Preliminary Investigation of a Herbal Soap Incorporating Cassia Senna(L) Roxb Leaves and Ageratum Conyzoides Linn Whole Plant Powders

ABSTRACT

In traditional medicine practice the locally made soap is a vehicle for drug application and drugs are usually incorporated in powder form. Many herbal soaps being made incorporate the extract of the medicinal plant; but this makes the soap very expensive and not easily produced for the use of the majority of people. This study investigates the activity of a herbal soap incorporating two medicinal plants ; Senna alata (L) Roxb (Ceasalpinaceae) and Ageratum conyzoides Linn(Asteraceae) which are well known for their use in the treatment of skin diseases and their antimicrobial activity; comparing it to the extracts of the plants. The study also determines the optimum concentration of the herbs to be incorporated into the soap. Three soaps containing 3;5 and 8of the moderately fine powder of the two medicinal plants were prepared using the normal cold method for preparing hand and body soap with NaOH and Palm kernel oil. Extract of the two plants was prepared by cold extraction with methanol and concentrated in vacuo. The soaps and the extract were tested for antimicrobial activity against typed organisms and clinical isolates; gram negative; gram positive organisms and fungi. The results showed that the soap at 5herbal content was optimal. The soaps showed activity against mainly the gram positive organisms and fungi. The activity of the extract was not different from that of the soaps and therefore shows no advantage in using the extracts to prepare the herbal soap