Tea Tree Oil Soap

Tea tree oil is extracted from a genus of plants known as Melaleuca. The oil has been shown to exhibit antiseptic and antifungal properties, heralding its use as a staphylococcus aureus killer. One thing that tea tree oil is used for is as an additive for shampoo, in order to reduce dandruff caused by microorganisms amongst other effects. If tea tree oil can be used to clean hair and scalp, what's to stop it from being used as tea tree oil soap to cleanse the skin all over other than the scalp? In fact, tea tree oil soap is sold in many beauty and health goods stores, being touted for its ability to kill bacteria and fungus. Furthermore, tea tree oil is occasionally touted as something that is extremely effective at killing acne bacteria through topic application.

However, the truth may be far more complicated because of tea tree oil's harshness on skin. In high concentrations, tea tree oil has moderate to severe ability to irritate, blister, causes itches and redden the skin. If used as a face wash, the user has to beware that this oil can be very damaging to sensitive faces. Topic treatments for acne have never had a good track record as the bacteria that reside and give rise to the acne are buried deep inside the skin. Only a solvent capable of penetrating the skin can potentially hold the oil in sufficient quantities to kill acne bacteria. As such, it's wisest to stay away from using tea tree oil in a soap-like manner.

One area where tea tree oil soap may actually be helpful is for treating athlete's foot. The foot is not a very sensitive area of the body, so can bear being the target of harsh chemicals such as high concentration tea tree oil. Clinical trials have shown that control and treated suffers of athlete's foot exhibit different recovery rates. Those treated with oil have much lower report of fungus infection. However, in this clinical trial, it was found that several of those treated with tea tree withdrew from the study citing inflammation and irritation to the skin. Upon discontinuing treatment, the inflammation and irritation went away. This only points out how irritating tea tree oil can be for the skin.