Soap Free Procyon's Co-owner Jonathan Pearlstein talks about the science behind soap free cleaning.

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You're listening to the Soap Free Podcast. The show that brings you the latest information on soap free products, trends and ideas. 

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Lex, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak briefly today about the science behind soap free cleaning in particular. How does Soap Free Procyon work? What's it doing? Before I get into the specifics, just like to mention the importance of cleaning with as few unnatural ingredients as possible. And our founder, Ivan Day, loved to talk about how our skin is the largest organ of our body.

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And it is super absorptive. If you were to cut a clove of garlic in half and wipe it on the bottom of your foot before you go to bed, in the morning, you'll taste garlic in your mouth. It is that absorptive right into our bloodstream. So it really matters what we are walking on and sitting on where our skin and the skin of our family's small children, in particular, because they have set a small surface area, are absorbing into their bodies.

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A lot of components of detergents are related to the same chemicals as you might find in antifreeze or other petroleum byproducts. So the last thing we want to do is be absorbing that in our skin. And this is why we, Procyon, are so passionate about soap free, detergent free cleaning. So what is Soap Free Procyon doing? First of all, as a soap free product, we add in all cleaning products, have to wet a fiber. And wetting is it has to do with surfactants.

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What is a surfactant? A surfactant is an ingredient that changes surface tension, generally reduces it. As a matter of fact, if surfactants weren't in even soap products. Soap won't mix with the water. Water will repel the soap. So there has to be a surfactant ingredient. Soap Free Procyon uses all natural surfactant and emulsifying agents. But these agents are the same type of products that are used in food production. And so literally in their component parts, edible, similar to baking soda and sea salt.

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So you can tell. We all have jumped in the ocean and we get a little water in our mouth and we taste it. It's not harmful. We don't want to drink it because that would be harmful to our system. But as the cleaning agent, that type of product is amazing. So what does wetting mean? Wetting agents are surfactants do two things. First, their ability to reduce surface tension allows the cleaning solution to penetrate into areas where surface tension might otherwise impede its access.

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And this facilitates the cleaning surface features, especially with finally detailed geometry. So carpet fiber, fabric fiber. This is a three dimensional geometry and it's very important that we have that surfactant to allow efficient wetting of the surface. So by lowering the surface tension, we allow the liquid to surround and penetrate between small particles and substrates, which facilitates the separation, the particle from the fabric. It's especially true in the case of ultrasonic cleaning. But most people aren't using that on their efforts.

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The particles are free of the substrates or the fabric. They can be rinsed away. So this is why changing the surface tension is so very important. Second, wetting agents can exhibit what are called surface active properties. In simple terms, the wetting agents are formulated to be highly attractive to a surface. If the cleaning solution is more highly attracted to the substrate, then the contaminants such as oil or, let's say, a wine stain, the contaminant loses the tug of war, if you will.

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And we can gently rinse it out with water. So the wetting properties of the cleaning solution benefit the removal of particles as well as other contaminants such as stains. So that's why wetting or the surfactant is so important. And again, it's all natural. It's an edible and an edible ingredient that we use at Soap Free Procyon. So the other action that's part of the science of soap free cleaning is emulsification. Now, soap is an effective emulsifier.

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We've all used soap on our hands when we have greasy hands at the sink. The problem is it leaves a residues and that residue is soapy, sticky, and so it re soils actively. That is to say that if something is sticky, the dirt particle is going to adhere to it and not able to be easily vacuumed out or rinsed out. What we want to do is what we do with Soap Free Procyon is we have a natural emulsification. And so what happens is we're using a PH, that is to say, an alkalinity.

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Let me speak briefly about the PH scale. Dirt and most contaminants in your fabric and carpets are acidic in nature. That is to say that they have a PH that is lower than seven seven being neutral, such as water. The dirt is acidic. And when you're trying to clean something that's acidic, you use the opposite, something that is. So our ingredients produce a PH right around nine and 10 depending on the product. And this is equivalent to baking soda or hand soap in terms of its PH.

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So it's still very friendly to our bodies, not dangerous to animals or humans, but that PH level and the chemistry of the age scale is what works to help emulsify and allow us to lift out away from the fabric, the stain or the soil. And since there is no soap in it, it's residue free. And it won't be completely not sticky and will read soil much less quickly to see the inner carpet. No residues. That's going to look more beautiful and stay clean longer.

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So I hope that wasn't too confusing for anybody, and we're always happy to answer questions as we're able, but the magic of Soap Free Procyon is in its natural chemistry, its natural ingredients. And I invite everybody to go to SoapFreeProcyon.Com. For even more information and to review our products.

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Thanks for joining us this week on the Soap Free podcast. Make sure to visit our Web site, SoapFreeProcyon.Com, where you can learn more about amazing soap free cleaning products. Be sure to subscribe to the show iTunes, Google, Spotify or iHeart Radio. So you'll never miss the show while you're at it. If you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes. Thanks so much for that effort. Until next time.

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