# What effect does soap have on viruses and bacteria?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 14, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456 "2020-03-14T02:04:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456/21 "2020-03-18T03:02:45Z")

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> [@hajario](#):
>
> These days? Most of us on this board are old enough to remember the Palmolive commercials from the 1970s.

> [@Alley\_Dweller](#):
>
> And there’s [a magic time machine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzmTtusvjR4) for those who may have forgotten.

> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Madge! I soaked in it!

In the 1970s, it was a selling point for Palmolive. Now it’s a lot of them.

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**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456/22 "2020-03-18T03:19:30Z")

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> [@si\_blakely](#):
>
> It is not just that the soap binds to the lipid layer surrounding the viral DNA/RNA - it disrupts it, exposing the nucleic acids to the environment. This is what disrupts the virus - without the lipid layer the virus cannot penetrate cells to infect them, and the nucleic acid itself gets broken up by chemicals in the environment.

Because soap attracts and is disruptive to the lipid layer around the virus, would adding soap to a face mask make it work better at attracting and killing the virus before it can be inhaled?

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**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456/23 "2020-03-18T05:52:23Z")

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I just responded to this question in another thread but the simple answer is: it’s a moot question. The process of adding soap to a mask will render it ineffective.

Now if you’re asking hypothetically, I think I could agree that a soapy mask could eventually weaken or dissolve the lipid coating of a virus to make it inactive. Soap is soap whether it’s on your hands, dishes, or mask. But I don’t think this is the question you were asking.

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**Author:** ![PlentyFairy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PlentyFairy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlentyFairy)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-effect-does-soap-have-on-viruses-and-bacteria/849456/24 "2020-03-18T10:01:05Z")

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Using soap is not enough to remove the virus off your hands, you need water to wipe your hands clean with this infectious virus. So having an idea of using waterless cleaners is probably not a good idea.

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