Washing your hands is essential, but does not require antibacterial formulas, which can disrupt the skin’s microbiome and even worsen antimicrobial resistance.
During winter, with the return of cold and flu season, concerns about hygiene increase: people wash their hands more, disinfect surfaces and increase seasonal vaccinations to avoid family outbreaks. But one unlikely product is surprisingly dispensable and potentially harmful — “antibacterial” soap.
Basically, the experts’ advice is: washing your hands remains essential, but does not require “antibacterial” formulas.
Common soap, whether bar or liquid, works mainly through mechanical and chemical action: the combination of fats/oils with alkaline substances and water helps to loosen microbes from the skin, allowing them to be removed by running water. Instead of “killing”, the objective is “removing”, and this is enough to reduce the risk of transmitting infectious agents in everyday life.
Antibacterial soaps include biocidessuch as benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol, chemicals designed to eliminate microorganisms, points out .
One of the problems highlighted is that these chemicals do not distinguish between potentially harmful bacteria and beneficial bacteria. Repeated exposure can disrupt the skin’s microbiome — the set of microorganisms that help maintain pH, barrier function and defense against pathogens.
Furthermore, residues may remain on the skin after washing, prolonging the biocidal effect beyond the moment you rinse your hands. With normal soap, surviving microbes and those arriving from the environment tend to recolonize more quickly, helping to maintain balance.
The renowned magazine also warns of impacts on wastewater treatment systems, which depend on bacteria for processes such as nitrification — the conversion of ammonia into forms of nitrogen that are less toxic and more useful for plants.
Excessive use of these products is also associated with worsening antimicrobial resistanceby facilitating the emergence of microbes tolerant to biocides and, potentially, antibiotics. In a scenario already described as a global crisis, the World Health Organization is cited with the projection that antibiotic-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050 if nothing changes.
In environmental terms, the release of these compounds into aquatic environments can also affect fish and invertebrates and accumulate in soils and mud. And despite its commercial popularity, the conclusion is pragmatic: there is no “significant” health benefit to choosing antibacterial soap over regular soap and water, including against common viruses and bacteria. The recommendation is opt for simple soap and water.
