Is soap necessary?

Question

Or can you get a thorough cleansing with just hot water?

Answer 1

You have to use a combination of warm water and soap. Soap will break up all the dirt and oil, but if you really want to get clean then make sure you get the antibacterial soap.....not all soaps are antibacterial.

Answer 2

Soap IS necessary. Your skin produces oils, and most of the dirt (including the invisible stuff like bacteria and viruses) will be lodge in the thin layer of oil on your skin. If you don't use soap, water alone can't dissolve the oil, and germs on your hand will mostly stay there. Hot water would have to be REALLY hot to kill these things without soap, like burn-your-skin hot.

Answer 3

Run a sink full of water and shake the pepper shaker over the water till it coats the top!!! Drop a drop of liquid soap in the center or touch the tip of a bar of soap to the center of the mess and watch what the pepper does!!! Pretend the pepper is the dirt on your body or whatever it is on and you will have your answer!! Why do you think in the 15th century (medieval days) there were a lot of cases of lepersy and the black plague!!

Answer 4

Your skin has pores which secrete sweat and oil. When this compound mixes with heat and the dirt from the surrounding air it begins to smell. Water alone cannot break up the oil so just rinsing with water will not, for example, remove arm pit odor. Soap can break up oil and help wash the smelly oil/dirt away. So, yes, you must use soap to get rid of the smell.

Answer 5

yes, soap actually works on a molecular level to remove dirt and break up oil or grease.

heres a technical explenation

The organic part of a natural soap is a negatively-charged, polar molecule. Its hydrophilic (water-loving) carboxylate group (-CO2) interacts with water molecules via ion-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonding. The hydrophobic (water-fearing) part of a soap molecule, its long, nonpolar hydrocarbon chain, does not interact with water molecules. The hydrocarbon chains are attracted to each other by dispersion forces and cluster together, forming structures called micelles. In these micelles, the carboxylate groups form a negatively-charged spherical surface, with the hydrocarbon chains inside the sphere. Because they are negatively charged, soap micelles repel each other and remain dispersed in water.

Grease and oil are nonpolar and insoluble in water. When soap and soiling oils are mixed, the nonpolar hydrocarbon portion of the micelles break up the nonpolar oil molecules. A different type of micelle then forms, with nonpolar soiling molecules in the center. Thus, grease and oil and the 'dirt' attached to them are caught inside the micelle and can be rinsed away.

Answer 6

I think soap is necessay to clean your skin with hot water also, the water is not going to do anything you still might have the germs and everything intact on your skin or in. Soap will wash it away and leave you skin feeling clean and smelling clean also.

Answer 7

It would depend on what you are cleaning. Soap can reduce bacteria, which can prevent infection and odors depending on what you are using the soap for. If you are talking about your body you are better off to use soap.

Answer 8

For me soap in necessary to kill bacteria.

Answer 9

besides smelling good, the thing soap mainly does is decrease the friction between water and your skin, helping to wash away grime. i would vote for soap.

Answer 10

You really need the soap.