I get how soap works by breaking down outer layers of cells, especially in viruses and bacteria, which is how it protects us (correct me if I’m wrong). My question is why does everyone, including surgeons scrubbing in for surgery, massage the soap around their hands and arms? Couldn’t we just apply the soap, wait 20 seconds, then rinse it off? Maybe it’s a surface area thing, making sure soap is applied everywhere?
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You’re thinking of hand sanitizer. The alcohol does what you are describing with the cell walls. Soap physically removes things from your hands, so you have to scrub then rinse away. There’s antibacterial soaps but they suck for the environment and I think they are banned in some parts of the world.
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