Let's consider that you are just ate your hamburger and you have access to both a hand sanitizer and a soap & water. Which one you should you choose?

For years we've been told about the importance of hand washing by our parents but today people asking if hand sanitizers are more effective in killing germs than our old friend soap & water. The answer is "yes".

Today majority of hand sanitizers use ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol (or a mixture of them) as the active ingredient to kill the 99.99% of the germs on hands. Active ingredient ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol has the ability to break down the germs' cell walls immediately and cause them to perish. But in order to kill 99.99% of the germs, a hand sanitizer shall contain alcohol percentage between 60% - 90%.

Actually soap is not a germicide or an antiseptic. On your hands, there are dead cells, dried sweat, various germs and dust. The specialty of soap is its ability to get rid of them in a mechanical way. When you wash your hands just with water, the oil layer on your hands will prevent waters reaction with skin and minimizes the hygiene. Regular soaps are consists of the different molecules hydrophilic (water-binding) and the other is hydrophobic (water-repellent). When you rub your hands with soap & water, soap molecules will breakdown the oil layer while water will wash away the germs & dirt.But in the end, the percentage of germs killed by soap & water combination will be less than 99.99%.

While hand sanitizers are more successful in killing germs, please keep in mind that hand sanitizers can't remove dead skin cells, oil and dirt from your hands as dirt will not evaporate while alcohol does. So if you end up with ketchup on your hands, you shall not use hand sanitizer for cleaning purposes as you will have germ free hands but it will still be "dirty". Always use water & soap when available rather than using a hand sanitizer.


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