Why is it called "soap", not all cleaning products are soap, what is the best ingredient for soap?... are things that not everyone knows. Let's find out more with Sanh Nhien.
Why is soap called… soap?
About 5000 years ago, in Sapo Mountain in Babylon, the ancient Romans accidentally invented soap by burning animals to sacrifice to the gods. The fat of the sacrificed animals mixed with the ashes contained natural alkali, which was carried down the Tiber River by rainwater. People downstream used this mixture to wash their clothes. The name “soap” in English, or “savon” in French, was based on the name of the Sapo Mountain range. Vietnamese people called this product “soap” or “soap” since the French colonial period.
Not all soap is… soap.
To get soap, people must create a saponification reaction. That is when fatty acids (in oils, animal and vegetable fats) combine with an alkaline solution (NaOH or KOH), forming an alkaline salt and glycerin. The alkaline salt in this reaction is soap.
There are many cleaning products in the market such as bars, facial cleansers, shower gels, shampoos… they can be soaps, but they can also be non-soaps.
To tell if a cleaning product is soap, you can look at the product's ingredients list: it must contain at least one type of oil, vegetable or animal fat (coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil, beef fat, lard, etc.) or several types of fatty acids, and it must also contain an alkali (NaOH – sodium hydroxide or KOH – potassium hydroxide).
Why is handmade soap expensive but dissolves easily?
After the saponification reaction, besides soap, glycerin is also a product created. Glycerin has the ability to absorb moisture from the air, so it is a skin moisturizer. In the process of making handmade soap, glycerin is kept completely in the soap, so the soap has a high moisturizing ability. However, it is very easy to absorb moisture and condense into "sweat drops" on the surface. Soap also becomes soft and mushy in a humid environment.
On an industrial scale, soap is a mass product, basically, it only needs to achieve the purpose of cleaning, not necessarily skin care. Therefore, glycerin is separated from soap to put into more expensive products, such as shower gel, lotion, etc. Industrial soap bars are therefore very hard, solid and last longer than handmade soap.
Why only kill 99.9% of bacteria?
Don’t be too quick to blame soap manufacturers for not being more “considerate” and for not making soap that can kill 100% of bacteria. In fact, some bacteria, at the end of their growth period, will produce endospores that protect themselves from environmental factors. These are the bacteria that will survive after you wash your hands with antibacterial soap.
You also don’t need to worry because “0.1% of bacteria are still on your skin”. Bacteria are everywhere, in the air, and live in your body, so as soon as you shower or wash your hands, they start growing on your skin again. And remember, not all bacteria are harmful. There are also very beneficial species!
Coconut Oil – The Best Oil for Soap
To make soap, you need an alkaline salt that has cleaning properties. The alkaline salt produced from coconut oil has been shown to have excellent cleaning properties. Furthermore, its hardness and natural white color make coconut oil the most commonly used oil for soap making.
According to the acne-causing ability scale (from 0-5), coconut oil is at a level of 4, which is relatively high. However, you do not need to worry about the acne-causing ability of soap made from coconut oil, because after the saponification reaction, coconut oil is no longer itself.
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The Numbers on Soap - 5000 years is the history of soap, since the first soap product appeared.- The minimum amount of ingredients you need to make a batch of soap includes: oil/fat of an animal or plant, NaOH, and water. - 1 – 2 hours is the average time for you to make a batch of soap at home. But to be able to use that batch of soap, you need to wait another 2 – 6 weeks. |
Source: Dep Magazine