Core77

Break Soap Concept

By Rain Noe - April 5, 2011

in Object Culture

I used to drive an ambulance, and even though we wore latex gloves, after particularly gory calls we'd scrub our hands pretty good in the hospital sink. In order to completely disinfect your mitts you were supposed to wash for a predetermined amount of time: Believe it or not, the rule was to play "Yankee Doodle Dandy" in your head and you stopped lathering only when the tune ended. (Now every time I hear that song I picture blood, vomit and less pleasant bodily fluids.)

Dave Hakkens' Break Soap concept made me think of this. Hakkens' idea is that you only break off a small piece at a time, to avoid "contaminating" the rest of the soap. But I think this could also be applied in a healthcare setting where caregivers could be required to use precise dosages of soap, ending the washing only when the entire piece had dissolved.

Then again, no hospital I've ever been in had bar soap, as there's a danger of contaminating the rest of the bar while initiating your wash. Oh well. Maybe a Pez-type dispenser is required, but Hakkens, I think you're onto something here.

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Jono

12 years ago

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Nice idea, similar to this one (http://www.tomharries.co.uk/3161/449769/work/edge) which is a pocket version. I would prefer this idea to perhaps be mounted so that the water couldn't collect inbetween the segments?

Crikey. A bit too much hate in some of the comments. Just try to be a little more rational you guys or keep your words to yourself.
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Tom

12 years ago

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NYT did a little story a few years ago about how E. coli and P. aeruginosa are not spread by washing with contaminated soap. I think the design does a better job at giving a measured dose than avoiding contamination (although there may be other microbes that are in fact spread through soap).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/science/10qna.html
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Jolly

13 years ago

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I think some of the comments are mistaking this as a product for a public restroom. If anything this looks like a product for the home. It could be packaged as a soap for kids because they'd get a kick out of breaking off pieces.
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Sinan

13 years ago

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That thing is ridiculous. Just because there is some kind of goal behind the design (avoid contamination, in this case) doesn't mean the solution is significant, or interesting - in this case it doesn't even accomplish it. Besides it is grossly wasteful. There is no way you could use up that much soap at one wash, never mind the large contaminated chunk left behind after all the tiny pieces are broken off. Also, trying to wash hands with such a tiny piece of soap would be quite an unpleasant/undesirable experience. This thing shows up on Core77?!... really?!
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L.E

13 years ago

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Ive seen something quite simillar at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in 2010.
Maybe the suggested solution lies somewhere in between those two concepts!

http://lynfabrikken.tumblr.com/#2710853129
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M4RK

13 years ago

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That's disgusting - I'd never want to put my hands near that thing knowing so many pre-washed hands have fumbled with it. What's wrong with an elbow-controlled liquid dispenser? Seriously ppl the idea of design is to move forward ffs!
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Siddhartha Joshi

13 years ago

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I quite like the concept, though am not so sure if its a great thing for hospitals. It surely would be useful for saving the soap...and as you rightly mention fix the washing time!

p.s. It also looks damn interesting :)
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