eli5 Why does the handwash/soap only kill the microorganisms but not our own skin cells?

Question

I read how soap kills the microorganisms like bacteria by tearing apart their cell membranes.

Does that affect our skin cells also, does the top most layer of our skin also dies and we are just too big on cellular scale that we don’t feel anything?

P.S. i know millions of cells die in our body everyday so it doesn’t matter still just curious does soap also kill outer most skin cells?

In: 64

Answer 1

Yeah that’s pretty much it I think, as you said the skin constantly dies, sheds and regenerates. It’s conditioned to be resistant to everything humans have used for years. Remember we are not the first, this has been the way it is for millennia. The body is a finely tuned instrument.