How many times a day do we wash our hands? 10 times? Or more? So, as you can imagine, it is of utmost importance that you have a gentle hand soap. For this reason I wanted to create a hand soap that not only cleans effectively but also cares for them. And we have it! My new Hand Wash is so mildly formulated that your hands won’t become dehydrated and I am going to tell you about the fine soothing ingredients that I have included. My team and I have also carried out a study into testing how mild my Hand Wash actually is in comparison to a ‘regular’ hand soap…
Why your skin stays soft with my new Hand Wash
The most important ingredients in a hand soap? The detergents. Because these ensure that your hands become nice and clean. These substances can, however, also make your skin feel tight, because it’s not only dirt they get rid of but also your skin’s natural oils. That’s why, as well as effective substances that clean your skin, I’ve also added a high concentration of kind ingredients to my new Hand Wash. These protect your skin during and after washing, which keeps your skin soft and hydrated.
These lovely substances have been added:
➤ 5% glycerine – this ingredient hydrates the skin and ensures that your skin’s protective layer is not disturbed during cleaning.
➤ 2% betaine – an ingredient that cares for, softens and prevents dehydration of the skin.
Investigation: how mild is my new Hand Wash in comparison to ‘regular’ soap?
My team and I have tested how mild the
Hand Wash actually is. For this we compared the Hand Wash containing 5% glycerine and 2% betaine to a hand soap which was the same except that it contained no betaine and less glycerine, 2%. We chose a hand soap with 2% glycerine because most hand soaps contain between 2 and 3% glycerine. In that way we could compare the Hand Wash with a ‘regular’ hand soap in terms of mildness.
Two measurements
Inge and Sophie, from my team, ‘lent’ us their hands for testing the mildness of the two products. They washed their left hand ten times with the ‘regular’ hand soap (2% glycerine) and their right hand ten times with the Hand Wash (5% glycerine and 2% betaine). In order to find out how mild both products are we took skin readings before and after each wash. We looked at 2 things: the hydration of the skin and the health of the skin barrier (the natural protective layer of the skin).
The results of the test:
➤ Skin barrier (TEWA-meter)
What effect do both soaps have on the skin barrier? In the graph below you can see the average of the ten readings for Inge and Sophie with the TEWA-meter. The higher the score, the less healthy the skin barrier is (scores between 0-25 are normal, anything above that and the skin barrier is compromised). Their skin barrier is therefore healthy, also after washing with soap. Perhaps not so strange, as it is summer. But the skin barrier is compromised (more quickly) in winter, for instance, if you have eczema or drier hands.
In the graph you can see that the ‘regular’ soap has higher scores than the Hand Wash. This difference is significant. This means that in this test the ‘regular’ hand soap with 2% glycerine affects the skin barrier (the natural protective layer of the skin) significantly more than the Hand Wash.
➤ Hydration (Corneo-meter)
The effects of both hand soaps on the hydration of the skin was also observed. In the graph you can see the average of 10 readings for Inge and Sophie with the Corneo-meter. In this case a higher score is better, meaning that the skin is more hydrated (a score above 40 means sufficiently hydrated). You can see that Inge’s and Sophie’s skin is more hydrated from washing with the Hand Wash than with the ‘regular’ hand soap. The difference between both hand soaps is significant.
This is how mild the Hand Wash is
In this test the Hand Wash (5% glycerine and 2% betaine) is milder than the ‘regular’ hand soap (2% glycerine). This is because the skin barrier stayed healthier with the Hand Wash and the hydration also increased more with the Hand Wash than with the ‘regular’ soap.