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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Soap is a magnet. One side of soap molecule sticks to water. One side of soap molecule sticks to fat.
The goal is to stick the fat on the outside of bacteria and dirt to the water using soap then rinse the water down the drain.
“Massaging” the soap helps mix the fat, water, and soap together so the correct end of the soap sticks to the fat and the other end sticks to the water.
Then you massage again as you rinse the soap (and water and fat) down the drain.
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