Good hand washing practices are essential for protecting yourself and other people from the germs, chemicals, and dirt that can accumulate on your hands throughout the day. There are some situations where hand washing is necessary, but you may be able to use hand sanitizer, as Purell, if your hands are not visibly dirty. Either way, it is important to practice the proper technique to get your hands as clean as possible.
Decide if hand sanitizer is appropriate. There are some situations where you can use alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead of using soap and water to wash your hands. However, you may want to take a moment to evaluate the situation. Some things you should consider include:
- Whether or not your hands are visibly dirty. If you can see the dirt or grease on your hands, then it is best to use soap and water to clean them.
- What you got on your hands. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer will not eliminate all of the germs on your hands and it will not remove certain substances, such as pesticides and heavy metals. In these situations, soap and water work best.
- The availability of water. If no running water is available to wash your hands, then alcohol-based hand sanitizer is better than nothing. However, if you have access to soap and running water, then washing your hands this way is best.
To use hand sanitizer to cleanse your hands, apply a dollop of hand sanitizer to one of the palms of your hands. Get about a quarter sized amount so that there will be enough to cover your entire hands.
Rub your hands together until the sanitizer evaporates. Rub your hands together and move the hand sanitizer around them as if you are washing your hands. Cover both sides of your hands, between your fingers, and around your wrists. This should take about 20 seconds to do and the alcohol-based sanitizer will have dried on your hands by the time you are done.
Text shared under a Creative Commons License. Source: How to wash your hands on WikiHow
