You’ve probably heard that hand sanitizers are effective hand cleaners that kill germs and bacteria, but have you ever wondered how a simple alcohol-based hand sanitizer could be as effective as washing well with soap and water? Water and hand soap wash germs off our skin and rinse them off, while hand sanitizers simply kill germs on contact. This is quite remarkable and the question is how?
Hand sanitizers are made up of ethyl alcohol, inactive additives like water, other alcohols, and fragrances. Ethyl alcohol is the active ingredient and is designed to kill germs. One important thing to know about ethyl alcohol is that it is only effective if the alcohol concentration is between 60 and 95%. Less than 60% will not be enough to kill germs and there is no point in using it. Many experts advised that it is very important to look at the labels on hand sanitizers to make sure you are getting a quality product with sufficient concentrations of alcohol.
There are two general types of rubbing alcohol: ethyl alcohol and rubbing alcohol. Both types kill bacteria enough, but they are not as effective against viruses. As the alcohol evaporates, it sucks up the insides of bacteria and viruses and kills them. However, the bacteria or viruses will not die until all the alcohol has evaporated. One thing to keep in mind is that rubbing alcohol takes about 10 minutes on the surface of your skin to kill bacteria, giving ethyl alcohol an advantage over rubbing alcohol.
When applying hand sanitizer, be sure to scrub every part of the skin on your hands well because this is what will kill germs. Hand sanitizers will not penetrate through body fluids, dirt, blood, or other grime to kill germs. These things should be washed before applying a hand sanitizer. Also, the alcohol in hand sanitizer has a drying effect, so it is a good idea to use some kind of hand or body lotion after using hand sanitizer.