Why it's better to use hand wash with clean water as opposed to hand sanitiser

Given the present situation we have on our hands with the coronavirus covid-19 (transmissible through saliva, cough, sneeze, etc.) the big questions arise: What is the most effective way to disinfect your hands? Natural and organic hand wash can be considered as one of the best anti corona natural options?

When you decide it's time to disinfect your hands as quickly as possible, reaching for a flagon of any type of hand sanitizer may seem and come in handy. The trick question you should ask yourself is about how effective is this hand sanitizer compared to organic handwash and water?

Can we use handwash without alcohol?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, assert that certain alcohol-based sanitizers may help eradicate several germs and some bacteria on your hands, but the downside is that not all types of bacteria can be destroyed. You should also keep in mind that this could be a less effective way if you want to remove dirt or grease or any other substances that are on your hands, so a proper natural and organic hand wash, should not get replaced with hand sanitiser.

Choosing to use hand sanitiser and also benefit from it, make sure it has a minimum of 60 percent alcohol and look at the following CDC’s recommendations.

How to use hand sanitiser?

Proper natural and organic hand wash is the best choice but when you find yourself in a situation where hand wash and water are not available, a hand sanitiser may help you to some extent keep your palms clean from germs.

Follow the instructions on the label for the recommended dosage and massage the product on both hands while rubbing them together, make sure you spread it everywhere, including in between your fingers. The product will be absorbed and your hands will turn dry in about 20 seconds.

Anti corona natural and organic hand wash

Washing your hands properly with plenty of hand wash soap and water is principally important if you have your hands visibly contaminated, in which case hand sanitiser don't work or if you find yourself around particular types of germs, one of them called Norovirus.

To begin with the natural and organic hand wash, you need to get your hands under clean running water for a few seconds and afterward apply the hand wash soap. Put your hands together and rub them, lather and scrub them well, while washing the back of your hands, in between your fingers and as well under your nails. Do this for approximately 20 seconds. Rinse your hands again well under the clean running water and dry them by using a towel or maybe even better to just dry them by air.

And remember to always keep your hands clean before, during and especially after making food or right before eating. Your hands must also be cleansed after just using the toilet or after changing the baby's nappy, also after you just touched an animal or you cleaned up their waste, succeeding a walk at the shop and handling the products and bags, after taking the garbage out, before and after treating any type of wounds, after a cough or a sneeze, after you blow your nose and in particular before and after you work with sick people because in this case hand sanitiser works less well and should be used as the last resort.

The question remains if hand sanitiser is as efficient as handwash without alcohol, or is it superior to use natural and organic handwash? or washing the old fashioned manner with soup and clean water when hand sanitiser is not recommended for the situation? To be frank, the simplest answer to this trending question is: it's commonly known to be better to use handwash and washing in a traditional manner with clean water.

To really clarify the performance of natural and organic handwash soap in comparison to that of hand sanitiser does, we need to understand how these two work. The primary function of handwash without alcohol is to clear away any germs and bacteria, by merely not just killing it. When you wash your hands with handwash, all the dirt and the germs that are captured in the natural oils of the skin are then just being lifted and suspended in the water, making this a more effective anti-covid-19 hand wash.

Hand sanitiser that contains alcohol, also handwash without alcohol, can help to kill the viruses and bacteria if used correctly. Alcohol simply kills the bacteria on your hands by mollifying the bacterial membrane, granting that the alcohol will disarm bacteria and make it ineffective.

If you find yourself in other circumstances, soap and water is the best choice. As advised an organic handwash without alcohol along with clean water right after using the toilet is recommended, mainly because your hands can get contaminated with noxious microorganisms derived from feces and the purpose of handwash is to effectively clear away those contaminants. The personnel who works in the food industry, regularly have proteins and supplementary fatty ingredients present on their hands constantly, making the antibacterial hand gels to perform poorly, in which case hand sanitiser is not effective and not recommended.

Organic hand wash with clean water, is rather very important to keep up the routine. Most of the people rarely wash their hands properly as they definitely should. The recommended length of time for scrubbing and rubbing your hands is a full 20 seconds. A fun way to go about and do this it is to sing the ABC’s out loud or in your head to make those 20 seconds fly easier.

You will come across situations, eventually, where soap and water are not available, given these circumstances is prior to use the hand sanitiser rather than nothing at all.

The market is full of a million different types of hand sanitiser, from gels, alcohol-based, foams, all-natural with different smells and flavors such as pumpkin spice and so on. And apparently, the brand of sanitiser really does not affect the final result, the active ingredient and the concentration of alcohol is what makes the difference with your cleanliness.

You might want to choose a hand sanitiser that has 62 to 70% ethyl alcohol, however, it may be better to choose alcohol-free products that contain natural active ingredients such as aloe vera and although they might kill some of the germs, most of them will still remain due to the dirt and grease on your hands. That's why it's best to wash properly. Its goal is to reduce a specific amount of germs from a surface and that is about 99.99% of them, making the product effective enough to prevent illness.

There is your favorable response, hand sanitiser don't work unless it contains above 60% alcohol and proper organic hand wash with the gold washing procedure may be better. Again, why handwash without alcohol is it better than the hand sanitiser? Research shows that both of them are effective at reducing the number of germs, but organic hand wash actually kills the germs and also removes dirt, fragments, and spores that are prone to make you sick. In contrast to the hand sanitiser, handwash without alcohol does indeed help to remove those pathogens such as covid-19, norovirus, Giardia, and others.

It is not just the handwash alone that kills the germs but rather the rubbing and scrubbing that makes handwash without alcohol more effective. Organic and natural handwash has been demonstrated to be superior to washing just by water alone, as a result of making the germs to slide off the hands and make it easier to be rinsed away.

How to effectively clean your hands

Alternative to handwash without alcohol replaced with soap and clean water is the best thing you can use but the problem is that most people do not wash their hands properly so here is how to do it:

1. Place your palms under the clean, running water (either hot or cold).

2. Froth them up with soap, foam to the back of your hands and in between your fingers.

3. Rub and scrub for at least 20 seconds (go ahead and sing "Happy Birthday" twice, it will work).

4. To get a satisfactorily germ free hand wash, rinse with warm clean water.

5. Dry your hands using a towel or just let them air dry.

Although most people forget about it, hand drying should not be skipped because if your palms are still wet, you can easily pick up and pass on germs. So do not leave with your hands wet, you can just wipe them off on your pants if you are in a rush.

Final thoughts to keeping your hands clean

Germs are present everywhere and we are exposed to them regardless of what we do. And you might want to try and avoid as many germs as possible, otherwise, they can make you sick. Our hands are the perfect carriers for those germs to move from an area and into our body, whether from the toilet, the London subway, raw food, and even your computer keyboard. It is very critical to prevent the spreading of disease, primarily in health care environments, schools, offices, etc.

Use handwash to thoroughly clean your hands right before you decide to eat, make food (when manipulating raw meat), touch a baby or your own face, treat a cut or a wound. After the use the toilet, change a nappy, clean your nose or just sneeze, handle rubbish, pet an animal. Wash when the hand sanitiser is not appropriate.