In 1961, a band called The Jarmels recorded a song called “A Little Bit of Soap.” The lyrics of the song report, accurately, that soap is useful stuff for removing things like lipstick, powder and perfume from one’s skin.

“A little bit of soap
Will wash away your lipstick on my face

Mmm, a little bit of soap
Will wash away your powder from my chin

Mmm, a little bit of soap
Will take away your perfume eventually”

As is turns out, soap has one more particularly fortuitous quality, especially in these surreal and almost apocalyptic times. It wreaks havoc on microbes, including viruses. Washing your hands is probably the most powerful weapon you have against catching everything from the common cold to the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus. Why is that? What is it about soap that spells such destruction for microorganisms that otherwise could bring such suffering and despair?

It’s all about molecular structure.

Soap is weird. It’s really weird. It has a kind of split personality. Let me explain.

Substances like oil, grease, water, soap, and everything else are made up of molecules. Molecules generally fall into a couple of categories – hydrophilic and hydrophobic.

Hydrophilic (Hydro=water, philic=loving) molecules readily mix with water. Hydrophobic (Hydro=water, phobic=fearing) molecules are repelled by water and readily mix with oils. Soap, in its weirdness, is both hydrophilic and hydrophobic. That’s because soap molecules have a hydrophilic “head” and a hydrophobic “tail”. Put soap in water and mix that with some dirt or grease and the soap immediately goes to work. The molecules end up forming tiny little prison-like clusters called micelles. The heads of the molecules point outward away from oily, dirty bits to which the tails are attracted. This encapsulates the dirt and allows it to be washed away. Neat, huh?

So, what does this have to do with viruses? Great question. I’m glad you asked.

The exterior surface of viruses is made up of a double-layer structure that supports the proteins the virus needs to do its dirty work. That structure is comprised of lipids – essentially fats. Fats are oily. Your skin is oily, even if you think you have dry skin. That means that viruses can, and do, stick readily to the surface of your skin. They get on your hands, you touch your face, and the virus gets into your body.

When you wash your hands with soap and water, you create a soup of destruction that does two very important things. First, it binds up the oily “glue” that allows the virus to remain attached to your skin. That means you can rinse the nasty bugs down the drain. Secondly, since the skin of the virus is made up of oily lipid molecules, the water hating tails of the soap molecules drive them into the skin of the virus, encapsulating the components that make up the microorganism’s exterior. The soap literally peels the virus apart with an action that is not unlike the prying of a crowbar. It’s a horrifically fitting end to such a nasty adversary. Feel free to laugh maniacally as you scrub your paws.

You don’t need fancy soap. You don’t need so-called “anti-bacterial” soap. You just need any soap and a little water. You can use liquid soap, foaming soap, or even bar soap. Sanitizing hand gel products work also, albeit via different mechanisms. Soap and water work better, though. It’s hard to make sure you get that gel all over every tiny part of your hands. Any viral particles hiding in the nooks, crannies, fingernails and cuticles all over your hands can get missed. Soap and water flow freely all over the place, getting into all of those places and rooting out the nasties. So, use the gel if you are in a place where you can’t get to soap and water, but when you can at all, wash, wash, wash. Make sure to suds up every surface and wash long enough to get the job done. Being the nerd that I am, I recite the spoken introduction from the “Star Trek” television show as I wash, which takes the recommended minimum of twenty seconds or more. Remember it? “These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise …”

Stay healthy out there. Find something safe to do at home that will keep you entertained. See below for a link to a great place to find a couple of good books.

This article was written by Tilmer Wright, Jr. Tilmer is an IT professional with over thirty years of experience wrestling with technology and a proud member of the Authors Guild of Tennessee. In his spare time, he writes books.

You can find links to Tilmer’s books at the following location: https://www.amazon.com/Tilmer-Wright/e/B00DVKGG4K?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1…

His author information web site is here: http://www.tilmerwrightjr.com/

Credit for image of the soap bubble: Brocken Inaglory / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)