Did you know that the global liquid soap market exceeds $40 billion every year? When you consider the fact you’re (hopefully!) washing your hands before every meal, after bathroom breaks and when you’ve been cleaning, that’s a lot of soap. You’re probably washing anywhere from 10 times a day or more, depending on your daily activities. But have you ever considered the kind of soap you’re using and whether there’s a better alternative to conventional liquid soap? 

Foam soap is a fun, inexpensive, and effective way to keep your family's hands clean. Whether you enjoy the rich lather or the luxurious scents, every kitchen sink should be paired with a high-quality foaming soap.

But how does foam hand soap work? And where can you buy foaming hand soap? Don’t worry - we have all the information you need. Read on and discover exactly why we love foaming hand soap and why you should too. 

How Foam Soap Works

Foam soap isn’t entirely different from conventional liquid soaps - the key difference in the texture is how it gets from the inside of the dispenser into your hands. It is made from a diluted version of liquid soap, and when you press down on the pump dispenser, that diluted mix is infused with air to generate a frothy lather. 

In saying that, you can’t just pour foaming hand soap into any old dispenser; you’ll need a specialised pump to make sure you get that light and fluffy texture. Some dispensers are intended to be used without being replenished, while others are refilled regularly.

Some soaps are stored in a pressurised container, not entirely dissimilar to an aerosol can, while others are combined with air in the dispensing unit when the pump is used.

There are two chambers in a pump-style dispenser. When the pump is depressed, one chamber contains soap, and the other pushes air into the dispensing unit, combining the two and giving you that beautifully rich lather. 

Pressurised dispensers are often automated and are triggered by placing one's hands exactly beneath them. When the pump is turned on, a measured amount of pressured soap is dispensed from its container. These dispensers are not replenished by adding additional soap but by a sealed package or cartridge of pressurised soap.

To summarise, foaming soap begins as a liquid in its container. When the container is pumped, air is pushed into the liquid, causing foam to form.

As a result, foamy soap saves money by using less liquid while still dispensing a large amount of soap in your hands. Because it uses less product too, it’s better for the environment!

How Foaming Soap Eliminates Germs

You understand why it is necessary to use soap while washing your hands. However, an important distinction to note is that washing only helps to remove germs from your hands and doesn’t necessarily destroy them! Another important thing to be aware of is that you don’t need to kill the germs on your hands to keep yourself clean - meaning antibacterial soap isn’t always necessary. In fact, the FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) actually recommends you “Skip the Antibacterial Soap; Use Plain Soap and Water” and also state that “currently there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that over-the-counter (OTC) antibacterial soaps are better at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water.”

The surfactants (that’s a fancy scientific word for the part of soap that makes it foamy) in hand soap are responsible for removing pathogens. Surfactants are chemicals that reduce water's surface tension and dissolve molecular barriers. Surfactants, in other words, make your hands slippery, making it more difficult for dirt, debris, or germs to grasp, grip and remain. 

Whether you use a bar or foaming hand soap, it mechanically decreases the microbe count on your skin. Soap "pulls" dirt and other contaminants from your hands and pushes them into the flowing water.

After a pump of foam hand soap and some scrubbing, you'll be left with squeaky clean, healthy hands!

It's Cost Effective

When you use a foaming soap, you don’t need as much to begin with, this has a few benefits. The first? Using less soap means purchasing less soap, helping you save money on refills. Foaming soap dispensers emit less soap than ordinary liquid soap dispensers without sacrificing getting your hands nice and clean. 

When you use a refillable foam soap dispenser, it’s more affordable for manufacturers to produce, requiring fewer components by selling refills instead of new packaging every time, along with less soap overall. In turn, consumers save money by paying for less packaging and delivery, as well as using less product with every hand wash. 

It's Environmentally Friendly

When it comes to being kind to the environment, foaming hand soap ticks all the boxes! 

Because it’s a diluted version of liquid hand soap, it uses less soap in each hand-washing session. It is also thinner and less prone to clog drains. Not only does that make it kinder to the environment, but also more gentle on your plumbing - resulting in less need for harsh drain cleaning chemicals.

Water conservation is another less evident environmental advantage. Consumers who wash their hands with foamy hand soap use significantly less water to lather and rinse their hands than those who use conventional liquid soap. It’s much easier to get your hands all nice and soapy before washing them when you’re dealing with foam, giving you better coverage and requiring less water to get soap into all the nooks and crannies. Once your hands are covered, the water content in the soap makes it much easier to rinse away too, reducing the amount of water you need overall - which is an especially big bonus for those on tank water or summer water restrictions! 

Foam soap also doesn’t rely on chemicals to produce lather. Instead, natural lathering is caused by forced air, which helps foaming soap biodegrade quicker than ordinary liquid soap.

Furthermore, foamy soap provides more hand washes per package, decreasing packaging and transportation impacts on the environment.

It's Sustainable

Foaming hand soap is not only an eco-friendly soap option, but it is also long-lasting and has a lower impact in terms of how much soap you need, as well as in how resource-intensive it is to make and transport. 

Foam soap is a more financially and environmentally stable product since it reduces the emissions necessary to transport it. When you use dissolvable tablets that can be mixed with regular tap water, you’re not paying for the transport costs of carting around heavy, liquid-filled bottles. It also reduces the amount of packaging necessary to distribute it, requires less of it to be used for each hand wash, and uses less water to rinse it away.

As an added plus, foamy soap dispensers require less frequent refilling, saving time and money.

It Improves Personal Hygiene

Because foaming hand soap lathers more efficiently, it takes less to attain an adequate degree of hand cleanliness. On top of that, foaming soap dispensers are less likely to get sticky with extra soap residue, making for a more attractive (and low maintenance!) addition to your sink. 

Foam hand soap is easier to use than liquid soap for hand cleaning. Because it is supplied in a ready-to-lather state, foaming soap retains this benefit. It takes less of it to coat your hands with lather thoroughly. Less of it is also squandered and flushed down the drain.

Join Thousands of Eco-Conscious Customers Switching to Skipper’s Foaming Soap

There's little doubt that foam hand soap outperforms solid and liquid hand soaps. In addition, the long-term advantages of foam soap, which takes fewer chemicals to create, are better for the environment and save money for both the manufacturer and the consumer, are difficult to overlook.

Keen to give it a go? Foaming hand soap isn’t all - we also offer beautifully foamy face and body washes too!