During Coronavirus, people are doing everything to stay healthy, including stocking up on hand sanitizer. Because of this the demand and production of hand sanitizer has gone through the roof and many new bands of sanitizer have come into the market. Unfortunately, all manufacturers do not make hands advertisers with the same quality standard. And numerous unscrupulous manufacturers are resorting to selling of standard hand sanitizers to increase their profit.
To find the right one, the most important factor is its alcohol content. But how you apply your sanitizing product is also a factor in its effectiveness.
What to look out for?
An effective hand sanitizer has at least 60% alcohol: The main ingredient of sanitizers and the main costs of manufacturing comes from the alcohol content of the product. According to the CDC website, an effective sanitizer has between 60% and 95% alcohol content. On the labels, alcohol may be listed as “ethanol,” “isopropyl alcohol,” or “ethyl alcohol.” As long as a product has the appropriate alcohol percentage, it’s fine, regardless of other ingredients.
How you dispense and apply your hand sanitizer?
Before you apply the product to your hands, check the recommended amount to dispense on the label, since it can vary based on the alcohol percentage your sanitizer has. Then, rub the sanitizer to coat your hands entirely and let it completely dry. If your hands are greasy or visibly dirty, hand sanitizer won’t be as effective.
Instead, you should wash your hands with warm and soapy water for 20 seconds. According to the CDC, people who play sports, garden outside, or handle food should always wash their hands after the activity rather than rely on hand sanitizer.
Does hand sanitizer lose effectiveness?
Your hand sanitizer may lose effectiveness after it’s expired, or roughly 2 to 3 years after it was purchased. Be sure to dispose of it properly at that time or it may not fight those pesky germs.
The Tissue paper test or Toilet paper test for Hand Sanitizer:
- Take a small piece of tissue paper and keep it on a flat surface.
- Use a ballpoint pen and draw a circle on the paper. Make sure the line is continuous, thick and clear.
- Place a few drops of the hand sanitizer liquid or gel in the middle of the circle. Neither should you add too much of sanitizer that it overruns the line nor should it be too little that it doesn’t diffuse past the line.
- Let the hand sanitizer slowly diffuse and move out of the circle. The liquid sanitizer will diffuse almost instantly while the gel-based will take some time.
- You can also do repeat this with a little bit of water to see how a fake sanitizer without alcohol behaves.
- If the sanitizer contains sufficient quantity of alcohol, you will see that the line that you had drawn with the ballpoint pen will dissolve in the sanitizer. And the colour starts to spread out. However, if the sanitizer does not contain the required quantity of alcohol, the line will not be dissolved. Therefore, the sanitizer will just defuse past the line without any change.
No doubt about it, hand sanitizer is extremely useful. It even makes for a great giveaway at trade shows or fundraisers. At the end of the day, though, nothing compares to warm water and soap. Get to the sink whenever you can to give your hands a good scrub!
