Bar Soap
People are often squeamish about bar soap, it’s generally
seen as unsanitary and a bit gross. The common thought is that it’s full of
germs and can make our hands dirtier. That’s what I’ve always thought anyway,
so I was pretty surprised when I found out that this was, in fact, not the
case. I read about a study that inoculated bars of soap with pseudomonas and e
coli, got people to wash their hands with it, and then tested their hands to
find that none had any detectable levels of either bacteria (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3402545). My
nursing degree has made me extremely critical of such studies, so I looked into
it further, and while this study might not be classed as good evidence in an
academic essay, it does seem to reflect what I’ve found out about how soap
actually works.
The microbes that we pick up from touching just about
anything stick to the natural oils on our hands. Although most of these
microbes are harmless, some can make us seriously ill if they get inside our
bodies. Water on its own does not wash off oils because oil is a non-polar
compound, and hydrophobic, which means it repels water molecules and is not
readily soluble in water.
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| https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/how-does-soap-work/ |
A soap molecule, however, has two different ends. One end is
hydrophilic, which means it is attracted to, or readily interacts with, water
molecules. The other end is hydrophobic. The hydrophilic end has polar
properties, while the hydrophobic ‘tail’ is non-polar. This means a soap molecule sort of acts as a
bridge between the oil in which the dirt on our hands is trapped, and water. Basically
soap works by sticking on to dirt and then attaching itself to water and being
washed away. So soap doesn’t necessarily kill the bacteria on our hands, but it
removes it. That’s why that study found that nasty bacteria weren’t being transferred
from bar soaps to hands. Although antibacterial soap seems like a good idea,
there has been a lot of speculation as to whether it is contributing to the
rise of antimicrobial resistance, which is definitely not a good thing. So all
in all, despite what soap advertisers would have us believe, the plain old soap
that our grandparents use is still our best bet.
Interesting, hey? To be honest, in public I wold probably
still want to stick with liquid soap, I know that pretty much contradicts everything I've just said, but there is something a bit grim about a manky old soap bar that's been used by hundreds of strangers. At home however, where no dirty strangers
with questionable hygiene habits will touch it, I’ve made the swap. My
household have been using bar soap for about a month now, and none of us have
gotten sick yet! When you consider that liquid soaps have a 25% higher carbon
footprint than bar soaps, because it takes more chemical processing and energy
to make them, it is definitely worth considering the change. Also, although the
plastic bottles that liquid soaps come in are mostly recyclable, the pump
dispensers often aren’t. It’s another very easy small change that we can make
to reduce our plastic waste. Plus bar soap is usually cheaper! The only thing I
would say is check the ingredients of your soap before you buy it, as some
contain palm oil and that definitely will not further the environmental cause!
References
https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/how-does-soap-work/
https://www.naturallivingideas.com/bar-soap-vs-liquid-soap
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