I am writing this article
because my student Rachana. The question asked by her brother to her and she
asked the same to me - “why toilet soap is written on the soap’s wrapper?”. I
have undergone for a little research on this topic and I am putting here my
findings.
Short answer:
Toilet soap is the soap used
as a toiletry and the toiletry means - an object or
cosmetic used in making up, dressing, etc. Due to the word toiletry, we
misunderstood the concept of toilet soap. Cambridge dictionary defines
the toilet soap as “a sweet-smelling soap that is intended for washing
the body”.
Soap is used to clean the body and it is catagorised as toilet soap and bathing bar. The distinction (toilet soap and bathing bar) is made on the basis on amount of fatty material used to manufacture the soap. The thing to note is higher fatty material soap has better cleaning ability. Toilet soap contains more fatty material than bathing bar, so they soften the skin than bathing bar. Most of the soaps present in the market (Lux, Liril, Lifebuoy, Hamam, Rexona, Cinthol) are toilet soaps. (See the list at bottom)
Detailed Explanation:
To understand whole concept, you must to understand the manufacturing process of soap (called as Saponification). Soaps are the compounds formed by the reaction of bases (alkalies or salts) with triglycerides (fatty acid esters) with a byproduct as a glycerin. Fatty acid salt is a chemical name of soap. Bases are mostly sodium or potassium hydroxide. Triglycerides are mostly found in vegetable oil (coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil, etc) or animal fats. Vegetable oil produces soft soap whereas animal fat produces hard soap. The soaps are rated in terms of Total Fatty Matter (TFM) contents. Good TFM soap has a good cleaning and nourishing property. TFM is a measure (in %) for identifying the amount of fatty matter present in soap i.e. more the fatty material present in soap, it is good for skin. In ideal saponification process, the ratio of fats to bases is 5:1. If we consider 5:1 ratio then TFM value of soap is 83.3% (but observed max value of TFM is 80%).
According to Bureau of
Indian Standards (BIS), there are two types of soap - toilet soap and bathing
bar. TFM content in bathing bar should be less than 60% but not less than 40%,
while toilet soaps are categorized in three sub-categories depending on their
TFM content. The TFM content of Grade I toilet soap should be 76% or above. TFM
content of Grade II toilet soap should be less than 76% but not less than 70%. TFM
content of Grade III toilet soap should be less than 70% but not less than 60%.
It is mandatory for toilet soap to mention TFM value on the wrapper while in
case of bathing bar, it is not obligatory to mention TFM value.
Toilet
soap v/s Bathing bar
Toilet
soap
|
Bathing
bar
|
High
amount of fatty material
|
Less
amount of fatty material
|
TFM
ranging from 60-80%
|
TFM
ranging from 40-60%
|
Surface
active agents are absent
|
Surface
active agents are present
|
Grade I soap has better
cleaning ability and it is gentle to skin than lower grade soap. Grade I soap
has no filler (additive like talc) while Grade II and Grade III have large
amount of fillers. Sometimes fillers present in Grade II, Grade III and bathing
bar may have bad effect on the skin. These soaps consumed faster than Grade I
soap when gets contact with water and they are also poorer in lathering.
If TFM is low, this means, other
than fatty material something like moisturising cream, vitamin, ayurvedic
material or talc is added to soap.
There
are some soap sub-categories (not standardized) are present in market like glycerin
soap, beauty bar, ayurvedic soap. As glycerin soap (like
Pears) is soft to skin so it may be the choice of people who have sensitive
skin but they are not good at cleaning the skin. Beauty bar (like Dove) may be
choice of people whose skin gets dry when they use soap because soap pours
inside the skin. Beauty bar does not dry the skin because they are made up of
neutral cleansing material and moisturising cream. One can use ayurvedic soap (like
Margo) whose skin is sensitive to chemicals.
Following
are the soaps according to their TFM contents and Grade,
Sr. No.
