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The Difference Between a Detergent and a Soap
Dear Annie,
I am somewhat confused about the difference between soap and detergent. Which is best for the environment? My health? –Janice, CT
Answer: Excellent question. Soaps and detergents are not the same thing, although both are surfactants, or surface active agents, which basically means a washing compound that mixes with grease and water.
Soaps are made of materials found in nature. Detergents are synthetic (although some of the ingredients are natural); they were developed during World War II when oils to make soap were scarce. There is little doubt that soap is better for your health and the environment than detergents. Some detergents are very toxic to fish and wildlife.
Nonetheless, a big drawback of washing with soap is that the minerals in water react with those in soap, leaving an insoluble film. This can turn clothes grayish, and the film can leave a residue (such as is found on shower stalls, for example). Detergents react less to minerals in water and for all practical purposes are the product of choice for laundry, unless
you have very soft water. Those of you with hard water—which has a high mineral content—already know about this, I am sure.
If you choose to wash your clothes with a detergent—or the dishes, or some of my recipes asking for a biodegradable soap or detergent—you can ensure the least possible damage to the environment by selecting the most biodegradable products. Health food stores have a number of brands of detergent that are made with renewable materials instead of petroleum-based ingredients, and with natural essential oil fragrance and no dyes. They also sell liquid vegetable-oil soaps called castile soap.
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4 comments
add your comment »You answered a question I have had for 35 years. I was in another state and went to a laundomat to do my husbands cloths. They all came out a horrible grey. I asked everyone and no one knew why. I went to relative home and she let me rewash and bleach things and hang out to dry and brighten. This was near Glacier National Park and I don't even drink the water there due to minerals. Now, at 63, I know what happened! Thank you
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When I lived in Portugal (in the '80s), I found that many people used home-made soap for everything. My mother-in-law didn't have a washing machine, almost every household had a 'tank', in which all the laundry was done by hand, using a bar of home-made soap. This soap didn't have a smell to it, was dead cheap, and was also used to do the dishes. I believe the soap was made with used olive oil (used for frying). I guess that was a very good way of recycling products!
I also used this soap (one could buy it everywhere in small stores) for everything, although I couldn't use it in my washing machine. I did wash my daughter's diapers with this soap. She hardly ever had a rash... (we didn't have disposable diapers then).
Lia
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Thanks, Mark. And yes, I agree with you. The practical wins for me with this caveat: Choose your detergents ONLY from companies, such as Seventh Generation or Ecover, who have high environmental standards about what surfactants they use. The problem is, of course, that the feed lots for detergents change a lot with price, so you need to trust the manufacturer of only choosing surfactants that are good. Having hard water myself, I know that choosing a detergent over a soap is the only way to go for our laundry if I want my teenager to be happy wearing her clothes.
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Some nice basic information, but somewhat conflicting. First you tell people that there is little doubt of the health and environmental benefits of soap over detergent, but then you say detergent is the practical choice?
How can a brighter fabric be the practical choice over our health? Asking for a biodegradable formulation isn't really that much of a sure thing. Some highly toxic compounds will biodegrade, but they degrade into dangerous, persistent organic chemicals which can still do serious harm to health, or they biodegrade very little.
Bio degradation isn't always equal, there are many different classifications and accepted forms of biodegrading, it just depends what you mean by it. The chemical industry has some very lax definitions of biodegradable. I suggest your readers learn more about this aspect. Your advice is sound, but I think you shied away from the real heart of the issue, the chemical industry and their influence/control over regulatory bodies.
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