На 1 см2 кожи здорового человека таится от 100 тыс. до 3 млн микроорганизмов. При загрязнении кожи резко снижается ее способность к выделению защитных веществ, уничтожающих возбудителей заболеваний. Важно помнить, что проникающие через трещины и царапины микроорганизмы, особенно на грязной коже, могут вызвать нарывы и кожные заболевания. Но это можно предотвратить, если качественно и регулярно мыть руки, в процессе чего с кожи удаляется до 1,5 млрд микробов.
How soap works
The main component of liquid or foam soap is surfactants, which reduce surface tension at the interface of two phases, penetrate oils and dirt and dissolve them, thereby facilitating the skin cleansing process. Surfactants are complex organic compounds produced from fatty alcohols and various reagents. Surfactants have a bipartite structure, that is, a hydrophilic (polar) and a hydrophobic (non-polar) part.
By type, surfactants are classified into:
- Anionic. The most common and effective substances (the best known are SLS and SLES). They have high cleaning power but are fairly harsh on the skin.
- Non-ionic. Provide good cleaning ability while being gentle on the skin of the hands (mild surfactants).
- Cationic. Have a low level of washing ability and weak foaming.
- Amphoteric. Act as anionic or cationic surfactants depending on the acidity or alkalinity (pH) of the main composition of the cleaning product.
The most effective cleansing agents for the skin are products that contain a combination of surfactants, as well as vitamins and moisturizing components.
A brief history of soap
Representatives of ancient civilizations found different solutions for cleansing the skin before the invention of soap. Ancient Egyptians used beeswax for washing. The choice of the ancient Greeks was to rub the body with sand: it acted as a scrub and removed long-standing, ingrained dirt.
But these methods are very far from the use of soap. The essence of soap is that it foams and dissolves molecules of contaminants, washing them away. Therefore, the history of soap began with mankind's mastery of alkali, namely ash. This mixture of mineral combustion residues was the most accessible alkali for ancient people.
In one way or another, peoples discovered an interesting effect of combining ash and fat: if you boil wood ash with animal or vegetable fat, you get a foaming solution that dissolves grease and cleans dirt. And this was the main thing in the history of the invention of soap.
Industrially produced bar soap became available at the end of the 18th century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and America helped raise public awareness of the link between cleanliness and health. Mass production of solid bar soap was launched at the beginning of the 20th century.
Today, the use of soap has become commonplace due to a better understanding of the role of hygiene in reducing the number of pathogenic microorganisms.
Liquid soap
Liquid soap was invented in 1865 — William Sheppard patented the liquid version of soap. In the early 1900s, the production of liquid soap began to develop actively.
In 1980, American businessman Robert Taylor invented the convenient packaging for liquid soap — the plastic bottle with a dispenser familiar to all of us.
Foam soap
Initially this product was developed for professional use. At present, foam soap is gaining popularity and competes with liquid soap. Foam soap is based on identical ingredients (as in liquid soap), however there are differences.
Foam soap differs significantly from other hand-cleansing products and is used to remove light industrial and household contaminants from the skin. The foam is formed inside the dispenser pump: when pressed, the soap liquid mixes with a large amount of air, resulting in thick, abundant foam.
The surfactants in the foam gently but effectively clean hands from light industrial contaminants. Foam soap does not dry the skin due to its neutral pH, which is as close as possible to the skin's natural pH balance.
It is important to note that using foam soap consumes 17% less water than using regular soap, and over a month this difference turns into thousands of liters of saved water. Foam soap consumption is also very economical: 1 мл of liquid is enough to produce the required amount of foam for a full hand wash.
Soap is applied to the hands already in the form of foam, which significantly reduces the time required for hand washing. This is important in production settings where labor costs are also determined by time resources.
Foam soap becomes an ideal solution for administrative areas, production facilities with light or occasional industrial contamination, and dosing systems ensure a constant supply of cleaning agents in sanitary and utility rooms.
In recent years the soap market has experienced significant growth driven by increased consumer awareness of the importance of hygiene and health. The COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to this growth as people became more vigilant about cleanliness and handwashing. In Russia, the soap market will maintain growth rates of around 5%, which corresponds to global trends.