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 are, in fact, wrong. Soap works by breaking apart oils, etc so that the combination of friction from rubbing them together and the movement of the water can effectively wash dirt and germs off of your skin. It has nothing to do with killing the germs or breaking down cells. Antibacterial soap is a combination of soap and another agent that kills germs, but the germ killing part is unrelated to the cleaning effects of the soap.
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