Azul e branco (''blue and white''), also known as sabão Offenbach (''Offenbach soap'') or sabão macaco (''monkey soap''), is a type of

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

used in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It is comparable to household soap, but has a rugged texture, bulky shape, lack of odor, and can generally be purchased in many

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s and

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s. In Portuguese ''"azul e branco"'' literally means "blue and white", which are the distinctive colours of the soap. It can also be found in red and white. Given the size of a loaf of soap (a long six-sided

prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

weighing approximately ), it must be cut to the desired size before use. Formerly, ''azul e branco'' soap was popularly used to wash linens, carpets, and floors, as well as for personal hygiene. Popular brands include ''Clarim'', ''Confiança'' and ''Solavar''.

Uses

Being more effective than normal soap, it was formerly used to disinfect

operating theatre An operating theater (also known as an operating room (OR), operating suite, or operation suite) is a facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out in an aseptic environment. Historically, the term "operating theater" refe ...

s. With the advent of the 2009 Influenza A virus pandemic, the Portuguese health minister advised the population to use it as a substitute for the alcohol-based hand cleaners that emerged at that time. Its usage has greatly declined in recent years as more attractive soaps and detergents become more common, but around 6,000 metric tons are still produced every year. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused by the novel

SARS coronavirus 2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

(SARS-CoV-2), azul e branco soap is again being put into use by public institutions, namely in bathrooms. Commercial demand is also increasing as stocks decline and prices rise, with schools and home consumers being the main customers.

References

{{reflist Soaps Goods manufactured in Portugal

Uses

See also

References