# Soap vs Anti Bacterial Cleanser? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516 "2003-09-29T18:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SonOfArizona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SonOfArizona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SonOfArizona)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/1 "2003-09-29T18:24:33Z")
What is the difference between a regular bar of soap and anti bacterial soap? Isn’t the purpose of soap to kill bacteria? Is it just not as effective as the anti-bacterial solution? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/2 "2003-09-29T19:36:51Z")
Anti-bacterial soap contains the antibiotic Triclosan and is Satan’s evil spew (it contributes to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria). Regular soap doesn’t _kill_ bacteria, it just removes them (it?) from your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/3 "2003-09-29T22:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SonOfArizona \* > \*\*What is the difference between a regular bar of soap and anti bacterial soap? \*\* About 35¢. Used to pay for lots of advertising to sucker people into buying something labeled “anti-bacterial” when the regular product has worked fine for years & years. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/4 "2003-09-29T22:55:17Z")
I don’t have the cite, but I remember a study being done about a decade ago that showed that washing your hands vigorously with soap was little better than using just plain water. If you want to use antibacterial stuff, use hand cleaner that has not antibacterial agents but rather alcohol. The alcohol lyses bacterial cell walls and kills them. It also dries your hands out with frequent use. ---
**Author:** ![alimarx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@alimarx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alimarx)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/5 "2003-09-29T23:15:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beajerry \* > \*\*The alcohol lyses bacterial cell walls and kills them. It also dries your hands out with frequent use. \*\* Which, in turn, saves on paper towels… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/6 "2003-09-29T23:47:58Z")
But, doesn’t the base acid in soup help kill many bacteria? I also understand that washing the oils off your hands (in which bateria ‘stick’ to) is also a key point with soup. ---
**Author:** ![da\_pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@da\_pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/da_pope)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/7 "2003-09-29T23:54:59Z")
chicken noodle or tomato? ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/8 "2003-09-30T03:36:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by [t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net) \* > \*\*Used to pay for lots of advertising to sucker people into buying something labeled “anti-bacterial” when the regular product has worked fine for years & years. \*\* OK, we always hear this, but can we get a cite? Soap may be perfectly fine, but how do we know the anti-bacterial stuff isn’t better? ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/9 "2003-09-30T06:28:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hello Again \* > \*\*Anti-bacterial soap contains the antibiotic Triclosan and is Satan’s evil spew (it contributes to the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria). \*\* I don’t think Triclosan is used for any medical purposes, correct? So no harm is done really since other antibiotics are used to treat pathogens. It’s mostly just normal flora (E. coli) that you’re killing anyhow, so even if a mutation allows a resistance to pop up it may be retained for a few generations near your sink, but the resistance wouldn’t be maintained in your body or away from the soap. The resistant bacteria would be out-competed by the non-resistant normal flora since the latter requires less energy and components each cell division. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/10 "2003-09-30T07:49:18Z")
[Info on Soap Etc](http://healthfactsandfears.com/featured_articles/feb2002/antimicrobial022602.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/11 "2003-09-30T13:30:15Z")
Popularity of Germ Fighter Raises Concerns > **[Popularity of germ fighter raises concern](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/popularity-germ-fighter-raises-concern)** > > The growing use of the antiseptic triclosan in products ranging from mouthwash to cutting boards and hunting clothes may create bacteria resistant to antibiotic drugs. “Meade adds that overuse of triclosan will reduce the time until the agent stops working. She notes that her research group has found several strains of bacteria in nature that readily grow on the compound and one that may even use it as an energy source. Considering that bacteria frequently acquire traits from one another by exchanging genes, Meade says, triclosan’s days are numbered” ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/12 "2003-09-30T13:45:39Z")
[Here’s](http://home.howstuffworks.com/question692.htm) one more website. It doesn’t specifically say that ab soap isn’t better, but just that they aren’t necessary. During the peak of the SARS crisis here in Hong Kong, our local authorities had loads of Q&A sessions and the main question that always popped up was “should I be using antibacterial soap instead of the regular kind?” and the reply from the doctors would always be the same: “it doesn’t matter which one you use, soap works just as well as anti-bacterial.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/13 "2003-09-30T20:43:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \* > \*\*During the peak of the SARS crisis here in Hong Kong, our local authorities had loads of Q&A sessions and the main question that always popped up was “should I be using antibacterial soap instead of the regular kind?” and the reply from the doctors would always be the same: “it doesn’t matter which one you use, soap works just as well as anti-bacterial.” \*\* Especially since SARS is caused by a virus, making anti-bacterials irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soap-vs-anti-bacterial-cleanser/204516/14 "2003-10-01T08:07:52Z")
Whether or not this is accurate, but my mother was a nurse during the Polio Epidemic of the 50s and I asked her why none of her co-workers or she got infected she replied “Mark, we wash our hands constantly.”