Sanitizer VS Washing Hands

Sanitizer is so convenient. It’s available in many scents now and it’s everywhere from pocket sized to ginormous. Should you pack sanitizer, or go out of your way to wash your hands?

Since Covid, I see sanitizer absolutely everywhere. It drives me crazy. Not that it’s evil or anything, but as a nurse, I was taught to handwash. Hospitals have done the research, and they require their staff to watch mandatory hand washing videos yearly. I’ll admit that during Covid some of the training videos started including sanitizer as an option, but that was due to scarcity of soap, not because sanitizer is the better option.

Hand washing with soap lifts away oils, dirt and germs. You don’t even need antibacterial soap, plus the antibacterial soap promotes resistant organisms. With sanitizer, everything stays on your hands. If you are using at least 60% alcohol based sanitizer, you are killing most bacteria, but not necessarily all, and what about viruses? Sanitizer can give a false sense of security. When washing hands is not an option, that is when I am happy that sanitizer exists, and comes in lemon cake scent. Outside of that, washing your hands is always the best choice, even if it’s inconvenient.

Hand washing is much better at removing germs like norovirus and Clostridium difficile. These very common germs are easily spread by people who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom or touching their nose or sneezing. This leads to either an upper respiratory infection or diarrhea and can lead to other health complications.

Surveys show that 48% of adults are not washing their hands at important times.. and we know that kids' habits are even worse. If you can imagine the germ trail of everything a person touches, you’ll realize your best defense is good handwashing habits. Studies show that families develop a tolerance to many germs in their own homes. Obviously not germs from raw chicken or feces, but just everyday germs. This means that while handwashing at home is important, it is most vital when out of the home. Scrub your hands with soap after touching railings, doorknobs, gas pumps, going to the bathroom, shopping, etc. and especially in the doctor’s office or healthcare setting.

Oak Manour makes foam and bar soap with a rich lather so that you automatically scrub your hands longer. Our soap has an optimal pH. Commercial soaps usually remove the extra glycerin produced in the soap-making process. Glycerin traps moisture into your skin, so Oak Manour leaves it all for your benefit.