Can water alone clean your hands?

Oils on human skin and hair keep them from drying out, but the oils can also attract and hold dirt. The oily dirt is a nonpolar mixture. So washing with water alone wont clean any of the dirt away. So that's where soap comes in! Soaps are salts of fatty acids, which are hydrogen molecules with carboxylic acids at one end...------ Soap has a ionic end that will dissolve in water a longg hydrocarbon portion that WILL dissolve in oily dirt. The dirt is removed from your skin and hair or fabric, suspended in the wash water and washed away:)