If you think antibacterial soap is washing away every germ swarming across your hands, you may be in for a shocker. According to a recent study, antibacterial soap may not be as powerful as we thought. Researchers exposed plain soap and an antibacterial (contains triclosan, which has antimicrobial properties) to 20 strains of bacteria at both room temperature and slightly warmer temperatures for roughly 20 seconds. This mimicked the amount of time normally spent when washing your hands. They also coated volunteers hands in the bacterial strain, Serratia marcescens, to test the soaps effectiveness.
They found that both plain and antibacterial soaps had similar bactericidal activity. Although, after nine hours, the antibacterial soap did demonstrate a significantly greater impact. However, unless you soak your hands for hours on end, this really isn’t indicative of real life. Does anyone else feel the urge to triple wash?
READ MORE: Ask a Scientist: Are Bars of Soap Covered In Germs?
