(classical music)
(writing on chalkboard)
- It's good hygene to wash your hands
after using the restroom,
and after touching kinda gross stuff,
like raw meat, snakes, cat
litter, biomedical waste, cats,
and any number of shared surfaces
from doorknobs to countertops.
But, what about soap?
Bars of soap are also shared surfaces,
So, how dirty is soap?
Organism for organism, microbes outnumber
humans on the planet at
least 131 quintillion to one.
Cell for cell, the microbes
in and on our bodies
outnumber us 10 to one.
And human hands can have up
to 100,000 microorganisms
per square centimeter of skin.
Most of them are
harmless, or even helpful,
but, yeah there's a lot of them.
And some of them get
transferred to your soap.
One study from 1984 reported
that of the bar soaps
they tested, 92 to 96%
all cultured positive for microorganisms.
The anti-bacterial soaps they tested
actually had a bit more microbial activity
than the regular soap.
The soaps in question were in use
by the staff of clinics and laboratories
over the course of seven days.
And samples were taken
on five of those days.
But the really interesting,
and comforting part
of their results, is that
the microbes didn't build
over the course of that week.
Organisms would appear and
disappear with each sample,
Indicating one of two
things: either the soaps
were somehow self-sterilizing,
or the little buggers
were being mechanically removed
during the process of washing.
Meaning that as you wash you hands,
you're also washing your soap.
These results back up a
couple of other studies
about microbes and hand washing.
One from 1965 and one from 1988.
A thing to note: these
studies were done by employees
of Procter and Gamble and Dial
Corporation, respectively.
And the first study I mentioned,
from 1984, was completed
with a grant from Minnetonka Incorporated,
which was the original maker of Softsoap.
That doesn't mean necessarily
that their sciences were bad, though.
Experts say there's no evidence
to contradict their results.
So, bar soap is not un-dirty,
but still safe to use
and way better than not washing.
A few pro tips: be sure to dry your hands
thoroughly after washing.
Don't wash more often than necessary,
that can lead to parched
skin which can crack,
which can let in microbes you would
have otherwise just washed off.
And, make sure you
store bar soap in a dish
that lets it drain and
dry out between uses.
That'll cut down on any
potential bacterial growth.
