You don’t need antibacterial soap at all, if anything it hurts your immune system in the long run.
Your skin is dead. It’s not hurting your immune system in any way.
There is no such thing as “anti-bacterial soap”, on the basis that all soap, by it’s very function, is anti-bacterial. Because of this fact any company can add the words “anti-bacterial” on their soap, as it’s never technically wrong.
How does soap kill bacteria?
Soap is an emulsifier type chemical. That is to say, soap has molecules that like water and hate oil on one end, and hate water and like oil on the other. The molecule looks kinda like a hairpin, and you cannot have soap without it.
Cell and bacterial walls have a double layer of similar molecules that create a barrier between the inside of the cell and the outside world. The soap molecules attach themselves to the bacteria’s walls and then tears them apart.
Your skin is largely protected because it’s made of many layers, the top most being made of dead skin cells. But high enough concentrations of soap can cause serious chemical burns, as what the soap does to bacteria it can do to your skin cells. However, very low concentrations of soap is all that’s needed to wash yourself.
The difference between regular soap and antibacterial soap is that the antibacterial agent is usually something like triclosan or triclocarban, which is meant to slow the growth of new bacteria.
This gives soap a 1 2 punch as when you wash you kill pretty much 100% of the bacteria, but bacteria is everywhere so you almost immediately start picking more up as soon as you start coming into contact with other surfaces (the shower knob, the door handle, your phone, etc) so the antibacterial agent will help prevent the explosive bacterial growth after you’ve acquired it.
To be clear, I’m not defending antibacterial soap. In 99% of cases regular soap does exactly what people need. As a regular person, if you’re worried about bacterial contamination that much, you shouldn’t be using antibacterial soap in place of regular soap when you wash - you should just be washing more often.
I personally do have a very specific benefit that I experience when I use antibacterial soap: it takes longer for me to start smelling after I start sweating. The difference is noticeable for me. Presumably it is noticeable for the people around me as well. I could fix this problem by showering more often, but when I already shower once a day I’m not gonna go grab a quick one after lunch just for the hell of it, especially since excess water use is a problem anyways. Also where the fuck am I gonna find a shower that I’m just free to use at lunch time? So, antibacterial soap, and deodorant, fills that time gap for me.
This feels like a bot.
You think bots talk about their own personal odor issues?
Bots will talk whatever they’ve been told to talk about. It’s just that your entire post reads like an ad. Startig with praising the soap, using the sandwich method to affirm that you’re not defending it while defending it, and then closing with your personal positive use and experience.
Textbook marketing.
Except for the fact that I didn’t in mention any specific product, so I literally didn’t market anything.
Your response also reads like a bot, using the rule of three then punctuating it with your conclusion.
Effective means of communication are effective. It’s only sensible bots would be written to use the most effective method possible to get their points across.
thanks ChatGPT
Yyeeeah… Pretty sure my name isn’t ChatGPT.
We have this weird idea that our body needs constant sterilization. We’re a complex biological construct made up of our own genomes, and the genomes of millions of other species of bacteria living in unison. We’re pretty self-regulating.
I don’t use antibacterial soap of any kind on my hands, and try to avoid hand sanitizer as it dehydrates the hell of my skin. I also don’t use body wash unless I have actual dirt and grease to wash off of my body, and I only exfoliate once or twice weekly to keep my skin healthy. My usual shower involves rinsing thoroughly, superficially washing “pits and bits” with unscented baby soap / synthetic detergent (syndet), and then washing and conditioning my hair.
I basically don’t have to wear deodorant anymore unless I plan on working out. My body doesn’t produce the same kinds of smells anymore. My skin looks awesome, and ingrown hairs and pimples are now a very rare occurrence.
Before, when I used to scrub myself with body wash from head to toe every day, I would find myself smelling like old soup by mid-day if I didn’t slather myself in deodorant. These days I smell fresh most of the day deodorant-free, with only the need for a spritz of fragrance at most.
You can also get away from using shampoo. Just spend several minutes vigorously scrubbing under the shower.
The antibacterial soaps also help create supergerms that can survive the antibiotic used. They should only be used in medical settings when necessary. The overuse of antibacterial soaps and antibiotics are going to help create more pandemics should enough bacteria become antibiotic-resistant.
That’s very true, but also, the overuse of antibiotics on livestock dwarfs any overuse normal people are doing. We need to make the farmers stop, too.
Is antibacterial soap using antibiotics though? I thought it was just using something like alcohol to kill off bacteria and not an actual antibiotic.
They don’t seem to use the same active ingredients as antibiotics, but the concern of bacterial resistance still apples.
"The [FDA] issued a proposed rule in 2013 after some data suggested that long-term exposure to certain active ingredients used in antibacterial products — for example, triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar soaps) — could pose health risks, such as bacterial resistance or hormonal effects. "
There’s another web page from the FDA entitled “Antibatcerial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain…” however I can’t open the link to see if there’s mote talk about bacterial resistance.
Friendly reminder people can stop eating meat at any point if they don’t want to contribute to problems like this.
Your getting downvoted because bacteria exists regardless of farm/ag.
Yeah but they’re not overdosing your broccoli on antibiotics.
Only insecticide
Probably, but only a fraction of what is used to protect the feed for cattle.
