Actually, the most effective soap is not anti-bacterial soap, not foam hand soap, not that liquid soap.

The most clinically effective soap, from a medical and biological perspective, is the CHEAPEST BAR SOAP you can find.

Period.

You create drug-resistant and antibiotic-resistant superbugs by using any of the anti-biotic soaps, which usually includes most of those foam dispensers.

Which can kill you.

Places that like to keep their customers alive and healthy use BAR SOAP. Not fancy either. French milled is fine, and even a mild perfume if needed, but that's about it.

Speaking of working up a lather...

The place I work just did a campus wide swap to that stuff and it irritates me. It leaves my hands sticky and the gunk smells chemical. There's nothing like a good whiff of something could very well be turpentine to put me off my lunch.

Is there no editor on Slog? Is that it? Someone needs to step up to stop Megan Seling. Jesus.

The most satisfying kind of soap is OBVIOUSLY gritty powder soap. Scrub scrub scrub! I love that shit!

At home I use organic local refillable foamy soap from the co-op. It's CHEAP and since I started using it my hands have been in the best shape of their lives.

I agree, Megan. That stuff sucks, and it's taking over my workplace as well. Boo, I say!

My boyfriend and I love the self-foaming stuff. You don't need as much water to dissolve the soap, and it generally leaves our hands feeling softer (as if we'd used lotion, too). Since we're both pretty OCD about hand-washing, we scrub our hands thoroughly with or without the lather indication. The pink powder found in ferry restrooms and grade-school washrooms has its place, as does Lava, but more often than not we reach for the Method.

@3, are we co-workers? My "campus" just switched too. Very annoying.

Just spit on your hands and rub 'em on your pants.

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OZeYweZfs

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OZeYweZfs

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OZeYweZfs

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OZeYweZfs

I'm pro-foam! (The soap kind, not the fancy shit Marcel peddled on Top Chef.)

um, which campus?

This new foamy hand stuff is all over Montana, you can hardly find a place with the old non-foamy stuff in this state. And when you DO find the non-foamy stuff, it seems so wasteful in comparison... you get all this soap and just wash it down the drain, really.

Whoops. Sorry. So DIRTY.

I prefer to lick mine clean, or better yet, let my dogs do it.

We heard you the first five times, Boo.

Real men use Ivory Soap. In a metal tub.

what about these hand soaps? http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/hand_soap_literally_6816.asp

are you kidding?! i LOVE that self foaming stuff. i buy those dispensers and replace them with half soap and half water. i'll never go back to bar soaps

There's a diner near my house that has Borax in the restroom dispenser. It makes me happy.

Missval@21 - Gimmie gimmie gimmie! Those are creepy and amazing and I want to keep a bowl of them next to my bathroom sink.

my guess is that the foaming soap is preferable to businesses bc unlike liquid, it doesnt drip all over the bathroom counter when you pump it from the dispenser.

its cleaner soap, if you will.

ick! i hate the foam, and 99% of the time it's paired with the horrible auto-dispense towel things that have to be whacked to work .

The best soap, of course, is Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in peppermint.

End of discussion.

i love the foam!!! it's my favorite!!!

I just wipe 'em on my coworker's shirt.

Wow, and I thought _I_ had OCD...

I'm pro-people washing their hands after use the bathroom.

And mostly pro-foam. It's fun!

I am, however, super-anti regular bar soap, most of which include beef tallow. Tallow is rendered mutton, beef or other bovine fat, processed from suet. These soaps (Irish Spring, Dial, etc) contain Sodium tallowate which is essentially tallow and lye. Gross.

It might cost more, but I'll stick with the non-beef soaps.

Megan, Honey... Here's how you wash your hands:

1.) Get the water HOT! Yes, it may take a while, and that wastes water, but clean hands are healthy hands.

2.) Wet your hands with the HOT water.

3.) Put the soap (liquid, foam, bar - whatever won't make you all tense and nervous) on your hands

4.) Scrub well, while singing (to yourself, dear) either "Happy Birthday" or the alphabet song"

5.) Rinse well.

6.) Dry.

It's that easy, sweetie. Nothing to get worked up about.

#27 I'm with you on the Dr. Bronner's, but I prefer the tea tree for kitchen and almond for the bathrooms. Alas, even diluted, it clogs up my make-your-own foamy soap dispenser.

I couldn't agree with you... less. I love the foamy soap, but @5, I agree that the powder stuff is #1.

Nice, pleasant foam to squish between your hands. Or better yet, powder soap that relieves me of all my dead skin cells and leaves my hands silky. Ooh.

Hate those damn towel dispensers, though. I have to do a mini-kata in front of the things to get a strip of towel to appear. If I'm lucky.

One more vote for Dr. Bronners! Those SoCal carpenters make some rockin' soap!

The foamy kind must be cheaper...

And you really shouldn't use HOT water; it will dry your skin and isn't really helping in the germ department. Warm is fine.

Dianna, they told us hot water in Brownies! ;-)

(My mom was a brownie leader, which probably explains a lot about me)

@4 A-freakin'-men! Don't catch the faintest whiff of critical thought or perspective from her EVER. Her subject matter is grating at best. There's got to be some poor slob out there more qualified who could take her place.

So that's NOT complimentary mousse...

Here it is! People who use the foam use far less product. Anyone that has a small child knows this. People dump the liquid soap on their hands. Far more than they need.

What Will said in #1, and IIRC the foam stuff is cheaper because it takes less concentrated liquid soap to fill the container. THAT is why they switched.

I love the foamy stuff. The stuff at my place smells like apples, but then again, I work for the government, and we seem to be always getting the best of cutting-edge bathroom technology. Everything except the doors is touchless now.

"It’s stupid and I hate it."

If you had a dime for every time you've said that... : )

I just wish they would start having gold bond in the bathrooms.

@44

Does your asshole / taint itch like a motherfucker?