Willingsford's Microbiome Supporting Soap
Willingsford’s Microbiome Supporting Soap (MB Soap) contains no antimicrobial substances or any additives of any kind. Therefore, the soap must be crafted by hand. The soap cleans the skin effectively whilst maintaining it healthy and well hydrated. It can be used for routine hand and body wash, and to clean wounds. It is suitable for children.
It is commonly known that the best way to clean your skin is by using plain soap and water. This will loosen and wash away dirt as well as unwanted, potentially harmful bacteria. The health of our skin depends directly on the health of the microbes living naturally on and in our skin, the commensals. It is essential to preserve and even pamper the natural inhabitants of one’s individual skin microbiome.
Why use WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap
“Pampering” the skin means supporting the microbial community that resides naturally on the skin of that specific individual, the microbiome.
We are born with a skin microbiome. It is our basis microbiome and is unique to us. A large part of it comes from our mother and subsequently from other close contact individuals and materials. Over time, as we are exposed to different climate conditions, housing conditions, clothing materials, animals, types of dirt, disinfectants, foods, hormone shifts, air conditioning, detergents, soaps, shampoos, cleaners etc., the microbiome changes accordingly.
The number of bacteria residing on and in the skin is substantial with approximately 1 million bacteria per square centimetre and over 1000 species. As a rule of thumb, the more diversity in terms of microbial species, the healthier and more resistant to skin problems the microbiome is. Of course, such a mix of microbes can start fighting like children in a school yard, and they do. That is when we experience skin problems and allergies. So, the immune system is there to keep them all in check, within their desired ratios, and not allowing anyone in, that is truly injurious (true pathogens).
When to Use WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap
Many quite different situations require washing or cleaning. Below are examples of situations or conditions, in which the optimal approach is to use the microbiome supporting soap.
How to make a soap-tap water solution
To prepare a soap solution, place a bit of very thin shavings from the soap bar into a bucket and add comfortably lukewarm water. Whisk until the soap has dissolved.
A grater (as for grating carrots) can be used to make the flakes – don’t use the very fine grate. A whisk (as for making gravy) can be used for whisking.
The soap water ratio depends on the desired use, with the weaker solution (approximately 1g soap to 1L water) used routinely, e.g. on children, bedridden persons and amputation sites, and the slightly stronger solution (approximately 5g soap to 3L water) used in more demanding situations, for example, in contaminated wounds.
Hand Soap
As hand soap, the soap maintains a healthy microbiome and a healthy skin moisture level. Using it intermittently with other soaps, e.g. at work or washing up, or adding hand sanitisers between uses, lessens the result achieved with the MB Soap because intermittent use of antimicrobial components will continually disrupt the microbiome that is being established and supported with the MB Soap. This will be reflected in the skin moisture level and can leave the skin in a similar dry state as it was before the use of the MB soap.
Babies and Todlers
The development of an optimal, natural, diverse microbiome on the baby and toddler skin is essential for their future skin health. Skin microbiome disruption is likely to lead to skin conditions either immediately or a bit later in life, e.g. atopic dermatitis and eczema, among others. The microbiome, they were born with, should neither be changed nor limited in diversity. Exposing their skin to any antimicrobials or other chemical substances, e.g. in the form of additives, would provoke such a change. Therefore, it is essential that such young skin is allowed to develop its own unique, well-balanced microbiome without interference from harmful substances. WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap is suitable for babies and toddlers as it contains no chemical substances and no natural oils or similar added for fragrance, antimicrobial properties, preservation, lather formation, or ease of manufacture.
When preparing a routine bath for a baby or toddler, instead of adding the typical liquid soap or shampoo, add a few thin shavings of WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap into the designated tub. The ratio would be approximately 1 gram soap to 1 litre water. Pour in lukewarm water and whisk briefly until the shavings have dissolved. Then fill the tub to the desired measure with the desired temperature of clean water. Wash and play with your child as usual. No soap is meant to be eaten or swallowed, and neither is ours, but if a bit of the water is swallowed, our soap contains no toxic ingredients. Once finished bathing, gently shower off the bathing water with clean water and gently dry your child, including the belly button and between skin folds. Make sure not to use a towel with added silver, as silver and other textile-integrated antimicrobial substances will impact your child’s microbiome.
