Types of Soap - Differences Between Soaps

There are many types of soaps, depending upon the usage. There are hard and soft, and everything in-between soaps. Hardness of soap is often achieved through the addition of hardening agents, so many natural soaps tend to be softer.

Kitchen soaps

They are further categorized into two: cleansers and detergents.

Cleansers

Cleansers are often made with mild abrasives and they are formulated to eliminate heavy oil or solid particles and hard-to-remove stains. The cleansers come in many different types depending on the type of abrasives they contain.

Detergents

Dish detergents are made to remove tough grease and release the solid dirt particles in the foam that is produced by the detergent. There are two types of dish detergents: machine dishwasher detergents and hand dishwashing detergents.

Laundry soaps

Laundry soaps are formulated to eliminate grease, solid particles and organic compounds from clothes. They can be found in liquid, powder and gel forms.

Cleaning soaps

Cleaning soaps have different formulations to clean grease and soil. The difference between cleansers and cleaning soaps is that cleaning soaps don't contain harsh abrasives.

Personal soaps

This kind of soap is made in many forms and special formulations for specific personal hygiene needs. One type of the personal soap isthe antibacterial soap that is made to prevent bacteria and viruses from spreading. There are also body and hair soaps that have a mix of ingredients that cleans both the skin and hair.

Novelty soaps

Novelty soaps are especially manufactured for the kids and include the soaps in the shapes of various items, such as a rubber ducky or the soap-on-the-rope. There are made not only to clean dirt and grime, but for amusement and enjoyment as well.

Perfumed soaps

Perfumed soaps are produced by adding a few additional ingredients and perfume.

Guest soaps

Guest soaps are miniature soaps that are made and shaped into attractive shapes and they are basically designed for the use by guests either in the main bathroom or separate guest bathroom. Popular and commonly used shapes are flowers, sea shells and rounds

Beauty soaps

Beauty soaps are produced to feature attractive fragrances, and ingredients for a variety of skin types. They can feature glycerin, or special oil blends.

Medicated soaps

Medicated soaps and original soap are very similar. Unlike original soap, medicated soap has the addition of antiseptics and disinfectants.

Glycerin soaps

Glycerin is a normally produced during the process of soap production. Soaps which include glycerin in them tend to make your skin feel moister.

Transparent soap

Transparent soap uses slightly different ingredients and usually some form of alcohol to alter the process which is also conducted at higher temperatures. Not all transparent soaps are glycerin soaps.

Liquid soaps

Liquid soaps are actually very difficult to produce and many of the commercial liquid soaps are just in fact detergents.