LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 163 leading to imply that any material left on the skin by a cleansing composition is detrimental to skin. The isethionate bar is, in fact, designed to deliver desirable skin benefit agents on skin during washing. There is extensive literature data relating sur- factant-induced damage to surfactants' ability to bind to corneum proteins. There is no credible evidence in the literature that suggests that deposition of beneficial agents from a cleansing product correlates with skin damage. Furthermore, spin resonance data (manuscript in preparation) carried out in our laboratory show that the TEA-laurate bar deposits rigid precipitate whereas the isethionate bar leaves a fluid lipid-like material on the skin. We are confident that the authors would be able to verify this by a more careful FTIR study. We reemphasize that it is not the quantity but the quality of deposit that is of relevance to skin condition. It depends on the nature of the material being deposited and its interactions with specific components in the corneum. S. Mukherjee M. Margosiak K. Ananthapadmanabhan K. Yu M. Aronson Unilever Research US