The soap industries are always working hard to produce different types of soap. They tend to try and produce a soap with a newer formula to surpass all the previous soap products they make.
Generally, soaps are essential items for every household; you will surely use soap no matter how you do it.
Furthermore, this lather-producing product, you like it or not, is an essential element of people’s hygiene. You use soap to bath; you use it in the kitchen to wash your plate.
Whenever you have dirty laundry, you need soap to clean it. If your car is so dirty, you need soap to clean it.
This lather-producing product is made by adding some natural oils or fats with sodium hydroxide and some other alkali. Coloring agents and scents can also be part of soap making to give it some fragrance.
Furthermore, soaps are salts of fatty acid used for personal hygiene, and they are mainly classified based on the surface they are used to clean.
The primary aim of soap is generally for cleaning, but it is crucial to know the different types of soap available. Furthermore, it is essential to know the other soaps because you won’t want to wash your face with soap to clean the plate.
So, let discuss the different types of soap available and what makes them different from each other.
1. Toilet soaps/Bathing soaps
Toilet soaps/ bathing soaps are among the different types of soap that have cosmetic uses. This type of soap, bathing soap, and toilet soaps are classified as one because, most times, they use them interchangeably.
However, looking closely at the two, they have significant differences between them.
Furthermore, toilet soap contains a much higher quantity of total fatty material (TTM) than bathing soap. The TFM is responsible for how the soap will clean to some effect.
A soap with higher TFM will have a better cleaning property, unlike a soap with lower TFM.
Bathing soaps are generally inferior to toilet soap based on their level of TFM because they still won’t produce a moisturizing effect coupled with having lower cleaning properties.
Toilet soaps are one of the different types of soaps that are of three grades according to their TFM value: Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3.
- Grade 1: Grade 1 is the grade in toilet soap with the highest TFM value. Grade 1 contains 76% TFM value. This type of soap makes an excellent lather. They can either be homogenous or high-grade milled soap or both. They also come in various colors and scents.
- Grade 2: Grade 2 is the second type of toilets soap with the highest grade after Grade 1. They contain up to 70% TFM value. They also make an excellent lather but do not lath as much as grade 1. Their color can be white or any other color. Furthermore, most soap available in the market is grade 2 soap.
- Grade 3: The TFM of this type of toilet soap is relatively low, having about 60% TFM value. The lathing properties are the poorest among all three grades, making their cleaning quality relatively low.
2. Laundry Soaps
Laundry soaps are one of the different types of soap available. These soaps are available in liquid, powder, and gel forms.
The use of artificial means of making soap nowadays is rampant due to the scarcity of natural ingredients from the usual goat fat and wood ash.
Furthermore, because most soap made now is from synthetic means, most soap nowadays is detergent, not soap. Detergents generally contain surfactants which are present in all soap made for laundry.
However, these surfactants are responsible for removing the dirt from your laundry. Surfactants can remove the dirt because surfactants have two ends; one is attracted to water, and the other gets attracted to the dirt, thereby removing the dirt.
3. Beauty Soaps/Bars
Beauty soap is one of the different types of soap meant to clean your face, as indicated in its name.
This type of soap is carefully made because they are for the skin. The skin is delicate. This type of soap comes for different skin types and skin conditions.
Furthermore, when choosing a beauty soap, make sure you choose the one that will suit your skin type. You can get beauty bars for acne, dark spot, and bleaching enhancement.
Beauty bars bring about a moisturizing and hydrating effect to your skin. However, most of these soaps are called beauty bars in the market because they are not natural ingredients.
And according to FDA, You cant label what is not a soap. Hence, this type of soap is a beauty bar because they are not from natural materials.
Furthermore, Beauty soaps can be available in the market in the form of bars, liquid washes, and gels. They also come in different colors and have different compositions with scents.
4. Dish Soap
From its name, dish soap is a type of soap used to clean dishes. This type of soap can be called a dish detergent or dishwashing liquid.
Dish soap is generally not suitable for use on the skin because they contain some strong chemicals which are sometimes not skin-friendly.
Furthermore, dish soap possesses a high quality of surfactants, unlike other skin-friendly soaps. They contain a high level of surfactants because they don’t only clean the dish. They also remove the oil and grease on the dish.
However, it is also worth noting that this type of soap foams a lot and comes within either diluted concentrates or concentrates that need to be diluted to use.
Lastly, they also come with many aromas and scents, leaving a refreshing aroma on dishes after washing.
5. Guest Soaps
Guest soaps are types of soaps that are available in the hotels for customers checking in. This type of soap is often small and comes with a lot of fragrance.
Furthermore, they are usually small. Guest soaps come in different colors. They also come with pleasing flavors for cleaning. They are also very mild on the skin.
However, there is nothing special about all these soaps. They are not prepared with different materials. They are only to give the guest a prissy impression about the hotel and nothing other than that.
6. Medicated Soaps
From the name, medicated soaps are a type of soaps that contain ingredients intended to treat one or more skin problems.
Skin conditions like acne, blackheads, rashes, pimples, fungi, and bacterial infections can be treated with a medicated soap.
Furthermore, the ingredients used in making a medicated soap will be what you intend to use to treat or prevent.
There are several types of medicating soap in the market, and some of them are;
- Antibacterial soaps: This is a type of medicated soap that contains an antibacterial agent like tetrasodium EDTA. They use them to treat skin infected with bacteria or prevent skin from getting infected with bacteria.
- Antifungal Soaps: Antifungal soaps generally contain antifungal agents to combat fungal infections of the skin. They include extracts of medicinal plants, some essential oils that contain antifungal properties. They also have some vitamins, sulfur, Zinc oxides, and so on.
- Medicated Soaps for Skin Problems: The skin is prone to other problems aside from bacterial and fungi infections. Excessive dryness of the skin is one of the problems a skin can have; clogged pores are also another problem. Common acne is also another problem, and there are many medicated soaps available in the markets to treat several of these skin problems. Furthermore, if you have a skin problem, you should use a medicated soap in combating the skin problem, rather than using regular soaps.
7. Novelty Soaps
Novelty soaps are types of soap that come in various colors and shapes. They are generally a type of soaps that children love. It provides lots of amusement and enjoyment for children because of the beautiful shapes and colors of the soap.
8. Glycerin Soaps
Glycerin soaps are types of soaps that contain glycerin which is a component of fat or oil. They are one of the most moisturizing soaps, and they are very gentle to the skin.
They are also very effective for any skin type making your skin appear moisturized and healthy.
Furthermore, if you have susceptible skin that reacts will other regular soaps, a bar of glycerin soap is the best for you.
These types of soap are from natural ingredients, which makes them suitable for sensitive skins.
The skin reacts to other regular bar soaps because of the presence of synthetic chemicals in them, making them inappropriate for people with sensitive skin.
Furthermore, glycerin attracts moistures which makes your skin moisturized, the humidity is also locked in, and your skin stays hydrated for hours.
9. Transparent soaps
Transparent soaps are types of soaps that are transparent. They mix them in a hot alcohol solution. The particles that remain undissolved in alcohol are filtered out. Hence a transparent soap is formed.
Furthermore, transparent soaps are hard, and they find it very difficult to lather. They are not as moisturized as other regular soaps, but they are very effective for oily skin and acne.
10. Handmade Soaps
Handmade soap is one of the different soap types made in small batches from natural ingredients. They contain natural ingredients only. Hence they are costly.
Furthermore, they are from base oils like coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil, etc. These ingredients are essential for the skin’s health. Handmade soaps are generally safer than and gentle on the skin.
They do not contain any strong chemicals, making them a good option for people with sensitive skin.
