Slog - Comments on This is a Post About Hand Soap

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:00:46 -0800

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.

Comment by The Peanut Gallery

The Peanut Gallery — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:01:13 -0800

Speaking of working up a lather...

Comment by Chris B

Chris B — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:03:20 -0800

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.

Comment by Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:05:33 -0800

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

Comment by Lindy West

Lindy West — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:13:16 -0800

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

Comment by jamier

jamier — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:21:46 -0800

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.

Comment by Levislade

Levislade — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:24:11 -0800

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

Comment by GrammarCop

GrammarCop — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:28:46 -0800

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.

Comment by Erik

Erik — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:30:56 -0800

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

Comment by Jordyn

Jordyn — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:39:04 -0800

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

Comment by Boo

Boo — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:40:44 -0800

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

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

Comment by Boo

Boo — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:41:00 -0800

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

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

Comment by Boo

Boo — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:41:07 -0800

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

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

Comment by Boo

Boo — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:41:29 -0800

The soap dispenser at Pacific Place makes me feel DIRTY.

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

Comment by My Other Car is the Tardis

My Other Car is the Tardis — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:42:01 -0800

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

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:42:04 -0800

um, which campus?

Comment by rtw

rtw — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:42:24 -0800

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.

Comment by Boo

Boo — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:42:40 -0800

Whoops. Sorry. So DIRTY.

Comment by Giffy

Giffy — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:43:53 -0800

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

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:47:40 -0800

We heard you the first five times, Boo.

Real men use Ivory Soap. In a metal tub.

Comment by missval

missval — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:56:36 -0800

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

Comment by new school

new school — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:00:20 -0800

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

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:15:28 -0800

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

Comment by Megan Seling

Megan Seling — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:16:10 -0800

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

Comment by jz

jz — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:17:33 -0800

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.

Comment by erin

erin — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:48:04 -0800

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 .

Comment by grumpypants

grumpypants — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:49:11 -0800

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

End of discussion.

Comment by dpa

dpa — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:59:41 -0800

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

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:11:39 -0800

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

Comment by Andy

Andy — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:17:25 -0800

Wow, and I thought _I_ had OCD...

Comment by me me me me

me me me me — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:52:58 -0800

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.

Comment by catalina vel-duray

catalina vel-duray — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:59:17 -0800

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.

Comment by amazonmidwife

amazonmidwife — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:40:02 -0800

#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.

Comment by bitch on heels

bitch on heels — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:23:50 -0800

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.

Comment by soapymess

soapymess — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:30:46 -0800

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

Comment by Dianna

Dianna — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:06:19 -0800

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.

Comment by catalina vel-duray

catalina vel-duray — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:09:43 -0800

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

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

Comment by Please Stop.

Please Stop. — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:08:11 -0800

@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.

Comment by Vicki

Vicki — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:08:32 -0800

So that's NOT complimentary mousse...

Comment by Touring

Touring — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:21:50 -0800

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.

Comment by Gomez

Gomez — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:33:26 -0800

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.

Comment by Gloria

Gloria — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:43:56 -0800

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.

Comment by Aaro)))n Edge

Aaro)))n Edge — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:42:47 -0800

"It�s stupid and I hate it."

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

Comment by el Rutherford

el Rutherford — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:35:18 -0800

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

Comment by ecce homo

ecce homo — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:23:42 -0800

@44

Does your asshole / taint itch like a motherfucker?