to store my lunch). My current room mate thinks that's very irrelevant (and absurd) but I disagree because they're both soaps. My logic: body shampoos SHOULD be better than dish washing liquids because they're composed of higher quality chemicals so that they're not too harsh on skins. Besides, there are vit. A, E etc and even have moisturising or lightening effect and smells better too!
Can anyone give me an answer or a justification? I need something more scientific.

Sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), is a detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste etc.). It is an inexpensive and very effective foaming agent.[1]
Extracted from Wikipedia. It has an alkyl group which attract to oily matters and a hydrophillic head which attracts water. When rinsed with lots of water, the water insoluble substances will be washed off. That's how the cleansing works. I hope I'm not wrong. Haven't been reading on Chemistry for 3 years plus.

So, SLES can be found in many cleansing products which creates foam. That means these two chemical products share the same ingredient but maybe of different composition and additives. Since dishwashing liquids are sold at a much lower price compared to body shampoo, cost of the chemical content should be more economic and effective too (to wash away stubborn stains). That makes sense now? Although it still sound stupid for that friend who's doing chemistry. But it's ok for me to sound stupid here simply because I'm not a Chemistry student and I don't have a bottle of dishwashing liquid with me right now so I can't really compare the content of both (I like to read the ingredients of daily products when I'm free. We're using so much chemicals each day). I left mine (a big bottle) in the room last semester and my ex-room mate is keeping it for me. I'll get it back tomorrow. Yeah!

posted by Shan @ 10:12 PM