Benefits of Hand Sanitizer vs. Soap and Water

 

Benefits of Hand Sanitizer vs. Soap and Water

You’d be surprised to know how much more beneficial hand sanitizer is than soap and water. If you don’t believe it, read here to find out why.

Hand sanitizer has always been a crowd-pleaser, but the demand for this product has gone up in the last couple of years. When COVID-19 made an appearance, its popularity shot through the roof, and people became even more obsessed with keeping their hands clean. Tutorials on how to properly wash your hands circulated, but there are some benefits of hand sanitizer that soap and water can’t provide.

Better Availability

You should always wash your hands; no one is saying to forgo hand washing and solely stick with hand sanitizer. However, there will be moments when you can’t access soap and water. And that’s when hand sanitizer comes into play. After a cough or a sneeze, if there isn’t a bathroom close by, you’ll need a bottle of hand sanitizer to solve the issue. Ignoring the germs on your hands allows them to spread faster and farther. Kill them immediately with a bottle of hand sanitizer.

More Eco-Friendly

Believe it or not, hand sanitizer is more environmentally friendly than soap and water. There’s a quality to soap that’s great for your hands but bad for the Earth: the chemical detergents inside the soap. They’re too difficult to break down. On the other hand, hand sanitizer’s main ingredients are methanol and alcohol. Not to mention that hand sanitizer helps preserve some of that water usage.

Equally Effective

Hand sanitizer is equally as effective as soap and water, but only with the right percentage. Not all hand sanitizers do the job, so you’ll want to find one without a fragrance and with at least 60 percent alcohol.

Anything less than that percentage doesn’t kill or even minimize the germs on your hands. The higher the concentration and percentage, the better. But remember to keep a moisturizer close by to protect your skin.

More Than Hands

Yes, hand sanitizer does wonders for your hands, but it can handle more than that. It comes in more than just the little bottle you pull from your bag or pocket. Manufacturers have implemented the chemical inside disinfectant wipes. You can arm yourself with the bottle and the wipes. If there’s a surface nearby and you want to clean it off, pull out one of those wipes. Places like public transportation or restaurant tables need it the most. Again, make sure it has at least 60 percent alcohol, or it’s not effective. You don’t need to eliminate soap and water from your routine; just keep in mind that hand sanitizer is beneficial in many of the same ways.