Does homemade soap disinfect at all ??

[fuzz-juzz]

I think answer lies in our immune system, I think our bodies are well equipped against bad germs.
We don't have to bathe in antibacterial stuff.
And one of my Uni notes states resident germs are more competitive foodwise than nonresident germ we pick up, so there's a big chance, bad germs will just die off if we don't wash them off.
Swab of my nose grew staphylococcus epidermis which is a germ that belongs to normal human flora like many others. Few classmates grew Golden staph which can be pathogenic if given opportunity, but mainly in hospital and patients who are already immunosuppressed or with wounds.
Swab of my glasses was gross as well, it grew 3 different fungus... ewww.
We did actually note differnce between unwashed hands, hands washed with soap and hands cleaned with alcohol rub. Alcohol was actually best disinfectant. Hands washed with soap were cleaner than gloves, we found germs on gloves... go figure...

 

[jade-15]

Yeah I watched a doctor last night thoroughly wash his hands, put gloves on (just regular, not the sterile ones)... then grab the door handle and walk out to go get something else.
*sigh*
Then set up his workspace/area.
THEN clean and dress the wound.

Oh well, he thoroughly flushed it with saline first so I don't think any bugs have a chance

 

[Belinda02]

Sounds like we need to be making lotions and soaps with immune boasters. And someone needs to insert message at beginning of thread to not be eating during reading of this thread. Yuck, cause my glasses are always barely readable.

 

[AustinStraight]

So... who wants to try making hand sanitizer out of vodka? And if the results aren't satisfactory... bottoms up!

 

[InNae]

"The takeaway: If you are worried about MRSA, E. coli, SARS, influenza or simply the common cold, you know you should wash your hands. Thoroughly. Plain soap and water will do."

Do you recall where you got this quote? I don't doubt this, but would love to have it on hand for the exact same purpose.

InNae

 

[Carty812]

Soap does not kill germ at all. It is all about technique when you wash your hands and rub them back and forth the friction is what actually kills the germs. It is know that antibacterial soap is not good to use all the time as it does help rid your skin of most bacteria when used properly. The disadvantage of this is it rids your body of good bacteria as well as bad. Believe it or not some bacteria is beneficial to our skin and will cause issues if your skin is constantly washed of it. In addition, every person on this planet regardless to how well they wash have germs on them. It is the reason your underarms smell after your workout. What happens is that you have bacteria there and when you sweat these germs "eat" it and then excrete it causing the odor. A lot of Americans even have MRSA or Methicillin Resistant Staff Aureus that is permanently colonized in your nose. But you don't hear anyone recommend they wash their noses out and further more this would not get rid of it anyway.

Now for hand sanitizer. There is a large group of people in the medical field that believe this is the worst invention ever! People believe that because they have applied hand sanitizer they no longer need to wash. This is so not true! The Center For Disease Control or CDC recommends that you can use hand sanitizer up to three times if your hands are not visibly soiled but then you should wash. Also If your hands aRe visibly soiled you should wash with soap and water. Lastly if you have contact with multiple individuals you should wash your hand in between each contact.

 

[Lin]

One of the big preventatives of bacterial infection is the good bacteria in the body. Being too obsessive with being clean inside and out will get rid of the healthy bacteria that your body depends on and allow pathogenic bacteria to take over. Anyone on oral antibiotics should take probiotics (not at the same time! Stagger doses). This will prevent some side effects like diarrhea in many cases, and also help serious issues like c. Diff infection. And misuse of antibiotics (any kind, oral, topical, etc) will contribute to antibiotic resistant infections which is a SERIOUS problem.

 

[jade-15]

Lin, how do we get everyone to think like you? Haha.

From the CDC website:

Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to reduce the number of microbes on them in most situations. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of microbes on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs.
Hand sanitizers are not as effective when hands are visibly dirty or greasy.

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html

Also has a link to 'read the science behind the recommendations', if you're interested.

ALSO from the CDC (now this makes me happy! :grin::grin
To date, studies have shown that there is no added health benefit for consumers (this does not include professionals in the healthcare setting) using soaps containing antibacterial ingredients compared with using plain soap.

(links to references if you are really keen)
http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html

 

[Nevada]

Cleaning hands & brushing treeth is mostly a mechanical action.
Colloidal Silver Soap is a Anti-Bacterial Soap.