Hand Sanitizers

[Sailor]

If you're not visiting patients, I'm advised cleaning hands of germs only benefits you if you stick a finger in your eye/nose/mouth. That may or may not be. The other day, a bunch of us moved an old ladies furniture from her house to her new old folks home. Most of us didn't wear gloves. I happened to notice the youngest person in our crew, as we finished up and waltzed out the front lobby, take a pump of the ever present sanitizer. None of us olders did. Changing of the guard. He'll live to a 100, you bet. I'm still rebelling from being told to wash my hands before dinner by Mom. Staying clean when hiking? Ha!

[perdidochas]

Hand sanitzers also help create "Supergerms" since they'll only kill 99.9% of germs. That .01% has the ability to multiply on your skin since the rest are dead. This allows things to germinate that are immune to the sanitizer. It's ALWAYS better to just wash germs off you then to kill them with a chemical. This goes for kitchen countertops and the like as well. You shouldn't use anything that states it kills 99.9% of germs. Those few that aren't killed will just take their place and eventually lysol and hand sanitizer and things of that nature won't be effective any more and there will be germs that have had the opportunity to evolve without competition that can't be killed very easily.

Sounds like a science fiction novel waiting to happen.

Alcohol based sanitizers do not help create supergerms. They work by destroying the cell wall and basically rupturing the bacteria. What you are saying is true of the non-alcohol based sanitizers.

[krshome]

Ok here a gross thing to think about. Lets say your doing your business #2 and you wipe butt you finger slips and you get some poo on you hand. Will just hand sanitizer get it clean or just smear it around? Well you still got poo on you hand! A good hand washing with soap and water is all I do, its has worked for hundreds of years. Ya I know gross but .... happens!

[midge14]

An easy way to clean under your nails, assuming you have fairly short nails, is to rub your fingertip / nail on the palm of your hand (side to side, up and down) while washing your hands, this at least helps to get some soap under there and provide some friction and movement.
At the hospital I work in the policy is to (apply hand sanitizer) 'pump in, pump out' of every patient room, wash hands when visibly soiled, after very sick / contagious patients and periodically throughout the day. This policy was just started two years ago, before that we were requried to wash our hands upon entering and leaving a patient room which is time consuming and dries out your hands. In the OR anybody operating must perform a sterile scrub, everyone else just uses gloves, hand sanitizer and hand washing.
Personally I can't stand the feel of hand sanitizer, so I prefer washing my hands. I also hate the way that any food I touch tastes after I've used hand sanitizer. To me hand sanitizer should be used when you simply don't have the time or resources to wash your hands, otherwise I prefer soap and water because it gets rid of considerably more.

[bruinfan]

I have heard you can drag your nails across a bar of soap before playing in the dirt like gardening for example.
I sing happy birthday twice while scrubbing every time before I use the toilet. Think about how dirty your hands are before you touch your clean private areas. Then wash up after too.

Seriously think about walking into a bar bathroom and all the things you touch.

[nothermark]

It's worth noting that skin is also ablative. The outer layer is dead and when one washes a layer peels off taking the dirt and the icky stuff with it. Hand sanitizers leave it all there. ;-)

FWIW the initial comments were aimed at folks who take hand sanitizer instead of soap and water. Let's hope they are back to a couple of drops of DR Bronners and some water instead of an ounce of alcohol gel.

[kerryandjane]

So how much water am to bring to wash my hands for 24 seconds every time I need to wash up?
+1 on the sterile comment. I say just wash up when you need to eat and after you fertilize the flowers......
Contradictory when it comes to my daughter though...... I'm OCD about keeping her clean. Sometimes I use soap, sometimes I use alcohol.

[IndyFace]

i work on ambulances and just from the comments (i haven't read the article yet, it's slow to load), i can tell i'm going to be proud haha. i HATE when people rely on hand sanitizer for cleanliness. you still have to wash your hands with SOAP and WATER. you don't need a lot of water to wash your hands. just enough to sud up the soap and then enough to rinse. so maybe 2 cups tops for each wash? yes hand sanitizer is convenient and smells good (scented) but it doesn't completely do the job. when you're camping, you should have access to water or you should have brought your own water, so tapping into that slightly for washing won't kill you. but i agree with kerryandjane, hand sanitizer (or cleansing wipes, or alternate between both) throughout the day and wash your hands with soap and water after bathroom breaks and before eating.

[OneClick]

Rubbing alcohol in a small contact solution bottle. BOOM!

[Firesong]

Just to clarify usage of alcohol based HS. They do not kill viruses. I was an rmt for 7 years and this fact was stressed. Had a client who was a doctor. She said that it was something they kept quiet. Mainly because it at least kills bacteria and the number of people who have poor sanitary habits is staggering. So you don't have to worry about superbugs/ virus's in that sense. When we are camping we always have a hand washing bucket with soap. We expect the kids to get dirty and have a good time. But soap for us after doing the do, or before dishes.