Introduction -
Our group decided to discover the effect of bathroom products, on skin cells, according to the pH, the texture of the skin and the change in shape of the skin cells. To do this, we used 8 different bathroom products and applied them one by one to the skin of a member of our group. After we had applied a soap, we tried to remove some skin cells using various methods to see the effect of the soap on the skin. We also tested the pH of the soap, when applied to the skin and before.
Aims -
1.
1. To see the effect of different soaps on skin cells.
To see if the soap changes the feel of the skin.
3. To see if the pH of the soap has an effect on the skin.
4. To look at the skin under a microscope and see whether there is a change after the soap has been applied.
Day 1 -
On the first day, two of our group members (Katie and Marion) went to the local supermarket to collect the necessary bathroom soaps, shampoos and detergents. We chose a wide range of different products, from different firms:
Fresh and Clean - Liquid Soap
Relaxing Cream - Bathroom Cream
White Musk - Shower Gel
Dove Beauty Cream Bar - Soap Bar
Virus Buster - Disinfectant Gel
Palmolive - Hand Cream
Argan Cream - Hand CreamPantene - Shampoo
We began testing the bathroom products on a member of our group(Graham).
Types of Soap: | pH (on soap without application) | pH (after application of soap) | Feel on skin |
No soap | Roughish | ||
Liquid soap (1) | Orange | Yellow | 1 minute - soft, 2 minutes - Sticky |
Relaxing Cream (2) | Orange | Orange | 1 minute - Smooth, 2 minutes - Smooth |
White Musk (3) | Orange | Yellow | 1 minute - Soft, 2 minutes - Soft |
Hand soap: Dove (4) | Orange | Orange (light shade) | 1 minute - Soft , 2 minutes - Soft |
Disinfectant (5) | Green | Green | 1 minute - Soft, 2 minutes - Sticky |
Palmolive Hand Cream (6) | Green | Green | 1 minute - Sticky, 2 miuntes -Smooth |
Argan Cream (7) | Yellow | Yellow | 1 minute - Soft, 2 minutes - Soft |
Shampoo (8) | Yellow | Yellow | 1 minute - Greasy, 2 minutes, Smooth |
Analysis of Graham’s Results:
Graham’s results varied from Katy’s, which can be accountable to different levels of acidity in the skin beforehand, different amounts of soap added to the skin and the amount of pH indicator added.
The difference in the feel of the soap after application shows us, as consumers, which products would feel better and which to buy, if any, of the soaps we test. The feel can be accountable for the properties the skin has of each test subject.
Day 2 -
On the second day, we tested the soaps on a different group member (Katie):
Types of Soap: | pH (on soap without application) | pH (after application of soap) | Feel on skin |
No soap | Roughish | ||
Liquid soap (1) | Orange | Orange | 1 minute - Rough, Greasy, 2 minutes - Soft, Smooth |
Relaxing soap (2) | Orange | Orange | 1 minute - Rough, 2 minutes - Smooth |
White Musk (3) | Orange | Orange | 1 minute - Rough, 2 minutes - Soft |
Hand soap (Dove (4) | Orange | Yellow | 1 minute - Rough , 2 minutes - Smooth |
Disinfectant (5) | Green | Green | 1 minute - Soft, 2 minutes - Sticky |
Palmolive Hand Cream (6) | Green | Green | 1 minute - Sticky, 2 miuntes -Smooth |
Argan Cream (7) | Yellow | Yellow | 1 minute - Soft, 2 minutes - Soft |
Shampoo (8) | Yellow | Yellow | 1 minute - Rough, Greasy, 2 minutes - Soft, Smooth |
Analysis of Katy’s result:
Her results mainly showed that if the acidity of the soap on its own was high or low, the acidity of the soap on skin was roughly the same.
The feel of the soap on Katy’s skin was more detailed than on Graham’s, but was roughly the same. This proves that the various soaps have roughly the same effect on both male and female skin.
On the third day we wrote up our results on this blog and created our poster.
Conclusion
We found out that most of the bathroom products were soft on the skin (as expected) and more so after two minutes, which we ignored. Furthermore, the products proved to become more acidic once applied to the skin than straight out of its bottle – from orange (pH 4) to yellow (pH 6). As well as this, the skin cells were much clearer to see under the microscope without mythelene blue die, whereas once the soap was applied we had to add mythelene blue die to be able to see the skin cells -even then, the image was unclear.
To improve
- Find a better way to collect skin cells, as when we scraped them with a knife we fragmented them and made them hard, nearly impossible, to identify under the lens.
- Go into more depth, repeating on the same person or more people (different age groups, different skin pigmentation)
- A wider variety of soaps, creams, shampoos, disinfectants and detergents.
All in all, we collaborated and communicated thoroughly as a group. Even though the question we experimented didn’t prove to be as broad, we found alternatives and tested another group members.
