Washing your hands has never been more important than it has become within the last few weeks. The aggressive spreading of germs can happen at almost any time, particularly during certain times of the year such as flu season and even recently during drastic global events such as a pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19, coronavirus pandemic has swept not only our nation but the entire world, and as medical professionals start to provide instructions on how to avoid the spread of this virus hand washing has topped the listed each time around. Washing your hands is important for a number of reasons, first and foremost it will allow for the removal of potentially hazardous pathogens on your skin such as viruses and bacteria, as well as the ability to clean and deodorize your hands after they have become contaminated by something that was potentially sticky or smelly.

The more and more we discuss the critical need for consistent and thorough hand washing, the more questions people are having about the differences between hand soaps and their capabilities, especially antibacterial soap vs regular soap. When it comes to these two categories of hand soaps, how different are they really and do they both contain antibacterial capabilities when used on your skin?

In this article we are going to learn more about when to wash your hands with antibacterial soap vs regular soap, discuss the differences between the various hand soaps available on the market, and dive deeper into the capabilities of these hand soaps when it comes to both removing bacteria, as well as odors from the skin.

How Does Soap Work

When it comes to washing our hands, we will fail to analyze or understand exactly how the soap works when used on your hands and the components of soap that give this liquid its ability to clean and deodorize your skin. Soap is composed of a variety of molecules, some of these molecules will be hydrophilic (attracted to water), while others will be hydrophobic (repelled by water). These two different molecule ends, hydrophilic and hydrophobic will work in specific ways in your hand soap; with the hydrophobic molecule helping to bind with grease and oils present on your skin, whereas the hydrophilic molecule heads will bind with water to help the water come into contact with the grease and oil collected from the soap and wash it away from the skin.

The accumulation of germs and bacteria that may gather on the human skin will typically stick to the oils and grease that are already present on the hands, and when it comes to washing both germs and oils/grease water will do little to remove both of these from your hands. Thus, the importance of using hand soap because of the capability for the soap molecules to act as a mediator between the water and oil molecules that will allow for these skin pollutants to be removed and rinsed off of the skin after the use of hand soap.

Ingredients of Hand Soap

The ingredients behind hand soap will work in specific ways to provide the hand soap its cleaning capabilities to remove dirt, grease, and even bacteria from the skin of the hands. There are several types of ingredients that are integral components to maintaining the proper cleaning power properties of hand soap, and these ingredients will include surfactants, builders, alkalis, antimicrobial agents, and other major ingredients. Below we are going to discuss these main hand soap ingredients and how they help to clean and deodorize human skin.

The main active ingredient in hand soap, surfactants will chemically modify the properties of water to make it a more effective cleanser. This chemical ingredient will dissolve soils and emulsify greasy substances – these surfactants can include alcohol derivatives or sulfate compounds.

An ingredient that increases the effectiveness of the hand soap, builders will remove mineral from the water by chelation or precipitation. Builders are responsible for removing grease and help to bond with the soil particles that can settle on the skin.

Soil and grease are often acidic, and therefore a soap will clean more effectively if it is alkaline. Ammonium hydroxide, ethanolamine’s, and sodium compounds are used in hand soap to increase the alkalinity and counteract the acidity of other ingredients present in the soap.

The ingredient that gives soap its antibacterial properties, antimicrobial agents are added to hand soap to remove bacteria from the skin. These antimicrobial agents can include ammonium products, hydrogen peroxide, triclosan, and certain plant oils such as pine oil. This hand soap ingredient is important because it can help to reduce the spreading of germs and bacteria to an individual.

Is All Hand Soap Antibacterial?

It is commonly believed that antibacterial soap is better and more protective than regular hand soap, however, is this true or is all hand soap antibacterial? Although consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, however, there is no evidence that proves that antibacterial soap is better than plain soap and water, according to Business Insider. There have been studies that compared the difference of both antibacterial soap and regular everyday hand soap in lab tests and on people’s hands. These researchers exposed people to various types of common bacteria that can infect those with weakened immune systems and then had them wash their hands with triclosan (antibacterial soap) and regular soap. In these tests they found that both of these hand soaps performed the same and found no differences in its ability to remove bacteria from the skin.

In addition, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control they state that washing your hands with plain soap and water has been shown to reduce bacterial presence on hands by up to 82 percent. Therefore, in reality all hand soaps contain antibacterial capabilities when it comes to removing bacteria from the skin.

Antibacterial Soap vs Regular Soap

As we discussed previously, antibacterial soap vs regular soap is not that much different from one another – as they both contain bacterial removing capabilities when used as hand soap on human skin. Typically, we will see the use of antibacterial soap in environments such as in healthcare settings like hospitals, nursing homes, and any medical facilities, where they are dealing with patients with weakened immune systems. However, as recent studies have come out from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there was no evidence that antimicrobial soap products keep people healthier than regular hand soap. In addition, they found that the overuse of antibacterial products can reduce the number of healthy bacteria on a person’s skin. In comparison to antibacterial soap, regular soap will not kill and remove the healthy bacteria on the skin’s surface by using this soap on the skin.

Regardless, no matter if you wash your hands with antibacterial soap or regular soap, soap and water is one of the best ways to remove germs, avoid getting sick and preventing the spread of germs to others. The bottom line is that any type of soap can help rid your hands of bacteria if it is used properly and you wash your hands correctly.

Types of Hand Soaps

When we think about the various types of hand soaps available to consumers, often we tend to think of general hand soap used every day and antibacterial hand soap that is used to kill bacteria from the skin of hands. However, when it comes to removing odors from your hands such as cooking odors, chemical agents, or even odors like bengay that can last on your skin for a long period of time after its initial contact with the hands you may need more than just general hand soap. Odor removal on the skin can sometimes require more than just traditional hand soap usage – as many hand soaps will only work to remove bacteria, grease, and dirt from a person’s skin rather than neutralize the odors from this surface.

There are various types of hand soaps that have been manufactured and designed to work against hand odors in particular, using specific technology that neutralizes odors rather than masks the odors, like many hand soaps work to do. What type of soap will work to remove smell hand odors and how can you readily access this soap for your personal use?

How to Get Rid of Smelly Hands Using Soap

Hand soaps that contains odor neutralization capabilities to remove a variety of odors is hard to come by, especially one that does not contain harsh chemicals or masking agents to accomplish this odor neutralization. However, the OdorKlenz Hand Soap can accomplish just that – odor removal through the use of a patented earth mineral technology that does not use toxic chemicals or masking agents. The OdorKlenz Hand Soap is made with safe ingredients like castile soap, water, and vegetable glycerin along with the patented OdorKlenz technology that contains odor-neutralizing materials. These ingredients work together in combination to clean your hands while also eliminating the odors, so they don’t redeposit back onto your hands.

As we discussed previously, washing with traditional soap is often not enough to eliminate strong odors and thus the odor can linger longer after you have encountered it. These odors can accumulate from cleaning, working in the backyard, filling up your car’s gas tank, preparing food, or even rubbing ointment onto your body like bengay. Whatever the odor is OdorKlenz Hand Soap will easily neutralize the odor, leaving your hands smelling like clean rather than masking agents or noxious residual odors.

Hand Soap & Deodorizer

$12.99

✓ Made of Safe, Natural earth minerals that provide a complete odor elimination

✓ Fast acting, without the use of masking agents or fragrances

✓ Made from castile soap, vegetable glycerin, and metal oxides

✓ Helps clean while it deodorizes