Ideally, your sanitizer should contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective.
Sanitizing your hands over and over, sometimes multiple times a day, is now the new norm. Keeping COVID-19 at bay, along with other things, continues to be important. There are drawbacks, however to keeping your skin so “clean”. It’s good to keep the bugs away but all that exposure to sanitizer can certainly dry your skin out quickly. That’s how sanitizer works, of course, by “drying out” or dissolving the lipid membranes of viruses, breaking their protective coating. The trouble is, dry skin can be painful and even lead to cracks and bleeding.
In order to combat excessive dry skin, some companies have come out with hand lotions that claim to contain sanitizing ingredients alongside moisture-infusing lotions. Some of these products promise to moisturize while protecting you against viruses and bacteria at the same time. But is this really possible? Here’s the scoop.
Antimicrobial hand lotions might not kill off COVID-19
Natural products can be a great way to go when it comes to some things. When faced with combatting COVID-109, however, sticking to approved ingredients can be most effective. Natural ingredients like lavender can disinfect surfaces to some degree but they’re often not strong enough to eradicate the novel coronavirus. According to experts, for a hand sanitizer to be effective, it has to contain a minimum of 60% alcohol. If there’s another medium in the mix, like a hand cream, bacteria and viruses can grab onto this for survival and might be able to successfully avoid the alcohol and live on.
Let your sanitizer dry completely before applying hand cream
Applying regular hand cream after you douse your hands in sanitizer can be a good way to keep your skin hydrated. You want to be sure you let your sanitizer dry completely, however, before you do this. As mentioned above, your sanitizer works by disrupting the outer layers of the virus, causing it to die.
Related: Wash your hands! How soap kills the coronavirus
If you interrupt this process by applying hand cream too soon, you might disrupt the effects of the hand sanitizer, allowing the virus to survive. Bad news! By letting your sanitizer dry out completely and then applying hand lotion you get the best of both worlds.
Clean your hands before applying anything
And of course, you want to make sure your hands are clean and free from dirt when you apply any lotion or sanitizer. Imagine slathering your hands with mud and then attempting to apply hand sanitizer: it isn’t likely to do much good!
If your hands are visibly dirty, wash them with soap and water. If you feel so inclined, apply sanitizer after this. Washing for long enough, (two rounds of ‘Happy Birthday”), will get rid of viruses and bacteria anyways so you won’t need the added protection but it can’t hurt.
Consider using products that contain benzalkonium chloride
Alcohol is the best ingredient to have in hand sanitizer when hoping to kill off any potential COVID-19 on the surface of your skin. As an alternative that’s not quite so harsh and has been found to work, look for products that contain benzalkonium chloride. This substance does kill of COVID but it isn’t as effective on other microorganisms that alcohol does kill so as an all-round go-to solution, it’s not as effective. If you need something that isn’t as strong as alcohol-based sanitizers, however, this can work.
Stay healthy and stay safe. One of the best ways you can do this is by keeping your hands clean at all times. If you think you’ve fallen sick with COVID-19, contact your doctor for advice.
photo credits: Rido/Shutterstock.com
