Seven-eight months ago none of us would have probably thought of this topic. And look at us now… We try to adapt.
Saturday Question #33:
Do You Have a Favorite Hand Sanitizer?
I’m not sure if I even have to ask whether you use hand sanitizers these days. Please tell me if you don’t. But if you do, are there any that you prefer? Have you found anything in this category that you especially like? Or do you buy whatever you see at a store when you need it?
My Answer
Until this pandemic, I almost never used hand sanitizers in day-to-day life: I washed hands and tried not to touch more than necessary when in public places. The only place where I religiously would use alcohol wipes for everything, including my hands, were planes. The first thing I would do after boarding was wiping with a couple of alcohol wipes everything I would touch while flying, completely ignoring any “looks” from neighbors. The last time I was on a plane, on March 11th of this year, women, men, old, young – everyone around me – were wiping everything. I must admit I felt completely vindicated.
But when I got home, I realized that the only sanitizer I had at home was some small promotional bottle a co-worker brought from a conference a while ago. And you probably all remember how not a single product remotely suitable for disinfecting purposes could be found at any of the stores, online or B&M.
I don’t remember how I learned that DSH Perfumes was producing hand sanitizers. But I went to their site, and there it was – BE WELL + LIVE WELL hand sanitizer spray. I remember a feeling of deep gratitude towards Dawn who quickly reacted to the scary situation and did what she could.
It’s a 70% alcohol and water based hand sanitizer with Lavender Flower, Lemon, Thyme, Linalool and Tree Tree. I’m finishing my second 30 ml bottle, and I must say that using that hand sanitizer is a highlight of any of my rare trips to a store or a doctor’s office. Of course, now you can bathe in hand sanitizers for the price I paid for these two bottles. But I don’t care: as much as it’s possible under the circumstances, I enjoy using DSH’s Be Well + Live Well spray, and I just placed a new order for two more bottles.
Undina's Looking Glass 
I buy whatever is in the shop at the moment, good smelling ones are not available in germany
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Until this year I didn’t even think about the scent of these products :)
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I buy whatever is on the shelves at the supermarket
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I wonder: is there a variety, and if yes, how do you decide on which one to buy – brand, price, discount, something else?
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I usually buy the most reasonaly priced.
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Great topical question, Undina. I’m just using regular hand sanitiser. The DSH one sounds lovely.
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What is “regular”? :)
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Regular as in no-name brand, medical-smelling sanitiser. 🙂
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I just use what I am required to use in shops. On a typical visit to town, you could end up sanitising your hands about half a dozen times in the space of 15 minutes, which seems a bit over the top if you haven’t handled anything in some of those shops but just walked in and out. If I went on a long trip I would take some with me, and do have stocks at home, but usually there are lots of public opportunities to sanitise, also when travelling.
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Same here! I carry a small bottle of the first one I grabbed at Target after the prices came back down, but rarely use it because every shop has their own. I prefer when they spray our hands rather than making us pump gloop from a large jug.
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Usually when we have those pumps, they come with an instruction to use one’s elbow to dispense the sanitizer.
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These days why would anyone to go in-and-out?! :) I’m particularly joking, but here we still have lines to enter some stores, so I usually think twice before venturing on a shopping trip. We are trying to stretch out grocery runs to happen every 10 to 12 days.
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I get whatever unscented hand sanitizer that is available in the drugstores or supermarkets. I don’t want any scent to interfere with the perfume I am wearing.
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I don’t expect any sanitizer to linger for longer than a couple of minutes, so I think of the one I use as a quick aroma therapy in a car :)
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I use the standard Purell. Here in Montreal the big jugs of hand sanitizer at the entrance to stores is uniformly foul-smelling and either sticky or far too liquid. A friend carries her own spray bottle of 4711 to use as her hand sanitizer. On occasion I have been told by shop owners I am not allowed to use my own hand sanitizer. Some places have actual sinks with soap and paper towels and force you to wash your hands with soap & water before entering. I can’t wait for this madness to be over. Previously I only used hand sanitizer when I needed to eat in a place where I couldn’t wash, and I have always scrubbed thoroughly upon entering my home after being out.
