either soap is fine --- it's having to pull a door open as you leave that gets me
all public restrooms should allow you to exit without having to grab the door. that would do more for hygiene than either soap

sounds like a difference between the low quality soaps?

low quality foam - takes more soap to clean? (dont recall experiencing this)
low quality liquid - takes more water to rinse off (this gets annoying)

Last year I found myself seated up front --I think I was on US Scareways-- next to a senior scientist from a soap manufacturer. We got to talking; and I asked her about what the deal was with antibacterial soaps.

She told me that because of convoluted FDA rules, any soap that contained certain compounds that were considered antibacterial were allowed to market and label their soap 'Antibacterial'. The problem is that in order for the compounds to actually be antibacterial, they need to be delivered in a certain manner.

So, just as soap fails to clean without the introduction of water, the antibacterial qualities of many soaps will not be activated without it being delivered mixed with air, as a foam.

For what it's worth, the only antibacterial soap she would personally vouch for was Dial Complete.

Foam soap was invented so they could charge for air.

Beat me to it. What the heck is everyone doing to have such amazingly dirty hands!

Bingo.


And for what it's worth, what's wrong with the occasional germ? didn't any of you watch the Mythbusters episode where they monitored faecal matter in the bathroom? Your hands are the least of your worries.

+1. That's why I try to always carry wet wipes with me...

You're never bought foam soap, have you?

Go to a store and buy a bottle of Dial Complete. Notice that you are not being charged for air. It is in fact a liquid. In some places you can find the same ~8oz bottle of Dial Complete sitting next to an ~8oz bottle of regular liquid soap for the same price.

The foaming comes from the dispensing mechanism. If anything, you probably get more bang-for-your-buck from foam soap. The dispenser neatly and perfectly gets it all lathered up. So while a couple mils of foam soap (in liquid form) turns into a substantial amount of foam with which you can wash you hands, good luck getting an adequate cleaning of your hands with the same couple mils of regular liquid soap.

I've never bought soap. All my friends are online, for a reason.

I think this should put things in perspective.

Put me in the nay camp. If your hands aren't really dirty, two or three squirts of foam soap seems to leave you with something approximately like clean hands; but if your hands are dirty, oily in particular, the stuff is useless. My customers are largely machine shops and if I use foam soap in a public restroom before lunch it will NOT do the job. Liquid soap seems to handle it much better (and mind you I'm lathering with the stuff for a good long while with both liquid and foam to achieve results). In the end, neither will be a replacement for a good bar of Lava or that "Agent Orange" stuff (I forget the real name).

Consider the source

OK, am I the only one who found this funny? Not only does a pet store have customer bathrooms, but there is a choice of soap as well! I'm obviously visiting the wrong pet stores!

LOL GoldCircle, that was hilarious