Anti-bacterial soap does two things better than regular soap: Jack and shit. Regular soap works by physically removing dirt. The dirt is where the bacteria is. Remember, if it looks dirty, it is dirty. There is a mountain of evidence that shows anti-bacterial soap is no better at removing bacteria than regular soap. Even in bio labs we didn't use anti-bacterial soap. It is a marketing scam.
I'd argue anti-bacterial soap is worse than a marketing scam. It is a straight up inferior product to regular soap.
Earlier I mentioned that I do BJJ - effectively hot, sweaty wrestling with lots of skin to skin contact. Skin problems (ringworm, impetigo, staph, etc.) are common in wrestling, so hygiene before/after practice is important. Most of it is just basic crap - you don't step from an area where outdoor shoes are used and onto the mats. You always shower immediately after practice. You always wash anything that was used in practice immediately after practice and never use stuff twice. But at some point in the past I had decided that since skin infections were a problem I should start using anti-bacterial soap every time I showered off - little germs being the issue, right?
During the six month period that I was using anti-bacterial soap I had regular and repeated skin infections. Your skin wants/needs bacteria growing on it all the time. It's a whole eco-system going on there that actually protects you. Anti-bacterial soap seems to strip this ecosystem away and damage your skin somehow, leaving you at higher risk of colonization/infection by the bad stuff. I went back to using regular soap and occasionally moisturizing my skin and the skin infections largely went away.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! I suffer from occasional dry skin, especially on my legs, but besides that my skin is pretty great. I've been bathing with antibacterial soap since birth basically, so I'm not sure what effect stopping would have on me and I'm not keen to find out, but this is good info for those who might be considering picking up that habit. To each his own, but for me it's peace of mind.
There's no evidence that antibacterial soap works better than regular soap for protecting from disease and infection (https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/skip-antibacterial-soap-use-plain-soap-and-water, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27585555/). There is some evidence that the additives in antibacterial soaps make you less healthy though - they include endocrine disruptors and are more likely to cause irritation to the skin (https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-problem-with-antibacterial-soap-4125914). Antibacterial soaps also appear to contribute to antibiotic resistance in germs (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK73515/).
Honestly, in your position I'd drop the antibacterial soap for a couple months and see how things go. Worst case you can always go back to it, best case you'll find out that your skin is (much) healthier without.
Putting my tinfoil hat back on here... are those studies by the same people who recommended experimental mRNA injections to treat a virus with a 99% survival rate? The same injections that are now causing young, otherwise healthy people to randomly stop being alive? I think I'll stick with what I know, but thanks for sharing!
Remember, a patient cured is a customer lost. It's much more profitable for big pharma and the medical industrial complex to keep us all just sick enough to require constant treatment, but not sick enough to stop us from being able to work in the rat race so we can afford their treatments and medicines.
Killing germs seems like the most obvious way to stop their spread, no? I don't need a study to tell me that. Also, there are endocrine disruptors everywhere, even in food. Soy comes to mind. So I'm not gonna let anyone fear monger me into not being as sanitary as I can.
Are you familiar at all with antibiotic resistance, and how it happens? Yeah, just killing as many "germs" as possible is actually bad and even kind dangerous for everyone. But that take also requires you to value the health and safety of your neighbors, community, etc., not just your own.
If you could get the prescription, would just just take a broad-spectrum antibiotic every day for the rest of your life? After all, that would be quite effective--far more so than handwashing--at killing germs. If germ death is the "obvious way" to prevent spread, this should sound like a solid course of action, right? And of course, wearing a mask--do you do that all the time if you want to be "as sanitary as you can"?
When someone washes their hands have touching what is likely a very clean surface but disparages a vaccine that has scientifically been shown to be high reward and very, very low risk for serious issues, there's some cognitive dissonance there.
At first ,I thought this trash can thing was just a quirk like those all of us have in some form. But it is becoming more and more clear that it goes beyond that. But it's also pretty clear you aren't open to thoughts on this or other opinions on the matters at hand[wash]. So happy handwashing!