Using the WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap would typically leave your child’s skin sufficiently moisturised to not require the regular application of any lotions or creams or moisturisers of any kind.
Daily bathing of an infant or toddler is only recommended when the child has become genuinely dirty.
When bathing a genuinely dirty child, prepare the bath in the same way as described. Rub the soap bar with water between your hands or a wet sponge and use your hands or the sponge with the soap to help remove the dirt in the needing areas. Then shower off the soap with clean water and dry the child gently with a towel containing no silver or similar antimicrobial additives.
Bedridden persons
Despite being bedbound, a person is still in need of regular washing. Current practice seem to lean towards convenience and use antimicrobial wipes or sprays on the entire body as a substitute for washing. However, this severely compromises the person’s skin health and, over time, not only the skin microbiome but also the other essential microbiomes, such as the gut and lung microbiomes. Such disruption of the microbiomes leads to a generalised weakening of the person. Instead, the person’s own healthy skin microbiome needs to be maintained and supported whilst immobilised, and this requires hygiene without the use of antimicrobials.
Instead, to maintain proper hygiene, the person can be cleaned regularly, using a WF Microbiome Supporting Soap solution of a ratio of 1 gram soap to 1 litre clean tap water.
Dip a washcloth or a big sponge into the comfortably lukewarm soap-water solution. Squeeze enough to avoid it dripping on the sheets. Then pass the cloth or sponge over the whole body. Refresh the cloth or sponge in the solution as often as required. Finish by using a clean washcloth soaked and squeezed in clean water, and refreshed regularly, to remove the soap solution.
Make sure the solutions are of an appropriate lukewarm temperature to avoid cooling the person inadvertently. It is ok to use cold water. It will take a bit longer for the soap to dissolve. It can cool down the person, which in summer can be helpful but undesirable in winter.
Amputation sites
No two amputation sites are identical. The skin covering a healed amputation is usually scar tissue and can be rather delicate and prone to developing wounds. Often, an amputation site will be covered with a prosthesis all day and this can only happen if the skin is kept intact and healthy.
The best way to do that is to diligently follow a routine of washing the stump with the Microbiome supporting soap. It can be done in the same way as using any other soap, or it can be done by preparing a very mild soap water solution of the ratio of 1g soap to 1L water, using that to clean the entire stump, rinsing it off with tap water, and drying very gently but thoroughly.
The skin should be left with full access to air at all times when the prosthesis is not worn. No other soaps and no chemicals should be used on the stump, even if intermittently.
If your prosthesis has caused a pressure injury or rubbed open a wound, e.g. from lax fixation, you can heal it with the help of Amicapsil to ensure speed and prevent complications. An amputation site changes continuously ever so slightly and adjustments will need to be made regularly. The time between adjustments or renewals is entirely individual.
Body Soap
As body soap, it should not be used for soaking in the bathtub, as indeed no soaps should. For the majority of people, it is good for once or twice weekly use in the shower, depending on individual needs. The rest of the week, no soap should be used on the skin – if required, just rinsing with clean water is sufficient. If the daily activities cause the person to become genuinely dirty, MB soap will be the better choice of soap also for daily use.
Contamination close to a wound
Examples of situations when cleaning can be required in a wound are
- Urinary leak, e.g. bladder overload, UTI (urinary tract infection), catheter failure.
- Faecal leak, e.g. bowel incident or stoma failure.
- Menstruation.
If a leak has occurred and it is suspected that any matter has reached a wound, washing the wound with an antimicrobial soap, shampoo or rinsing solution is not recommended, because this arrests and delays healing. Instead, wash it with WF Microbiome Supporting Soap, e.g. using a soap-solution of a ratio of 5 gram soap to 3 litre tap water.
