Does More Lather Mean Your Soap Is Cleaning Better?

Somewhere along the way, we all learned that bubbles mean clean. If a soap makes a giant pile of fluffy lather, clearly it is working harder than one that doesn't, right? I mean, every soap commercial we've ever seen has basically reinforced this idea. More bubbles = more cleaning power.

Except that's not really how soap works.

Lather and cleaning are related, obviously, but the amount of lather you see isn't a particularly good way to judge how well your soap is cleaning your skin. When you use soap and water, the soap molecules help water grab onto oils and grime so they can be rinsed away. When you rub the bar between your hands, use a washcloth, or otherwise swish everything around, you're also trapping air in the mixture. That's where all those lovely bubbles come from.

And I like bubbles! I'm not here to wage a war against lather. A big handful of creamy soap lather is one of life's small pleasures. But those bubbles aren't little cleaning soldiers, and a soap that produces fewer of them isn't necessarily doing a worse job.

Different oils also behave differently in soap, which is one of the things that makes formulating a recipe interesting. Some oils contribute big fluffy bubbles, while others create a denser, creamier lather. Other ingredients affect the hardness of the bar, how long it lasts, and how it feels when you're using it. Making a good bar of soap means balancing all of those things, not just seeing how many bubbles I can cram into your shower.

There's another reason I don't formulate soap based on maximum cleaning power: your skin isn't a casserole dish. The goal is to remove dirt, sweat and excess oil, not strip every last bit of oil off your body until your skin feels like it's been shrink-wrapped. A soap can be very effective at cleansing without being aggressively cleansing.

Your water can also completely screw with the experiment. Hard water contains minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium, that interact with soap and can reduce the amount of lather you see. Take the exact same bar to a house with softer water and suddenly you may have bubbles everywhere. The soap didn't change. The water did.

So why are we all so convinced that bubbles equal clean? Honestly, because bubbles feel good. They make soap easier and more enjoyable to use, and there's something deeply satisfying about working up a nice creamy handful of lather in the shower. I formulate my soaps so they're enjoyable to use as well as functional, and different bars may give you slightly different kinds of lather depending on what's in them.

But if your handmade soap isn't producing a foam beard worthy of a shaving cream commercial, there is absolutely no reason to assume it isn't working. Add some water, rub the bar around, enjoy whatever level of bubble party you're getting and carry on.

The soap knows what it's doing.