Is Hand Soap as good as Liquod-Dish Soap?

chen

Fri, Oct 20 2006, 11:57 am

shoy18 wrote:

Chen usually knows this stuff wait until she posts

oh, dear, it seems I have a reputation to uphold... fame isn't all it's cracked up to be!

Simple answer: whyever not?

Detailed answer:

try it and see how it works. What's the worst that can happen? you'll have to do the dishes over again? If you don't like the results, you can still use the soap for handwashing. I would check Consumer Reports to see if they have an article on the topic. This is exactly the sort of thing they test. I do know that they have had people wash their hair with shampoo and with dishwash and some people preferred the dishwash!

There are many dishwashes that now call themselves dishwash-and-hand-soap, though I haven't seen anything calling itself hand-soap-and dishwash. I think this is simply because people have a perception that if something is safe to use on dishes that you eat off, it's surely safe for your hands, but your hands can safely come into contact with things you wouldn't want in your mouth. They have whole market-research firms studying this sort of thing just so they can decide what to name a product or what color to dye it.

I would have said that the hand soap may leave behind a perfumey residue that you wouldn't want on your dishes, but I have read reviews in whcih users complained that they didn't like the fragrance their dishwashing liquid left behind.

Read the ingredients list: hand soap, shampoo, dishwash and "cold-water wash for fine washables" almost always consist mostly of sodium lauroyl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate, water, possibly alcohol, color and fragrance. Some hand soaps have added ingedients for "mildness", but so do some dishwashes. In my experience, they are all pretty much alike--way too concentrated and have to be diluted or I'll spend all day rinsing. The only time I use full-strength detergent is when there is grease on plastic.

Knowing that these products are almost identical and the only difference is the window-dressing (color, fragrance, packaging), I have used all of the above to wash hands and to hand-wash fine washables. It's not such a good idea to use the products that look pearly or milky on laundry, though, because it is possible for the extra ingredients to stain fabric.
I wouldn't hesitate for one moment to use a kosher handwash on my dishes if it were cheaper than my dishwash.

My main argument is with the antibacterial component. IMO antibacterial products should be avoided unless there is a specific health reason to use them. Like antibiotics, they don't kill all the germs--just the most susceptible ones. They leave behind the resistant ones, which are now free to multiply with no competition. eventually you are left with only the resistant germs and no way to kill them, which can be a big problem if someone in your household has a compromised immune system. it is already becoming a public-health issue, just like the overuse of antibiotics that has contributed to the rise of multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis.

There is no need for an antibacterial to kill germs on your hands or dishes unless you are about to do surgery. Ordinary soap does a fine job of sanitizing surfaces by simply washing the germs away and down the drain. Besides, many household infections such as the common cold are causes by viruses, upon which antibacterials have zero effect. Soap washes away both bacteria and viruses.

Sorry to be so long-winded...I do get carried away sometimes Very Happy