Health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to drive home the message that excellent hand-washing is the most effective way to prevent illnesses, such as COVID-19. Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and director of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, explains what soap does to SARS-CoV-2, and other viruses and bacteria. Q. Why is washing your hands with soap and water the best? A. Your hand has oils on it, and viruses stick to...

Mask-wearing has divided the country, but hand-washing—one might think—is something virtually everyone would agree on. Hand-washing, after all, is one of the most critical parts of preventing the spread of infectious disease. But many millennialshave washed their hands of bar soap, so to speak. They claim it's contaminated with germs. Instead, they use liquid soap.  So what's best—bar or liquid? Does it matter? I am a doctoral student at the University of Oregon's Institute of Molecular Biology, and here's my take, prefaced...

Is there any act more mood-boosting than the unwrapping of a fresh cake of soap? Despite liquid hand-wash and body gels in recent years cleaning out what was once a sturdy fixture in British bathrooms, the pleasure of installing a smooth, solid, sharply fragrant bar on the side of the sink cannot be underestimated.  Soap has always had an old-fashioned, decorous whiff. In Virginia Woolf’s novel The Years, the characters comment on cleanliness at least once every 10 pages, keen to...

Like any ecologically concerned young person, I am extremely susceptible to any and all sorts of ‘green’ fads. Yes, I realize that bringing my own bags to the grocery store or foregoing a plastic straw are small gestures that do more to simply make me feel better about me than they are actions that actually make a demonstrable impact on the environment. Yet, despite my awareness of this futility, I still carry on doing these things because it's better than not doing anything at all, right? Anyway, this...

Far from the slightly old-school soap used by our grandmothers, solid soap is getting a makeover to target our hygiene from head to toe. Take a closer look at this ultra portable format, ideal for the summer, which, as a bonus, plays a part in the zero plastics movement. Say goodbye to plastic bottles: the solid format is the leading beauty product of the moment for all travelers or those who wish to adopt a zero-waste beauty routine. In contact with water the...