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I strongly dislike sticky sanitizers, even if it goes away in several minutes.
Until this year Purel was my hand sanitizer of choice for those rare occasions when I needed one. My venting out was due to Purel’s unavailability. And now somehow I trust less to brands that I do not know.
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I don’t use hand sanitizers, I use antibacterial soap these days.
Shall I need one someday I will make one myself in the lab and I will chose a fragrance of my preference to make it. Very customizable option 😉
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You can’t use antibacterial soap on the go, can you?
At home I use a regular soap and water: I think it’s enough for what I might be exposed to. But when I’m shopping or going to a doctor’s office, I like to have a small bottle with me, in case I need to clean my hands where I don’t have access to water.
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Maybe not, but any place I might need to visitis obliged to provide disinfection at the entrance so I use what’s available there
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I can’t say I have a favorite, like some of you I just use what’s there in the store, and I have some unscented stuff at home. I must say, though, I was really impressed by the way several independent perfumers swung into action last spring to make hand sanitizer when supplies were so low.
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This was when I discovered the Phlur hand sanitizer.
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I was also impressed and touched by the perfumers’ response. It clearly felt that they weren’t doing it for profit but were just trying to help.
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Phlur hydrating hand sanitizer when I’m in a place where I can’t wash my hands immediately. Phlur is a US perfume company and the hand sanitizer is nicely lavender scented and does kill germs.
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If my heart wasn’t taken by DSH, I would have tried Phlur’s one. Well, if the madness continues, I still might.
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Don‘t use one. Hot water and soap. As I have always done. Will use sanitizers in shops and restaurants when necessary. But not if they are scented. I like straight forward alcohol. No perfume. This excessive hand cleaning is not my jam.
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Then those alcohol wipes I mentioned I used to utilize while flying should be ideal for you – just in case you find yourself somewhere you need to clean your hands but don’t have access to water and soap.
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I am totally with Val, soap and water, and when required the sanitizer on offer (which is everywhere here). Proper ventilation indoors is more important than endless handcleaning imho.
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I completely agree with preferring water and soap (not antibacterial!). But I do find yourself in the situations where it’s not immediately an option. And there I prefer my own hand sanitizer to random available.
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Pre-pandemic, I used to carry several hand sanitizer packets because I never know when it could come in handy. I wiped down grocery cart handles way before the pandemic…and airplane seats, arm rests, tray tables, the back of the seat in front of me (because tray table), window shade and the side of the plane where my head may accidentally lean against and in the office, even though I had my own desk, I wiped it down every morning as well (with my own container wipes). I don’t have a favorite hand sanitizer but have plenty at home. I got obsessed with making my own but did not follow through because I have enough. By the way, the foil wrapped packets used to be $4.99 for a box of 100; the latest pricing – $19.99 for 50.
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It’s interesting that you and I share airplane hygiene habits. As to the office, I used to work until after the daily cleaning, so I knew for a fact that nobody touched anything on the desks (not just on mine, in general it wasn’t a part of cleaning).
When on public transport or other public places , I always was super-vigilant, but I considered a little exposure to bacteria heathy, so wipes that I always had with me weren’t used often enough for me to remember the difference in price from one replenishment to the other. I was just glad when the kind I was buying returned to Amazon.
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Hi Undina,
Sorry I’m late.
We use the sanitiser in the stores and Jin always has a few of the small travel sanitiser bottles around the house. They are all different and I never take note what they’re called but they are mostly very liquid and small noxious.
What we have done is stopped using antibacterial hand wash completely and are now only using soap and water. The government and scientists are telling us that it’s by far the most effective against a virus. So we are following their advice. Trying not to touch our faces while shopping, sanitising when we see the dispensers, maintaining distance.
Portia x
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I am also deliberately avoiding anti-bacterial soaps as I don’t want to encourage super-germs.
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