First, to be clear, the CDC states that the best defense against spreading germs and getting sick is to wash hands with soap and water. However, if you can’t wash your hands, then hand sanitizer is the best option.
Let’s look at how hand sanitizer is different from soap and water. Washing your hands with soap and water physically removes microorganisms, dirt, and other foreign and potentially harmful elements from your hands. Hand sanitizer on the other hand reduces the number of microorganisms on your skin by killing some. The CDC has good, data-backed information about when (and why) to use soap and water over hand sanitizer. Here are a few key points:
Use soap and water for contact with certain types of germs: Hand sanitizer will not eliminate certain chemicals, germs, and viruses, such as C.Diff. Soap and water is best here!
Use soap and water when hands are visibly dirty or grimy: Hand sanitizer is effective in eliminating germs, but cannot wash away dirt and grime like soap and water. When you need to remove residue, hand sanitizer may not be effective.
Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol when soap and water are not available: Best Hand Sanitizer Spray with a 60% alcohol content or higher is better than nothing when soap and water are not available. Just make sure to use enough volume to cover the entire surface of both hands (front-back, and in between fingers), and let the hand sanitizer dry completely before touching anything or rubbing your hands together.
EFFECTIVENESS OF HAND SANITIZERS
Washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap has long been the best defense against spreading germs and bacteria and is still the primary recommendation to reduce the spread of infections and getting sick. However, recognizing that sinks and soap are not nearly as accessible as a pocket-sized container of hand sanitizer, (and the fact that frequent hand-washing can severely dry out your hands!) the recommendation is to use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol content to kill germs. Check out the Flents® line of Hand Sanitizers in various sizes, all containing 62% ethyl alcohol (which we learned above is ethanol!). These hand sanitizers also contain Vitamin E moisturizers, which makes them suitable to repeated use without drying out your hands!
The effectiveness of hand sanitizer depends on how much you use, and whether you let it dry fully. Increased volume and drying duration allows the alcohol more time to kill more potentially harmful microbes. In a similar way, the time you spend washing your hands, the volume of soap you use and the level of vigor with which you scrub results in varying levels of clean hands.
It’s important to use the right tool for the job, or in this case the right agent for the job. A good volume of 60% alcohol hand sanitizer can be just as effective in certain situations as 20 seconds washing your hands with soap and warm water.
