We’re all about godly beards here at Zeus, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about the rest of your body.

Many of you have been using our Zeus Bar Soap to keep your skin clean and moisturized, and we’ve recently added the Zeus Hand Soap with Aloe Vera to our lineup to keep your hands germ-free and hydrated.

But what are the differences and similarities between these two god-tier products and are they interchangeable? Let’s clear things up a bit.

How Does Soap Work?

Before we talk about how our bar soap and liquid hand soap differ, let’s start off by explaining how soap works. And just a heads up, it’s about to get really technical, but stick with us.

Soap is a type of surfactant, and it’s one of the oldest surfactants out there. It’s a compound that reduces the surface tension between a liquid and a solid.

Soap molecules are comprised of a hydrophilic head — loves to bond with water — and a hydrophobic tail, which avoids water but readily attaches itself to oils and fats, according to the New York Times.

There are some bacteria and viruses that have lipid membranes, which are fatty or oily compounds that can’t be dissolved in water. Coronaviruses — such as this current virus — as well as Ebola, H.I.V. and other viruses that attack the respiratory tract are protected by a lipid membrane.

So when you wash your hands or your body with soap, the soap molecules attach themselves to lipids — more accurately the hydrophilic tails of the soap molecules wedge themselves into the lipid membrane of a microorganism and destroys the fatty layer, killing the bacteria and the virus.

The soap molecules then for tiny bubbles called micelle around the fragments of the newly-killed virus and bacteria and lift them away from the skin. When you rinse the soap off, the water washes everything away.

Now that we have a better understanding of how soap works (we hope), let’s talk about what Zeus’ soaps do for you.

Zeus Bar Soap and What It Does

Our bar soap is intended to be a cleanser for your body. With natural ingredients such as shea butter, hemp oil and jojoba oil, our massive 10-ounce bar not only removes germs and grime, it also balances your natural body oils and moisturizes your skin.

There’s also oat protein in our bar soap which helps exfoliate and soothe your skin, which is great if you have sensitive skin.

As a surfactant, consider our bar soap to be on the gentle side. It will rid your skin of dirt and bacteria, but it won’t leave you skin dry and irritated.

Zeus Hand Soap with Aloe Vera and What It Does

On the other hand, Zeus Hand Soap with Aloe Vera can be considered to be a more aggressive surfactant compared to our bar soap.

Its main goal is to keep your hands clean, and it does that by utilizing natural germs fighters like tea tree and lemon oils.

While hand soaps are great for keeping your mitts germ-free, they tend to leave your hands dry and irritated. Zeus’ hand soap is formulated with aloe to moisturize your skin while minimizing those negative effects.

Can I Use Hand Soap as Body Wash and Vice Versa?

When it comes to keeping your hands clean, using either our hand soap or bar soap will get the job done. Make sure to lather your hands with water and soap for at least 20 seconds to ensure any bacteria and viruses on your hands are destroyed by the soap molecules.

However, we wouldn’t recommend using our hand soap to clean your body. Because of its more aggressive cleaning nature, the hand soap may strip your body skin of its natural oils, leaving you dry and irritated.

If you’re really in a pinch and you don’t have body soap readily available to you at that moment, using hand soap to wash your body wouldn’t be the end of the world, and it would be better than just rinsing your body with water.

Just don’t make it a habit, and get yourself some proper body soap the next time you’re out running errands.