The History of Hand Sanitizer

It is hard to imagine that between 10,000 and 10 million microorganisms can be found on each one of our hands–yuck!. Its a comforting thought that we have hand sanitizers available that can kill most of them while preventing many illnesses from occurring. They are marketed as a way to wash your hands when regular soap and water cannot be used or is not available.

According to research from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using hand sanitizer is thought to be just as effective in killing germs as washing hands with soap and water. With stress being put on maintaining cleanliness due to the H1N1, there has been a great increase in the awareness of using hand sanitizers.

Hand-sanitizer was first available as the product ‘Gojo’ in 1946 and the same makers produced Purell hand sanitizer in 1988. At this time the popularity of hand sanitizer began to soar and is now particularly popular among parents who have small children. Hand sanitizers work by ridding oil from the outer layer of skin and this process typically prevents bacterial already in the body from moving to the hand’s surface.

Benefits of hand sanitizer

~takes less time than traditional handing washing with soap and water
~acts fast to kill microorganisms
~easy and quick to use
~reduces the spreading of illness
~many times more accessible than a sink is
~portable and convenient
~reduces amount of bacterial found on the hands
~slows down redevelopment of bacteria
~irritates the skin less than soap and water
~some types can even improves the skin’s condition

To effectively use hand sanitizer, place an amount the size of a thumbnail on the palm of your hand. Rub this all over both hands entirely, including the nail beds. It is recommended that if the gel evaporates entirely in under 15 seconds, then you have not used enough and need to reapply.

Using hand sanitizer regularly will help to lower the amount of germs we are exposed to every day and possibly reduces our chance of illness. Whether you are playing at the park, visiting in a hospital or sharing a computer, it is very important to take the time to use hand sanitizer. It is a very easy step to keeping yourself healthy.