Monday, February 23, 2009

What is Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap?

Boraxo powdered hand soap is a combination of borax and soap. So, you might now be wondering what borax is and you may THINK you know what soap is, but after my little lesson on soap, you will see soap in a whole different light!

First, the borax part. Borax has many "scientific" names. It is known as sodium borate, sodium tetra borate, and disodium tetraborate! Geeze, who would have thought that Boraxo contained something so complex sounding? It really is not that complex when you analyze and break down what borax actually is. Borax is is a boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid and usually comes in a powdered form, which is a big reason why our beloved Boraxo powdered soap is white and somewhat gritty. As we already know from using Boraxo, borax is water soluble, meaning it will dissolve in water. Of course we know that one of the great qualities of Boraxo is that it won't dissolve instantly in water. It hangs around awhile to scrub your skin and provide that wonderful exfoliated feeling!

Now, I promised to give you an explanation of what soap is. I know many of you are thinking that soap is soap and you do not need a treatise on soap. Well, soap has some wonderful properties that warrant discussing. Did you know that soap works by making water wetter? That's right. Soap actually makes water wetter by decreasing its surface tension. The molecules in the water have trouble attracting to one another and this creates a less powerful bond which means that that the water is wetter, at least in a sense.

Soap is what is known as an emulsifier. It can trap particles like dirt and oils. Where plain old water fails to remove the gunk, soap traps the gunk particles and allows the water to carry them away.

This brings us back to Boraxo powdered hand soap. Not only does Boraxo have the wonderful emulsifier to trap the gunk, but it also has borax to help scrub the gunk off of your skin (along with any dead and flaking skin). So, Boraxo does double duty in scrubbing the gunk and then trapping it in the soap so the water can wash it away.

I told you that Boraxo is special!

4 comments:

  1. What about Ronald Reagan in a cowboy suit driving a mule train on a borax wagon in Death Valley?

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  2. Love this subject! I use Borax face to toes and so many other places. Recently spilled some on my stainless steel kitchen sink. LIGHTLY wiping it up produced the shine & clean I usually have to scrub for. I'm addicted. laundry.......tools.....bathtub/shower. It is the best product on the market. Problem: It's also scarce. I just read in Wikipedia today that Dial stopped making it this year.
    may I ask, WHY???

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  3. hey kevin! is boraxo or the boric acid in it, toxic?

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  4. Boraxo powdered hand soap is great for clearing your complexion of pimples. It is the best!

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