Preferably, wash the soiled area and the wound in the shower using the water pressure from the showerhead to wash away any matter. Then, use a wash bottle to apply the soap-water solution. The wash bottle helps direct the soapy water to the desired areas and the water pressure created by squeezing the water firmly, will help clean out even the corners and crevices. Over time you will probably develop the habit of dissolving the soap directly in the wash-bottle and shake the bottle to dissolve the soap instead of a whisk.
If it is completely impossible to get into a shower and the procedure must be performed at bed side, first remove any matter using clean tap water. Then, use a wash bottle with the soapy solution as above making sure to get into all corners and crevices. Finish by rinsing with clean tap water. Dab the area dry. If you were treating the wound with Amicapsil, apply this as usual.
Wounds - humans and animals
- Fresh injuries
- Puncture wounds or deep accidental cuts
- Bite wounds, e.g. human, animal, insect, or spider bites
- Any wounds with signs of infection
- Old or non-healing wounds covered with dry, hard or leathery eschar, which forms a “lid” over the wound bed.
Any fresh injury should be washed with either lots of tap water or with a solution of Willingsford’s microbiome supporting soap and tap water, to ensure no dirt or foreign objects remain.
No antimicrobials should be used in a fresh wound except in bite wounds, puncture wounds, and deep cuts caused by an accident, e.g. stepping on a stone or dirty shard. In case of bites or accidents involving dirty objects, true pathogens are likely to have been directly introduced by the item that caused the harm and need to be addressed. The only antimicrobial that is tolerable to the body’s cells is 3% hydrogen peroxide (not stronger) and should, therefore, be used initially in such wounds. Once the foaming produced by the hydrogen peroxide solution has stopped, the wound should be thoroughly rinsed with clean tap or drinking water. Depending on the severity of the wound, this can be repeated the first few days, but it is preferable to stop this treatment as soon as the risk of true pathogens having entered the wound at the point of injury has subsided, which will typically be after 1 to 3 days. When the wound is showing clear signs of healing, there is no need to continue.
Puncture wounds and deep cuts have a tendency to develop infection at the bottom. To reduce the risk of this happening, the area should once a day be immersed in a comfortably lukewarm soap-tap water solution for about 5 minutes (2 to 10 minutes depending on the severity of the wound and the patience of the individual).
Prepare the solution by placing a few very thin shavings from the soap bar into a bowl and add comfortably lukewarm water in an approximate ratio of 5 g soap to 3 l water. Whisk until the soap has dissolved. Rinse off the soap with clean tap water. If the risk of infection is high, Amicapsil or SertaSil can be used for prevention and to get the healing well underway.
When the wound is showing clear signs of healing, there is no need to continue daily washing with the soap. If you are using Amicapsil or SertaSil to treat the wound and drive it towards closure, you are unlikely to need the soap for more than a day or two.
In infected wounds, the same soaking procedure can be followed. Infected wounds should be treated with Amicapsil or SertaSil.
Old and/or chronic wounds typically do not heal because of infection. Over time, the infective debris dries out on top of the wound and forms a dry, hard or leathery surface that is practically impenetrable and acts like a “lid” over the infection, keeping the debris, which is generated by the microbes, trapped under the lid/eschar. This surface has to be removed one way or another. One possibility is to soak the infected wound in a solution of WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap and tap water for a prolonged period of time, e.g. 20 minutes. Then, rinse off the soap with tap water. This will typically loosen the edges of the eschar enough for these to be easily manually removed before they dry up again. The same goes for the plate of eschar that remains on the wound. As much loosened matter as possible should be scraped off in an effort to thin it. It may also be possible to break it up or make cracks in it. Immediately after this has been achieved, these freed edges and cracks should be treated with Amicapsil powder to further help loosen and remove the eschar as well as encourage healing along the edges.
Storage and use
WF’s Microbiome Supporting Soap (MB soap) is completely without antimicrobials and additives. Therefore, it can change appearance slightly over time. For example, it is likely to turn delicately darker, harder, and change shape ever so slightly. Such developments do not affect the effectiveness of the soap.
