How to choose soap?

Soap has always been considered one of the most convenient means of body care and detergent for household purposes due to its compactness, ease of storage and transportability. Modern technologies have turned soap into a universal, useful and pleasant hygiene item due to its long-term storage (preservatives), perfume smell (synthetic and natural fragrances), various consistencies (solid, liquid, foam, flakes), cosmetic additives (creams, silicone, enzymes, extracts, thermal water).

The pharmaceutical industry has made it possible to make soap with medicinal ingredients that give soap medicinal properties, which makes it possible to replace medicinal ointments and creams, nourishing and regenerating creams, wound healing creams and ointments, antibiotics and disinfectants by soap.

When choosing soap, it is necessary to take into account some aspects of its production:

• The composition of soap with the development of chemical industries has undergone significant changes, which are reflected in its properties. Previously, animal fat components and alkalis predominated in soap, much later, soap began to be made on the basis of vegetable fats (for example, palm oil), trans fats, aromatic oils and aromatic esters.
• Excessively foaming soap is good for washing fabrics or for showering, bathing or bath soap. But soap for washing and cleaning contains an increased concentration of alkalis, which ensures the rapid breakdown of contaminants, and such soap is detrimental to the skin of the body, especially to the skin of the face, hands, head and delicate areas of the skin. Body soaps tend to have more fragrances than laundry soaps.
• Modern soap in its composition can contain all those pharmaceutical substances that are used in cosmetology and cosmetic medicine for skin care, skin restoration and treatment.
• There are medicinal components that make up the soap, which turn soap from a hygiene product into a treatment. This soap is not suitable for daily cleaning of the skin or hair.
• If the soap contains menthol, then such soap can be used both as a remedy for skin itching, and as a refreshing and cooling agent for skin hygiene. Soaps containing panthenol, vitamins, or enzymes are considered skin health products, not cleansers.
• Not all soap can be used for washing the body (including face, head, hands), and not all soap can be adapted for household laundry, washing household items and cleaning the premises. There are types of soap that dissolve easily in cold water, not just hot. This applies to soap that does not contain refractory palm fat in its composition (soap with palm fat lathers and foams only in combination with hot water).
• Soaps containing creams are practically useless for dissolving grease and washing away dirt, since alkalis are not added to the composition of the soap in combination with skin care creams (alkalis contradict the purpose of such soaps in their chemical action). Soaps with vegetable oils and creams are used after cleaning the skin of grease and dust, as this soap is considered a skin care product, not a cleanser.
• Soap with cream contains defoamers, which is inconvenient to use for foam baths or lathering washcloths (brushes). Such a soap will not wash away dirt and greasy components from the hair or from too dirty and oily skin, it will not wash off cosmetics, since the soap itself is a cosmetic product, and not a means for breaking down fat and dirt.
• Soap with disinfectants is not used in everyday life without the need. Such soap is used when there are problems of resisting microbial infection.

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