|
Soap Name
|
TFM (%)
|
Grade
|
1
|
Anu spa aloe vera
|
80
|
1
|
2
|
Anu spa Astagandha
|
80
|
1
|
3
|
Anu spa Chandanam
|
80
|
1
|
4
|
Anu spa Gulabjal
|
80
|
1
|
5
|
Anu spa Keasar
|
80
|
1
|
6
|
Anu spa Kevada
|
80
|
1
|
7
|
Anu spa Sandal with
almond oil
|
80
|
1
|
8
|
Anu spa Shahi khas
|
80
|
1
|
9
|
Doy Care Cream soap
|
80
|
1
|
10
|
Mysore Sandal Classic
|
80
|
1
|
11
|
Mysore Sandal Gold
|
80
|
1
|
12
|
Mysore Sandal
Millennium
|
80
|
1
|
13
|
Mysore Sandal Regular
|
80
|
1
|
14
|
Nivea
|
78
|
1
|
15
|
Anu spa Anuved
Panchamrut
|
76
|
1
|
16
|
Cinthol Lime
|
76
|
1
|
17
|
Dyna
|
76
|
1
|
18
|
Everyuth Superia silk
|
76
|
1
|
19
|
Fair Glow
|
76
|
1
|
20
|
GLY-SEB
|
76
|
1
|
21
|
Godrej No 1 Aloe vera
and white lily
|
76
|
1
|
22
|
Godrej No 1 Coconut
and cream
|
76
|
1
|
23
|
Godrej No 1 Lavender
|
76
|
1
|
24
|
Godrej No 1 Lime and
aloe vera
|
76
|
1
|
25
|
Godrej No 1 Rosewater
and almond
|
76
|
1
|
26
|
Godrej No 1 Saffron
and milk
|
76
|
1
|
27
|
Godrej No 1 Sandal and
turmeric
|
76
|
1
|
28
|
Himalaya Nourishing
cream and honey
|
76
|
1
|
29
|
Himalaya Protecting
neem and turmeric
|
76
|
1
|
30
|
Moti Gulab
|
76
|
1
|
31
|
Moti Sandal
|
76
|
1
|
32
|
Nima Sandal
|
76
|
1
|
33
|
Park Avenue Double deo
|
76
|
1
|
34
|
Park Avenue Freshness
deo
|
76
|
1
|
35
|
Park Avenue Luxury
fragrant
|
76
|
1
|
36
|
Santoor Gold
|
76
|
1
|
37
|
Wild Stone Ultra
Sensual
|
76
|
1
|
38
|
Yardley English
lavender
|
76
|
1
|
39
|
Yardley English rose
|
76
|
1
|
40
|
Yardley Sandalwood
|
76
|
1
|
41
|
Vivel Luxury cream
with olive butter
|
74
|
2
|
42
|
Liril 2000
|
73
|
2
|
43
|
Vivel Aloe vera
|
73
|
2
|
44
|
Vivel Luxury Sandal
cream
|
73
|
2
|
45
|
Vivel Mixed fruit+
cream
|
73
|
2
|
46
|
Vivel Refresh+
moisturiser
|
73
|
2
|
47
|
Anu spa Uptan
|
72
|
2
|
48
|
Lux Creamy white
|
72
|
2
|
49
|
Santoor Sandal and
almond milk
|
72
|
2
|
50
|
Vivel Luxury cream
with shea butter
|
72
|
2
|
51
|
Dettol Cool
|
71
|
2
|
52
|
Dettol Original
|
71
|
2
|
53
|
Dettol Radiance
|
71
|
2
|
54
|
Dettol Re-energize
|
71
|
2
|
55
|
Dettol Skincare
|
71
|
2
|
56
|
Margo Original neem
|
71
|
2
|
57
|
Everyuth Fragrant
flower
|
70
|
2
|
58
|
Everyuth Lemon
|
70
|
2
|
59
|
Everyuth Sandal
|
70
|
2
|
60
|
Jo Jasmine
|
70
|
2
|
61
|
Jo Rose
|
70
|
2
|
62
|
Jo Sandal and turmeric
|
70
|
2
|
63
|
Lux Fresh splash
|
70
|
2
|
64
|
Lux Peach and cream
|
70
|
2
|
65
|
Lux Sandal and cream
|
70
|
2
|
66
|
Lux Sheer and romance
|
70
|
2
|
67
|
Lux Strawberry and
cream
|
70
|
2
|
68
|
Rexona
|
70
|
2
|
69
|
Vivel Green tea
|
70
|
2
|
70
|
Wipro Shikakai
|
70
|
2
|
71
|
Hamam
|
68
|
3
|
72
|
Chandrika Original
|
65
|
3
|
73
|
Margo Glycerin
|
64
|
3
|
74
|
Breeze Fresh rose
|
63
|
3
|
75
|
Breeze Lemon splash
|
63
|
3
|
76
|
Doy Care Aloe vera
|
62
|
3
|
77
|
Doy Care Honey and
glycerin
|
62
|
3
|
78
|
Savlon
|
61
|
3
|
79
|
Lifebuoy Care
|
60
|
3
|
80
|
Lifebuoy Nature
|
60
|
3
|
81
|
Lifebuoy Total
|
60
|
3
|
82
|
Medimix Classic
|
60
|
3
|
83
|
Safrogel Glycerin
|
60
|
3
|
84
|
Anu spa Honey and Aloe
vera
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
85
|
Anu spa Honey and rose
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
86
|
Chandrika Glycerin
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
87
|
Dove
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
88
|
Everyuth Natural
hydrating fruit
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
89
|
Fiama Di wills Men
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
90
|
Fiama Di wills Peach
& avocado
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
91
|
Fiama Di wills Skin
sense
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
92
|
Lifebuoy Clini care
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
93
|
Margo Active glycerin
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
94
|
Medimix Moisturising
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
95
|
Medimix Sandal
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
96
|
Mild & Care
Blackberry & blackcurrant
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
97
|
Mild & Care
Glycerin & vitamin E
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
98
|
Mild & Care Skin
guard
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
99
|
Pears Oil clear
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
100
|
Pears Pure and gentle
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
101
|
Pears Soft and fresh
|
Bathing Bar
|
|
102
|
Riviera
|
Bathing Bar
|
Note: The above given TFM % and Grade value are the figures of the article’s last updated date (23-03-2014). I will not be responsible for any future change of the values. To know the latest values please refer the wrapper of the soap.
Final words – Soap selection is depending on the individual’s requirement. The people don’t have any skin problem, they can opt toilet soap (grade 1 is better choice than lesser one). If you have a sensitive skin then you can prefer to use glycerin, beauty bar or ayurvedic soap.