# Commercials may have finally hit rock bottom **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198 "2022-10-13T17:04:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/101 "2022-10-17T17:10:32Z")
You’re not fully clean unless youre zestfully clean!🎶 ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/102 "2022-10-17T17:17:11Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Shampoo Not really. If you washed your hair with just soap, it would definitely remove all of the oil and dirt, but it would also leave your hair dull, dry, brittle, frizzy and hard to style. Also, shampoo has significantly lower percentage of surfactants than soap and even gels. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/103 "2022-10-17T17:26:24Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > It would be much easier to put out a can that ostensibly covers up a bad odor but actually makes a worse odor. There _was_ such a product back in the 1960s-70s, with the appropriate name of [Turgasept](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/008991-00009-19750327.pdf). Evidently, the basis for the spray’s antiseptic activity was that it smelled so bad, germs would curl up and die. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/104 "2022-10-17T17:32:38Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Also, shampoo has significantly lower percentage of surfactants than soap and even gels. This is particularly true of modern shampoos. Decades ago, shampoos tended to have higher surfactant levels, in part because people washed their hair less often, and in part because many women used heavy-duty hairspray which needed to be cleared off via shampooing. Prell, in particular, was known for its “deep cleaning” properties; I had a chemist at that job who referred to Prell this way: “it’s a stripper!” (as in, akin to a paint stripper). ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/105 "2022-10-17T17:38:25Z")
The difference in surfactants is interesting. To me, however, who doesn’t style his hair whatsoever aside from an occasional haircut, the difference is not noticeable. I do have a fairly large, soft beard - but that gets normal soap too. Maybe I should try an experiment with half my head and beard with shampoo and the other half as a control group and compare. But to be honest I don’t think I am sufficiently objective. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/106 "2022-10-17T17:56:50Z")
So, since we appear to have soap/cleaning experts here: My wife has accumulated an enormous collection of cheap shampoo (a lot Suave, other brands) - buying it over the years when it was on sale (she has a pricey brand she uses - these were for me and our sons). Having recently run out of both my body wash and bar soap, I thought shampoo is soap (OK, that apparently isn’t strictly true), I’ll just start using it as a body wash. It’s been a month or so, and I haven’t noticed any particular issues (my skin might be a bit dry?). Assuming I can live with dry skin, am I going to have any other problems? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/107 "2022-10-17T18:16:47Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > It’s been a month or so, and I haven’t noticed any particular issues (my skin might be a bit dry?). Assuming I can live with dry skin, am I going to have any other problems? Probably shouldn’t matter much. From what I can see, looking at a couple of product descriptions, shower gels which are advertised as “2 in 1” (body and hair) or “3 in 1” (body, face, hair) are typically detergents, not soaps, anyway. Any time you see that one of the primary ingredients is “sodium laureth sulfate,” “sodium lauryl sulfate,” or “sodium pareth sulfate,” you’re dealing with a detergent, and one (or more) of those are used in pretty much all mass-market shampoos (and a lot of body washes), at least in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/108 "2022-10-17T18:21:33Z")
Hmm. What if you start using mass-market conditioner instead of shampoo as the substitute for body wash or soap? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/109 "2022-10-17T18:22:30Z")
Thanks! I can now remove “buy bath soap” from my budget for the rest of my life (there are a lot of bottles of shampoo). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/110 "2022-10-17T18:24:59Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > What if you start using mass-market conditioner instead of shampoo as the substitute for body wash or soap? Conditioner doesn’t really have any significant cleaning properties – it functions to smooth and moisturize hair, and usually won’t have any significant levels of cleaning surfactants in it, unless it’s a “shampoo + conditioner” product. Your skin might feel smooth and soft after using it (conditioner is more akin to skin lotion than it is to shampoo), but it probably won’t do much to remove dirt, beyond the fact that you’re in the shower, using water, and scrubbing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/111 "2022-10-17T18:52:29Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Having recently run out of both my body wash and bar soap, I thought shampoo is soap (OK, that apparently isn’t strictly true), I’ll just start using it as a body wash. I’ve been using shampoo for everything for the past 35 years, ever since being ordered to as a Navy recruit. They preferred the aforementioned Prell. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/112 "2022-10-17T19:15:33Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > > [@Didi44](#): > > > > BTW, I’m not talking about those tiny “wing” pads, I can handle those commercials, I’m talking about those monstrosities that required a belt and looked like a giant used band-aid!. Yep, I know too much for a guy. _Washes brain_ > > Look, I know this idea that even knowing about periods is super gross for boys is how you were raised. I was there, too. I had 3 brothers, who had three sisters. And the same sentiments were repeated at school and in kids books and television. > > All of this was very damaging to me, and I think to a lot of girls. Periods made us _gross_. So gross that even being reminded they existed resulted in boys making gagging noises and “brain bleach” jokes and laughing. I spent every school day when I was on my period horrified that anyone might find put i was in my “gross mode”, because that would be shameful thing. > > I don’t blame the boys. They were denied good sex education, so it WAS mysterious and gross, and being performatively grossed out by periods was one of the ways they asserted they were 100% boy was by going through this ritual. Any boy who didn’t probably would have been called a f\*g and mocked. It was a fucked up time for all of us. > > But now that we are all adults, I want to point out how hard that attitude made things for girls. This reminds me of an old Golden Girls episode, where Blanche talks about getting her period. Paraphrased from memory, She had heard the women in her family discuss “the curse”, but she still hadn’t gotten the curse. So when she was sixteen or so, her mom took her to the doctor. The doctor said “So, Blanche, you still haven’t gotten your period?” “Of course I have periods, I’m not a child. It’s this “curse” that I don’t have yet”. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/113 "2022-10-17T19:48:46Z")
Ah, the straight dope: come for the rant, stay for the detergent discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/114 "2022-10-17T21:59:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There _was_ such a product back in the 1960s-70s, with the appropriate name of [Turgasept](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/008991-00009-19750327.pdf). Took a look. Reassuring can instructions: “This product’s spray mist will not ignite.” 👍 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/115 "2022-10-18T01:35:40Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well, this thread went to shit. well, it did start at the [clearing-of-the-throat-noise] bottom (it is right there in the subject) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/116 "2022-10-18T02:11:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Ah, the straight dope: come for the rant, stay for the detergent discussion. Yep. I’m taking notes! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/117 "2022-10-18T02:11:12Z")
It’s just the updated version of “Do you ever have one of those times when you feel…not so fresh?” I just wish we’d do away with prescription drug commercials. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/118 "2022-10-18T02:18:50Z")
Back when Dave Barry was writing his weekly column, I saw a story somewhere about some scientists who were trying to develop a standardized odor unit. I sent it to him and suggested that they count the smell rays. Don’t think it was used, but it was right up his alley. As for buying diarrhea, the closest thing I can think of to that is Cologard. Yes, I have used it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/119 "2022-10-18T02:24:34Z")
Unfortunately, Peyronie’s disease is a real condition. I first learned of it in the late 1990s, when I worked at a low-income health clinic that had a lot of Bosnian refugees, and the men ALL had it, because they had been tortured. Otherwise, it’s fairly uncommon in non-senior men. [Peyronie's disease - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/peyronies-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353468#:~:text=Peyronie's%20)(pay%2Droe%2DNEEZ,necessarily%20a%20cause%20for%20concern. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198/120 "2022-10-18T02:32:38Z")
SNL addressed the “Vintage Kotex” thing a while back. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aBlR7qVQ0X8/maxresdefault.jpg "Kotex Classic - SNL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBlR7qVQ0X8) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-may-have-finally-hit-rock-bottom/973198.md?page=7)