If all soap isn’t antibacterial, what is the purpose of the natural/cute soaps we use to wash our hands? And do the natural soaps actually clean bacteria?
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All soap achieves two things – it cleans the surface and removes dirt/bacteria etc and washes them away. The chemistry of soap is also kind of ‘spiky’ compared to bacteria being sort of like balloons. The soap spikes will pop a good number of bacteria balloons, killing them. So in that sense all soap is “antibacterial” and a really thorough washing with regular old soap is a fantastic way to sanitize your hands as thoroughly as even surgeons going wrist deep into an open wound would require.
Antibacterial soaps have ingredients that will more thoroughly kill the bacteria but that requires enough washing and scrubbing that just using regular hand soap would have achieved the majority of that anyway.
The long and short of it is a short hand wash with any soap isn’t great. A solid hand wash with regular soap is pretty much golden and a solid hand wash with antibacterial soap is either just as golden or possibly overkill.
One concern you should have is all hand washing will remove natural oils and protective layers from your skin. Over zealous hand washing or using hand sanitizer can damage your skin and create *faster and easier* routes for infection to get through.
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