Water is not enough to wash away grease and dirt from your skin and hair. To achieve that, you need something that dissolves the grease. To get clean, most of us use some kind of soap, shower gel or shampoo. But what do they contain that dissolves the grease and how does it work? 

According to the classical principle "like dissolves like" you need fat to dissolve fat. Oils are therefore excellent when it comes to dissolve and remove make-up as well as dirt and grease on our skin and in our hair. The problem is that since oil is not soluble in water, it is difficult to rinse away the remnants afterwards. Especially for your hair, this is a huge dilemma. We want our newly washed hair to be silky-smooth, light and non-greasy. To resolve this problem, all skin- and hair-cleaning product such as shampoo, shower cream and soap, contain cleansing factors called surfactants. Surfactants are two-faced molecules. They have a head that loves water and a tail that loves fat. 

When you wash your hands with soap, the fat-loving tail dissolves the grease and dirt. All according to the principle "like dissolves like". When you then rinse with water, the water-loving heads all come together like a protective wall around the tails, who shies the contact with water. Together they form small balls, where the dissolved grease is trapped in the middle. These balls are then easily rinsed away with water and the hands are clean.