The soap should be stored in a dry, cool, and dark place. It should not be frozen.
Keep the bar dry between uses. If left in a pool of water, it will soften. If you inadvertently left it too wet for too long, place it in the sunlight or close to a heat source until it has dried up.
Use a slotted soap dish that allows air in from underneath the soap and allows the water to drain off.
Do not leave the soap in the shower enclosure between uses.
Ingredients
Purified water; Fatty acids; Tosoh pearl.
Do not expect a high degree of lather
High levels of lather and foaming are produced by adding surfactants to soap. Surfactants do not contribute to better cleaning but are both antimicrobial and harmful to the body’s cells. Therefore, MB soap has a low level of lather.
The importance of the skin microbiome
The skin microbiome is the ecosystem of commensals, i.e. the microbes that live naturally on and in our skin, in which each commensal species fulfils its own role. They protect their communities by excreting biofilm which they use to build shared architectural structures, biofilms, that shield them from outside dangers and stressors and facilitate collaboration across microbial species, for example sharing of nutrition or defence. The microbiome’s biofilm is essential for keeping our skin repellent, strong and well protected, and the outcome of the work of the resident commensal microbes is essential for keeping the skin well-nourished and moisturised. The wider variety of commensal species that inhabit the microbiomes and contribute to the functioning of the ecosystem, the more variety of nutritious needs and protective features of the skin can be accommodated. The health of the skin therefore depends on the skin microbiome.
Whereas skin microbiomes share many similarities, their composition, (i.e. level of diversity and relative abundance of the commensals) is unique to each person.
The microbiome extends deep into the skin. The microbes are in constant communication with the immune system which keeps the peace and maintains the compositional balance required for each particular microbial ecosystem to function optimally and ensure skin health.
As a consequence, to preserve these beneficial microbial communities, it is essential not to use antimicrobial substances on the skin or in wounds and equally important not to use chemicals that remove their biofilm, e.g. in soaps and shampoos. This is also the case for all other products meant for use on the skin such as rinsing solutions, cosmetic removers, creams, ointments and moisturisers.
The importance of the wound microbiome
Wounds have unique microbiomes just like the skin. A sound wound microbiome is required for a wound to heal. Therefore, it is not recommended to use antimicrobial substances in wounds
A wound can only heal if the recolonisation by commensals, i.e. the residential microbes, of the damaged skin is allowed.
As mentioned, the microbiome stretches deep into the skin. Therefore, when the dirt and potential true pathogens have been washed off a fresh wound, it is time for the microbiome to be restored across the wound surface as quickly as possible. By using the microbiome supporting soap for cleaning the wound, the commensals that are in the deep layers of the adjacent intact skin will not have been harmed and will easily and quickly move into the wounded area. Here, they can effectively build a wound microbiome that resembles the individual’s natural microbiome. This will support the immune system in protecting the vulnerable soft tissue and in carrying out the processes required to restore the lost soft tissue and the lost skin, as a close collaboration with the immune system is already established. Therefore, a wound should, as a rule of thumb, not be washed with antimicrobial agents. It should be washed with a natural soap with no antimicrobial properties and with no ingredients that are harmful to the exposed, damaged tissue. That is what the Microbiome supporting Soap is designed to accomplish.
Once the initial wound is cleaned and all dirt, grit or other foreign objects have been washed off, there is no need to continue washing the wound with microbiome supporting (MB) soap. This means that a not very large abrasion only needs MB soap on the first thorough cleaning right after the incident. In contrast, a deep, nasty, very dirty gash, in which the dirt may have been forced deep into the soft tissue, may well need soaking in MB soap daily for the first 3 or even 4 days after the accident.
Once healing is underway in the entire wound bed, the wound should only be showered in clean tap or drinking water once daily. The healing can at any point be combined with Amicapsil or SertaSil treatment.
Non-healing wounds, chronic wounds, and wound caused by explosive devices can, in some cases, also benefit from MB soap. Please, contact Willingsford regarding your specific wound.
