OBJECT 2

The stainless steel soap.

No longer the novelty it once was but still in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the stainless-steel soap feels as good as it looks. Given its eerie likeness to a river stone, you might be excused for believing that it was formed naturally by the action of flowing water on a chunk of metal.

Invented by Guy Degrenne for MASTRAD, a French kitchen appliance manufacturer and first introduced to the market as DEOS, the stainless-steel soap has won numerous design awards including medals at the Concours Lépine in 1994 and at the Salon des Inventions de Geneve in 1999. (My example pictured above is made by the German firm Blomus.) MASTRAD has sold nearly two million stainless-steel soaps since its introduction.
Here is the claim: under cold running water, gently rub the stainless-steel soap over your hands and unpleasant odors disappear like magic. No soap needed, works on all odors including fish, onion, garlic and bleach. We’ve had a stainless-steel soap for years and I must say that it seems to work. I’m hedging a bit because the scientist in me is not quite convinced. I suspect that a double blind randomized study comparing the stainless-steel soap to say, washing with ordinary soap and water, might not show a significant difference.

A web search yields very little on the actual mechanism of action of the stainless-steel soap. An old urban legend says that you can remove odors from your hands by rubbing them across the blade (dull side!) of a stainless-steel knife or any other stainless-steel utensil. Chrome or stainless-steel faucets have the same effect. So, it appears that the shape of the DEOS is not a significant factor. The exact mechanism of action, if it works at all, is a matter of speculation at best but may be as follows (according to Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D from About.com): “It makes sense to me that the sulfur from the onion/garlic/fish would be attracted to and bind with one or more of the metals in stainless steel. Formation of such compounds is what makes stainless steel stainless, after all. Onions and garlic contain amino acid sulfoxides, which form sulfenic acids, which then form a volatile gas (propanethiol S-oxide), which forms sulfuric acid upon exposure to water. These compounds are responsible for burning your eyes while cutting onions and also for their characteristic scent. If the sulfur compounds bind to the steel, then the odor is removed from your fingers.”
Be that as it may, the stainless-steel soap is a beautiful object. If you haven’t already done so, try one and tell me what you think. If you find it doesn’t work, you can always use it as a paperweight.
Joseph Froncioni

Comments

[Andy Froncioni]

Maybe ask Dr. Joe Schwartz ( https://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-a-schwarcz ) if it really works.

Nice article - nice bar of soap.

Cheers,

Andy