Contents:
- Medical Video: 20 Soaps in India Ranked from Worst to Best
- How does soap cleanse the skin?
- Is it true that bath soap can damage the skin?
- Irritation
- Dry and dehydrated skin
- Interferes with the pH balance of the skin
- So, is bath soap not recommended for the skin?
Medical Video: 20 Soaps in India Ranked from Worst to Best
To maintain healthy skin, you certainly need to regularly clean it. In some cases, the frequency of cleaning the skin with soap actually causes some problems such as dry skin, itchy, even inflamed. Far from desired, right? Actually how, how do you work soap on the skin? Is bath soap good or even damaging the skin? Come on, see the following review!
How does soap cleanse the skin?
Soap is a cleaning material made from fatty acids with alkali metal hydroxides. In simple terms, soap works to cleanse the skin from dirt, sweat, and sebum (oil produced by the body naturally) on the skin.
Substances that play a role in this matter are surfactants. Surfactants are chemicals that stabilize a mixture of oil and water. This is because soap made from fat cannot mix with water. So, surfactants in soap not only cleanse but also can make soap easily rinsed with water.
Not only on soap, surfactants can also be found in lotions, perfumes, and other products especially for the body and hair.
In addition, surfactants can help the natural exfoliation process by removing dead cells from the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin) and making the skin feel fresh.
In fact, this is not always the case. Surfactants also have an adverse effect on the outermost parts of the epidermis called the stratum corneum. The effect is to damage the natural protective function of the skin, making it easier for poisons, bacteria, and other substances to penetrate into the skin. The damage is usually characterized by dry and reddish skin. In fact, long-term irritation can occur.
Is it true that bath soap can damage the skin?
Although soap can indeed help cleanse the skin, the chemicals contained in soap can cause certain side effects on the skin. In essence, it's the same as the drugs you consume. Although beneficial, there are also side effects that may appear.
Then what are the effects of bath soap on human skin? Here's the full explanation.
Irritation
The stratum corneum consists of layers of dead keratinocyte cells that will indeed peel themselves. When this occurs, the cell nucleus and cytoplasm (fluid in the cell) become hard and dry. Well, the surfactant content in bath soap will then react with the process, causing the skin layer to swell.
This swelling will actually help the ingredients in the bath soap to enter the deeper layers of the skin. However, if these ingredients interact with the ends of nerve cells and the immune system, irritation and itching can arise.
Dry and dehydrated skin
The Stratum corneum contains lipids (fat cells) whose function is to help the skin maintain moisture. It is believed that surfactants in bath soap can penetrate the stratum corneum and interfere with lipids so that the amount of lipids decreases. If the number of lipids decreases, the moisture in the skin also decreases.
Water naturally evaporates from the skin, if the skin has reduced moisture it will certainly cause dry and dehydrated skin.
Interferes with the pH balance of the skin
According to Verywell.com, surfactant substances contained in soap generally have a pH level (also called acidity) of around 10, while the skin has a pH of about 5.5.
These different pH levels can cause imbalances that eventually cause irritation. A good cleanser is to balance the acid levels in the skin.
So, is bath soap not recommended for the skin?
You are still strongly advised to take a bath with soap to keep it clean of germs, viruses and fungi. However, there are some things that must be considered so that you do not have side effects using bath soap.
Use soap with emollient content that can keep skin moist. Usually, emolion is found in many liquid soaps. If the soap is appropriate, the method and rules of use must also be correct. For example, do not rub it too hard on the skin or not use water that is too hot when rinsing it.
You also are not recommended to take a long bath because it can make the skin dry. Simply wet your body, clean it evenly, and rinse your body immediately.
