Look, I am Your Sanitizer
The hand sanitizer, a substance that removes 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on your hands and convenient to use when water and soap are not available around you. However, not all hand sanitizers are effective since they can be faked or not using the crucial ingredient that removes the bacteria. So what are the ingredients you should be looking for in a hand sanitizer? How do you spot a fake hand sanitizer? And what brand is the most reliable and where to get them? How to use them? Is there anything else you should be looking out for?
Before you buy a hand sanitizer, make sure you read the ingredients list behind the label. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC recommends that you use alcohol based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% of alcohol but the higher the percentage of alcohol there is, the more germs it will kill. Studies have shown that alcohol based hand sanitizers proved to be more effective at killing more bacteria than lower concentrated alcohol or non-alcohol hand sanitizers. There are two types of alcohol that are commonly used in a hand sanitizer which is ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol). If one of these two types of alcohol pops up in the ingredient list, then that hand sanitizer will be reliable at protecting you from various diseases. If you are allergic to alcohol, then using the non-alcohol hand sanitizer will be fine however do keep in mind that it would not be as effective as alcohol based hand sanitizer and rely more on using water and soap.
When the pandemic started, the demand for face masks and hand sanitizers greatly increased to the point both of these products were sold out for a brief period of time. This is a perfect opportunity for scammers to sell counterfeit hand sanitizers. There are multiple ways to spot a fake hand sanitizer and one of the easiest ways is the hair dryer test. For the hair dryer test, take a spoonful of hand sanitizer and dry it with a warmed up hair dryer and time it. Next, do the same step except replace a spoonful of hand sanitizer with a spoonful of water. A real sanitizer would evaporate more quickly than water because alcohol has a lower boiling point which is 78°C compared to water which is 100°C.
Once you get the first part of buying the right sanitizer all sorted out, it is also important to know the right technique to apply your sanitizer. It matters because this is the whole point of having sanitizer as ‘prevention is better than cure’. It works best if applied correctly. Apply a palmful or enough to cover both hands and distribute it thoroughly. Pay attention to the fingertips, in between your fingers and dorsum. You know you are somewhat safe if it dries up. Of course there is a recommended method and it is very much similar to the proper way of washing hands.
Though soap and water are the best prevention techniques there are, it is not easy to find a sink or source of water once in public. It should not be mistaken that soap is equivalent to other cleaning products like dishwashing soap, household disinfectant or worse, bleach. The latter category is not meant for human ingestion and skin application. Similarly, to antibacterial cleaning wipes and disinfectant sprays. Though they would be more user-friendly and convenient, these products are meant for “hard, nonporous surfaces,” not human skin, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In co-existing with the pandemic, it is better to be safe than sorry. Exercise all those precautions; buy the correct mask and sanitizer, wear and apply them correctly and practice social distancing. The new norm is here for you to embrace. Cross fingers to the future that we all are hoping for; virus-free and maybe a flying car!
Written by: Nur Fasihah Mohd Khairuddin, Muhamad Aiman Bin Sahharon
