How often do we pull out our hand sanitizer as a short cut instead of washing our hands with soap and water? It is a trend in America that is not the best option for many reasons. As you know, hand washing with basic soap and water effectively prevents the spread of infection. Hand sanitizers use alcohol to clean the hands, but this in turn dries out the skin’s and depletes the natural oil protection of the skin. Over time, this can damage the skins natural elasticity. Furthermore, hand sanitizers fail to be effective against all types of germs and also do not remove dirt as proper soap and water handwashing does.

Proper handwashing is important as we approach cold and flu season. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says it best, “handwashing is like a do-it-yourself vaccine involving five simple and effective steps, wet, lather, scrub, rinse and dry.” Regular handwashing is a great practice to help prevent the spread of germs to others and to help avoid illness. The following are instructions for proper handwashing from the CDC:

Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.

Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.

Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end, twice.

Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.

Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that using plain soap and water to wash hands was just as effective as using an anti-bacterial soap. Furthermore, a particular ingredient in anti-bacterial soap called Triclosan, is of concern as it may contribute to antibiotic resistance, according to the FDA. So no need to purchase expensive antibacterial soap, basic soap does just fine.

There will always be times that we are not able to properly wash our hands and those are the occasions that we should use hand sanitizers. Then you should use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, as this helps to reduce the amount of germs on hands. Remember, hand sanitizers are not as effective as proper handwashing and will leave behind some types of germs and dirt as well.

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