Harmful antimicrobials commonly used in wounds
- Alginate
- Alkyltrimethylammonium bromide (Cetrimide)
- Antibiotic drugs
- Chlorhexidine
- Commercial wound rinsing solutions
- Copper
- Honey
- Hypochlorous acid
- Iodine
- Octenidine dihydrochloride
- PHMB (Polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride) / Polyhexanide
- Silver and nano-silver
- Zink
- Surfactants, e.g. Betaine
The reason for the soap being “low lather”
Lather is the result of surfactants and surfactants are harmful to the intact skin. Surfactants remove the skin’s natural protective oils and fats. This reduces the skin’s ability to retain its moisture and maintain its optimal moisture level. It also encourages the skin to produce more sebum to compensate for the loss in natural oils. This, in turn, easily leads to blocked pores with the various potential consequences.
Surfactants are also harmful to microbes and, consequently, damage the skin and wound microbiomes.
Similarly, surfactants are harmful to human cells. Therefore, when surfactants are used in a healing wound, it kills the fragile, newly created, still to mature soft tissue cells, that the body is generating in an effort to restore the lost soft tissue and the lost skin. They, therefore, directly counteract healing.
Plain soap and water effectively loosen and wash away dirt and recently arrived germs from your hands, i.e. germs that do not form part of your natural established microbiome. Soap and water therefore effectively wash of potential true pathogens.
The more lather, the more surfactants are in the soap. Lather does not reflect the effectiveness of the soap
The wider importance of the microbiome
To illustrate the necessity of the skin microbiome, it has been shown repeatedly, that children growing up with pets and children allowed to play and get dirty in nature are healthier and suffer less allergies than children without pets and children not allowed to get dirty. It has also been shown, that a wound without a microbiome simply cannot heal. These are well established facts.
The essence of the message being that we have to pamper the microbiome that is unique to us and lives on us and in our homes. Consequently, we must not kill all the microbes on us or in our environment.
Microbes are everywhere, absolutely everywhere. If we disinfect, 10 minutes later that surface is again full of microbes – different species, though. So what we have achieved it to remove the ones we know, the ones that are natural and beneficial to us and our skin and gut and lungs and, instead, we have paved the way for total strangers that we and our immune system know nothing about and are not used to handling and that the rest of our microbial inhabitants are not used to collaborating with either. We will also have reduced the diversity of species that now live there. This upset can easily cause a more severe imbalance and when this, over time, becomes too challenging for even our immune system to deal with and keep in check, it is often reflected in skin problems, e.g. rash, extreme dryness, allergy, blisters, inflammation, and even named dermatological conditions.
The key to avoid such an upset is to not use antimicrobial substances in personal hygiene, laundry detergents, or house cleaning agents.
Avoid materials with antimicrobials
It is important to avoid clothing, shoes, towels, bedlinen, baby-swaddling blankets, children’s toys etc. which have had incorporated antimicrobial agents, e.g. silver, zinc, copper, titanium, galineum, triclosan, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), N-halamines, quantum dots, chitosan, alginate, and certain essential oil extracts.
The hope and intention of adding antimicrobial agents to textiles, plastics, packaging material, and cleaning agents is, of course, the prevention of infection with a true pathogen. However, no commercially available antimicrobial agent has the ability to distinguish between true pathogens and our own absolutely essential and indispensable commensals. Using such a blanket approach to prevention, instead diminishes the overall diversity and thereby unintentionally weakens the defences and resilience of the natural microbiomes.
The Microbiome (MB) Supporting Soap is without antimicrobial substances and additives of any kind.
Wounds, ulcers and burns
Amicapsil for humans
Trauma and surgical wounds, pressure ulcers, venous leg ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, burns, etc.
SertaSil for animals
Trauma and surgical wounds, abscesses, amputations, and burns in dogs, horses and other animals.
Dermatology
Aprobaxil for humans
Acne, pyoderma gangrenosum, hidradenitis suppurativa, atopic dermatitis, zits etc
Adinasil for animals
Eczema, dermatitis, lick granuloma, insect bites, autoimmune skin conditions, etc.