The next time you're standing in the shower waiting for your conditioner to work, take a look at the label on your facial cleanser or shower gel. The number of ingredients you've never heard of -- or can't even pronounce -- may surprise you. While some soap ingredients are good for your skin, others can cause more harm than good. The trick is to know which ingredients you should look for in a cleanser. Most people want to feel clean and fresh when they step out of the shower -- that's why they use soap. Foams, gels and bar soaps are all composed of fats and oils with an alkali -- a base that dissolves in water -- that helps break down dirt and oil on the skin. But the same soap ingredients that clean and moisturize some of your skin can irritate other parts of your body. The key to choosing the best cleanser for your skin is understanding what certain soap ingredients do.

Detergents are designed to remove dirt and oil from the skin. Moisturizers lubricate the skin and help it retain moisture, and humectants, such as glycerin, attract water into the epidermis -- making skin soft and supple. Soap's main purpose is to remove dirt and bacteria from your skin, which is why soaps contain cleansing agents called surface-active agents or surfactants. Syndets, synthetic cleaning agents, are another beneficial soap ingredient. They contain chemicals such as sulphur trioxide, sulphuric acid and ethylene oxide, which are gentle on sensitive skin. Using a cleanser that contains the right ingredients can bring out the best in your skin; however, when you wash with the wrong cleanser in the wrong place, you could irritate your skin. Keep reading to find out which ingredients to avoid. Did you know that your soaps and cleansers probably contain crushed seeds, fruit-derived oils and other natural ingredients? These botanicals have been used to color, clean, scent and protect skin for centuries -- long before manufacturers began mixing them into the bars and liquids we call soaps today. Medicated soaps that help fight acne or treat body odor often contain benzoyl peroxide, sulfur or resorcinol antibacterials like triclocarban and triclosan. Fragrances are found in most skin care products and are the ingredients that are most likely to elicit an allergic reaction. For more information on cleanser ingredients and how they affect your skin, take a look at the links on the following page. Liquid soaps typically contain sodium laureth sulfate, which creates lather, and cocoamidopropyl betaine, which soothes and moisturizes skin. Is the sodium lauryl sulfate in my shampoo killing me? American Academy of Family Physicians. Bruno, Karen. "Women's Skin Care for a Soft Body." WebMD. Bruno, Karen. "Women's Skin Care for Your Face." WebMD. Draelos, Zoe Diana. "Skin and Hair Cleansers." eMedicine. Hoffman, Matthew. "Healthier Hygiene." WebMD. New Zealand Dermatological Society.

The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate. E-mail has been the most rapidly adopted form of communication ever known. Less than two decades ago, not many people had heard of it. Now, many of us e-mail instead of writing letters or even calling people on the phone. People around the world send out billions of e-mail messages every day. But sometimes even e-mail isn't fast enough. You might not know if a person you want to e-mail is online at that moment. Also, if you're e-mailing back and forth with someone, you usually have to click through a few steps. This is why instant messaging (IM) has become so popular. You can IM with anyone on your buddy list or contact list as long as that person is online. You type messages to each other into a small window that shows up on both of your screens. In this article, you will learn about the history of instant messaging and how it works.

You will also learn what the major IM programs are, what makes them different from each other and what the future holds for IM. The major online services, such as America Online (AOL), Prodigy and CompuServe, were the main way that ordinary people could connect and communicate with each other online. Online services provide the actual interface that you use when you're connected to the service, which creates a targeted experience for users. ­In the early 1990s, people began to spend more and more time on the Internet. Creative software developers designed chat-room software and set up chat rooms on Web servers. In a chat room, a group of people can type in messages that are seen by everyone in the "room." Instant messages are basically a chat room for just two people. That's when Mirabilis introduced ICQ, a free instant-messaging utility that anyone could use. ICQ, shorthand for "I seek you," uses a software application, called a client, that resides on your computer.

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