No, not as a regular detergent. Body wash is formulated for skin and tends to foam too much and leave residue in a washing machine.
A nearly empty bottle of body wash sitting next to an empty detergent jug raises the same question every time: does it matter that both are technically soap?
It matters more than the labels suggest, mostly because of what each product is designed to rinse away from.
Body wash is formulated to moisturize and cling slightly to skin, often with glycerin, oils, and fragrance meant to leave a light residue on purpose. Laundry detergent is the opposite, built with surfactants that lift dirt and then rinse completely from fabric fibers, usually within a single standard rinse cycle.
A regular capful of body wash agitated in a full washer load can produce far more foam than the machine's rinse cycle is designed to clear, especially on high-efficiency washers that use less water per cycle. That excess suds can trap dirt back into fabric instead of carrying it away and, in bad cases, leak from the door seal or trigger an error code on the display.
Hand washing a single small item with a teaspoon or less of body wash, diluted in a full sink and rinsed two to three times, is a reasonable emergency fix. It's the machine load, not the soap itself, that's the real problem, since a sink rinse is easy to control and repeat until the suds are gone.
Dish soap and shampoo share the same high-foam issue as body wash, but bar soap shavings dissolved in warm water tend to foam less and rinse more predictably from fabric, making it a slightly better backup option when detergent runs out completely.
Check a body wash label and you will usually find glycerin or shea butter near the top of the ingredient list, both meant to sit on skin rather than rinse away completely. Laundry detergent ingredient lists lead with surfactants and enzymes instead, built specifically to lift soil and then release from fabric during the rinse cycle, which is the core functional difference that makes one suitable for a washer and the other not.
Body wash's job is to condition skin, and that same quality works against it in a washing machine. Stick to actual detergent for full loads, and treat body wash as only a last-resort hand-wash option for a single item.
It won't damage the clothes permanently, but excess suds can prevent the rinse cycle from fully clearing soap out, leaving clothes feeling stiff until re-washed with proper detergent.
Both foam more than detergent, but plain hand soap without heavy moisturizers tends to rinse a little cleaner. Neither is a good regular substitute for laundry detergent.
A small amount of dish soap for spot treatment, or bar soap shavings dissolved in warm water, rinse more predictably than body wash and work better in a pinch for hand washing.
It can lift some everyday dirt and body oil, but it lacks the enzymes and stain-fighting agents detergent uses, so cleaning results are noticeably weaker on tougher stains.