It’s hardly over a year now and every nook and corner of this globe has indeed experienced the life-changing impacts of a pandemic. Yes, we are once again talking about the boons and banes of the Covid-19 outbreak, not to forget, the invaluable lessons that it has taught us! That health and hygiene should reign your priorities in life is probably the biggest realization that we all have had. This has culminated into hand sanitizer, tissues, and other hygiene products to be your life companion, hasn’t it?
Some facts about the hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer has a shelf life of 2 to 3 years!
While at the grocery, you can easily opt for a large bottle of your hand sanitizer. They can last as well as remain effective (which is more important) for more than a year!
Few of the brands could be ineffective too
You need to be careful before adding the product to your cart. The product description (in the case of your sanitizer) necessarily needs to have the percentage of alcohol mentioned. The concentration of alcohol that is required to kill bacteria and viruses effectively is a minimum of 60%. In the current scenario, hand rubs and sanitizers with an alcohol percentage of 70 are considered to confront the virus effectively!
Hand sanitizer could possibly weaken your immunity to germs
Here, you’ve got no choice but to give in. Overuse of alcohol sanitizers not only prevents the bad microorganisms but also the good ones as well. This could adversely affect your immunity system. It is, therefore, crucially significant to note that sanitizers are not a replacement for frequent washing of your hands!
You need sufficient quantity
Do you use a sanitizer sprayer often? While spraying have you ever noted the quantity of the product being used? According to medical experts, applying a sanitizer is not enough; it should be a minimum quantity (about 5ml) to yield positive results.
They might not treat all germs equally
The world of microorganisms is not a small one. It’s vast and diverse. Therefore, while going for most of the hand sanitizers and hand rubs you come across this fact – it kills 99.99% of germs. To be more precise, sanitizers effectively kill 99.99% of the common germs!
Check out more facts about hand sanitizers to decide upon whether to go for hand sanitizing or frequent hand washing!
Are hand sanitizers safe for your kids?
Young children – even the ones as young as 6 years and below – are just fine with sanitizers. Only, their skin being thinner and softer, the instance of alcohol absorption is high. Therefore smaller amounts are enough, indeed, both safe and effective for babies!
To my opinion, while talking about hand sanitizers, a basic differentiation between soaps and hand sanitizers is necessary. Here are a few points to highlight this-
- Apart from killing microorganisms (that we are mostly concerned with nowadays), soaps were off the dirt and soil from your hands as well. Sanitizers, on the other hand, are unable to do so!
- Soap is a “wash away” item for your hands. Besides killing the bacteria, it washes them away too. Conversely, a sanitizer is a “leave-on” product – no doubt it kills the bacteria, but then, leaves the latter on your skin itself!
- The biggest plus of sanitizers is – they can be used anywhere. While travelling or outdoors, if you don’t have access to a tap of water and a hand towel, you are left with no choice but a bottle of hand rub!
One of the common myths about the regular and frequent use of sanitizers is that – this practice may lead to the formation of super bacteria. Super bacteria is a form of microorganisms that develop due to drug resistance. This is, however, not true as there is no evidence of bacteria developing resistance to alcohol! In fact, alcohol kills drug-resistant bacteria too.
Efficient hand sanitizers, therefore, have a CDC recommended level of alcohol which is above 60%. They are competent enough to kill almost all bacteria and germs that could be present on your palm surface.
Some of the top brand sanitizers you can try out are purell hand sanitizer, Dettol hand sanitizer, lifebuoy hand sanitizer and many more. There are some videos available on Google about how to make hand sanitizer at home.