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Hand sanitiser has quickly become a conversation starter, like the weather. The pandemic year, unlike most, has transformed our way of thinking - sanitising has become as important as brushing your teeth every day.
This is why we created your go-to hand sanitiser guide: from what is sanitising to why hand sanitiser smells the way it does Here is everything you need to know.
What Is Sanitising?
Sanitising is the process of killing bacteria (the types you can’t see) and this is achieved by using heat and/or chemicals. In short, sanitising is a step beyond the cleaning process. It consists of applying or spraying chemicals to disinfect a clean surface or hands to a safe level.
To sanitise and kill viruses, the concentration of alcohol in a sanitising formula must be 70% and over. Sanitising isn’t a pick-and-choose situation, giving you the option to use either a detergent or a sanitiser – both must be used.
How To Make Hand Sanitiser Not Sticky
Generally speaking, most hand sanitisers are made in the form of gel, which leaves a sticky residue on your skin. But, why?
The logic behind the gel formula is a simple one: brands needed to create a substance that would carry alcohol when rubbed in. They chose gel so it could carry the alcohol and be evenly applied across your hands. However, the chemical structure of gel makes it into a gloopy stickier substance.
Everyone tends to be put off by the feeling of ‘stickiness’, so much so, many tend to wipe hand sanitiser off, especially children (who usually wipe their hands on their trousers right away).
In the new Covid world, operating as a health professional is the logical, efficient and safer choice, which is why hand sanitiser spray gets our seal of approval. The huge bonus of spray sanitisers is there is no gel in the formula, so you instantly reduce the sticky feeling, making it easier to deal with.
Why does sanitiser dry your hands out?
As we discussed, hand sanitiser spray is made of large concentrations of alcohol. The fact is, alcohol is a drying ingredient, and when applied to the skin surface it causes it to become drier. This is why it is widely used in oily skincare products to reduce excess oil off the surface of the skin (which doesn’t’ work by the way, but that is something for another blog.)
Is There Sanitiser That Isn’t Drying On Your Skin?
The simple answer is no, you can’t make a sanitiser that is not drying to the skin. Given the 60/70% alcohol formula in hand sanitiser, this will cause dry skin. Yet there are improvements to the hand sanitiser spray formulation that can be made, such as adding other ingredients to reduce the drying effect.
Our professional advice would be to always use a very good hand moisturiser frequently, alongside all your hand sanitising spray. Ideally, your moisturiser should be plant butter and oil-based, NEVER paraffinium liquidum with added humectants, like glycerine.
Hand Sanitiser Smell
You might have wonder “Why does sanitiser smell like vodka or tequila?”. The reason for your hand sanitiser smell is that the vast majority of the sanitiser market is based on an alcohol formulation.
To be effective, hand sanitiser needs to be (at minimum) 60% alcohol and can go up to 90%. Subsequently, the vast majority of the bottle is neat alcohol. This is going to smell like - you guessed it, neat strong vodka. To cover that hand sanitiser smell, perfumes, synthetic fragrances or essential oils need to be used.
The Proverb Sanitiser was created with spas and gyms in mind, functioning efficiently with 70% of alcohol and creating a mist within the air, to open and close training sessions or treatments.
The subtly scented Proverb hand sanitiser spray was produced to make any room smell like a spa and to impact the olfactory system, making you feel invigorated and ready to stretch, train or focus on your goals and wellbeing.
Our hand sanitiser wasn’t made solely to combat Covid-19 spreading. We made it smell amazing for its original purpose: making a standout sanitiser that happily becomes the ‘new norm’.