I’ve been trying to avoid soap labelled antibacterial for this reason, and it’s tricky to even find any that’s not labelled antibacterial.
Been wondering if they don’t just slap the label on any soap, because it could be considered antibacterial by its nature. Apparently not?
I am glat that you posted this but also sad that it’s not more widely known. The 20-second hand wash with any standard soap is all you need in the entire world.
Anyone know if scrubbing with water alone is better or worse than not doing anything? I’ve occasionally ended up in public bathrooms with no soap and I wonder if I should use water or not.
Better than nothing. Water is a great solvent and will get rid of larger particles. Use hot water to dislodge more oily things.
Yes, scrubbing with water is still useful. Besides being a detergent, what soap does is raise skin pH to make it less likely that bacteria can grow on the surface.
I’ve seen less and less anti-bacterial soap available at retail anyway.
I was trying to buy some at target about a month ago and there were only like 2 options that even claimed to be soap. The rest were “hand wash” and all of it was weird generic brands I’d never heard of. I haven’t used it yet but I do not feel confident with that purchase at all.
I never stopped to ask what is in " antibacterial" soap that makes it such? Do they straight-up put an antibiotic in it like fucking Neosporin?
Then you’ve got “hand sanitizer” which is usually just denatured ethanol and some gelling agent.
Not sure. I would have been happy with just a product from a brand I recognized that actually claimed to be soap without weird marketing weasel words.
My possibly unpopular opinion is that just using water is probably more than sufficient unless you’ve been handling something that has visibly stained your hands. Some level of “dirt” on your hands is probably better for your immune system than perfectly clean ones. I’ve never been much of a hand washer myself. I use my hands a lot, I touch everything, I don’t wear gloves at work and I bite my nails. Yesterday I pulled carrots from the ground and rubbed worst of the soil away onto grass and ate them like that. I can’t help but feel that behavior like this is to thank for the fact that I’m never sick and I have zero allergies or food intolerances.
And that’s what we call survivorship bias. Sure you’ll be ticking along fine until some Legionella or Botulism just kills you before anyone knows it, other than maybe the doctor if you see one on time and the coroner. Then the next you online just assumes no need to wash things with soap because you just blipped out silently from existence.
There’s a reason billions of humans didn’t populate the earth until modern sanitation and understanding of disease.
Now sure some dirt every now and then from gardening (you still breathe some in after all) will do you good, keep your immune system busy. You’re right on that. But eating carrots straight from the ground is just rolling an unnecessary gamble you don’t need. You’re not wrong in that too much sanitation isn’t good either - but you do misunderstand a bit what that means. You don’t have to wear gloves working the ground - unless you have open cuts. You don’t have to soap up your carrots - but you do gotta give em a good rinse. Just dial it back a bit and you’ll make it unlikely to end up in a miserable time later in life, while still getting those benefits. A castle is strong, but just takes one thing to sneak in to bring it down from the inside - best not invite too many invaders once it’s already been built
All soap is anti-bacterial.
Look, let’s be real. Nitpicking over dictionary definitions like a grammar-Republican isn’t making anyone smarter. When you’re that obsessed with splitting hairs over precise definitions, you’re actually creating a fog of confusion. It’s like trying to explain quantum physics with a thesaurus, you end up sounding like a pretentious know-it-all instead of a clear communicator.
Yeah who cares about definitions of things?
There is “I’m trying to open people’s eyes to the truth” focusing on details and definitions.
Then there’s “I’m a cunt and you’re an idiot” splitting of hairs that add nothing to the conversation or anyone’s thoughts on the matter.
Guess which group you fall in. (Hint; the votes on your comment)
You are literally adding nothing to the situation and being an actual cunt so…
At least I was on topic.
Oh yes very on topic and not a cunt at all LMAO
Go fuck yourself there buddy.
Apparently not you, you seem to be after arguing with people you don’t even know.
There’s no argument to be had, all soap is anti-bacterial. It’s a fact, not a position.
woooosh.jpg
Loving all the kickback for stating an empirically correct statement. This platform is wild.
I’m curious enough to continue the conversation, if only because talking about definitions is interesting. So I’m not being confrontational, I actually want to have a discussion.
You say that all soaps are antibacterial because the result in the end is that no bacteria remains on the hands. I see what you’re saying there. But anti-bacterial soap kills the bacteria, including the remaining ones that couldn’t be removed.
That’s like saying that removing a group of humans based on ethnicity from a region, without killing them, amounts to genocide. Would you say that’s genocide too?* (And I know the comparison is extreme.)
*I think I read somewhere that forcibly removing people from a region amounts to genocide, though. But you know what I mean…
I hope you were being sarcastic…
Obviously.
It would appear lemmy has deemed your post worthy of a dog pile because another user came along to nitpick, by accusing you of nitpicking.
Yes folks, all soap is antibacterial, and that’s a great point to make in this thread. Plain soaps pops their cell walls quite nicely. I roll my own olive oil soaps and it’s wonderful.
Then what do people mean when they say normal soap and antibacterial soap and how does that affect what I should be using after handling raw meat or just going to the toilets etc?
“Antibacterial” is somewhat of a marketing gimmick. Yeah, those have extra microbial killing chemicals, but plain soap kills plenty well enough, pops their little lipid walls.
