Bar Soap

[AJPTaylor]

Genuine question as can't find the answer from a quick Google. Recently changed to bar soap ( well dd bought bars of soap and put them in the bathrooms). Can corona virus/other nasties remain on the soap and spread to the next user or does contact with the soap kill stuff?is it different depending on what kind of soap it is? (Ie whether it is carbolic vs unicorn glitter ?)

These are bars of soap in your bathroom?!

In the exceptionally unlikely event you had coronavirus IN YOUR HOUSE, I don’t really think whether it survives in soap or not is particularly salient any more?!

www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/well/can-a-bar-of-soap-transmit-infection.amp.html

A quick google threw this up - tldr: no.

It’s fine. Soap dissolves the outer fatty lipid membrane layer of the virus cells and kills them.

I’m not 100% sure but isn’t the point that the germs stick to the soap and then get washed away? So even if someone picks up contaminated soap they would then wash the germs down the plyggoke id they wash properly.

So I wouldn’t worry about bar soap.

The trickier bit is after washing not re-contaminating from taps / door handle etc. I tend to use my knuckle or palm rather than fingertips for that iyswim, in public loos anyway.

I think that's an urban myth, possibly originating from companies who wanted to market liquid soap?

Good for your DD OP! I haven't seen any evidence that bar soaps harbour or transfer bacteria, but I have read that traditional bar soaps are actually better at removing germs than liquid soaps. Liquid soaps tend to leave a slightly greasy film on the skin, whereas bar soaps give that squeaky clean feeling.
Swapping from liquid soaps and shower gels to bar soaps has been the easiest and most cost-effective environmental change I've managed to make.

I’m obsessed with bar soaps, so much nicer than liquid soaps!

You can make liquid soap from bar soap - basically grate the soap, add to boiling water (about 4 cups for a standard bar) until the soap melts, allow to cool down, add more water and reheat if necessary until you get the desired thickness, then pour into empty soap dispensers (one bar makes loads!). I did this recently as, though I don't think viruses survive on soap, DS5 was struggling to get enough of a lather from a bar.

This may sound crazy but I wash our bars of soap.

They are nice and clean. I never understand why people let them sit there covered in whatever someone just left on them.

We also have a soap dish each and different soaps but I do knick my 10 year old baby soap sometimes . I don't feel bad as I wash the bar.

Bar soap is better not worse. The sooner people move away from the environmentally unfriendsly plastic soap container things and go back to normal original better for you bars of soap the better.

in scientific tests, it showed that bar soaps cleaned hands very effectively.

www.vice.com/en_us/article/yw4bvb/is-there-any-reason-to-use-liquid-soap-instead-of-bar-soap

I have bar soap for the bath and shower and liquid soap at the handbasin.

This may sound crazy but I wash our bars of soap.

What do you wash your soap with? Do you have special soap soap?

Soapception

I use liquid soap .I remember when bars of soap were the norm .Horrid gungy mess on sink/soap dish and very slippery when in bath!

This may sound crazy but I wash our bars of soap.

You wash soap? With what? Other soap? Then what do you wash that with? Shampoo? Fairy liquid? Where does it all end?

I love Bar soaps! After a shower I feel much cleaner and washing my hands with bar soap makes them feel like they've had a really good clean.

Can corona virus/other nasties remain on the soap and spread to the next user

The next user? 🤢

Aside from that obvious unpleasantly, if a person in your house is putting any virus etc on the soap then surely you are going to be exposed to it generally and the soap is the least likely place to be contaminated?

People need to focus more on proper hand washing, palms, between fingers, backs , nails etc not just a flying slosh and run. There are plenty of videos demonstrating using "dirt" that show under ultra violet light. The best way to avoid cross infection

@flirtygirl the bar of soap itself will kill bacteria and viruses sitting on them!
you trust it to kill bacteria and viruses on your hand, do you not?

By washing soap, do you mean you rinse the bar? I think that's quite normal. No one likes little hairs or scum on soap.

I can't imagine what else you might possibly to do a bar of soap!

If someone has left corona virus on your soap in your bathroom then that means someone with corona virus has been in your house. The soap is irrelevant. You’re already exposed.

I wonder if there's a market for "display soap" as a thing

I may not be taking this as seriously as I should

@carlyclock ummm, yes, we have a bar of soap next to each sink and we all wash our hands with it. We are all perfectly clean and fragrant and rarely ill. I rinse the bar under the tap if it needs it.

We also share a bar in the shower, and none of us have died yet. I do use a separate bar for my face, but that's because it's a nice exfoliating clay bar that I don't want everyone else wasting on their bodies.

Before switching to bars I reckon we were throwing out (recycling, but who knows what actually happens to them) 2 plastic soap/shower gel bottles a week between the 4 of us. That's over 100 fewer plastic bottles in landfill, which actually feel like it counts for something.

I only buy soap wrapped in paper / card so no plastic rubbish at all, much cheaper, and just as clean!

I wonder if there's a market for "display soap" as a thing

Haha. I have naice soap for guests so I reckon totally yes.