What are hand sanitisers doing to our hands?

Studies have shown that correctly washing our hands with soap and water is still the best way to disinfect them as hand sanitisers do not get rid of things like chemicals and dirt.

And there is such a thing as being too clean. Hand sanitisers removes the lipid layer on the skin and upset the good bacteria flora on your hands. In the absence of good flora, bad bacteria would its place. Therefore, hand sanitisers should only be used when there is no access to soap and water.

And even when using the hand sanitisers, efforts have to be made to ensure that they are used correctly. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it means using the proper amount according to the label and rubbing it all over the surfaces of both hands until they are dry and not fling them around like what I would do.

The hand sanitiser you use should be made of at least 60 percent alcohol. And non-alcohol-based sanitizers may not work as effectively on different types of germs and thus cause them to develop resistance to the product.

The best thing to do is to sanitise whatever you are in contact with and if you will be touching a lot of surfaces, wearing gloves would be the most ideal form of protection for all!