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Soap, Why its better than Hand Sanitizers
Unlike alcohol-based hand sanitizers, washing your hands with soap and water does not kill pathogens, it removes them. It is helpful to know what exactly is going on when you are washing your hands with soap and water as handwashing is one of the most important things you can do to stay safe during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the whole, hand sanitizers are not as reliable as soap. Sanitizers with at least 60 percent ethanol do act similarly, defeating bacteria and viruses by destabilizing their lipid membranes. But they cannot easily remove microorganisms from the skin. There are also viruses that do not depend on lipid membranes to infect cells, as well as bacteria that protect their delicate membranes with sturdy shields of protein and sugar.
The option to kill germs using a hand sanitizer always seems like the best option at first glance. But there are a few things that make handwashing with soap and water superior to alcohol-based sanitizers.
Alcohol can be detrimental to skin health. The overuse of sanitizers can cause dehydrated skin much quicker than over washing of hands due to alcohol content. An important piece of hygiene is maintaining healthy, moisturized skin
Soap is able to clean hands and dishes because of some pretty nifty chemistry. Soap molecules have on one end what’s known as a polar salt, which is hydrophilic, or attracted to water. The other end of the molecule is a nonpolar chain of fatty acids or hydrocarbons, which is hydrophobic—meaning that it’s repelled by water but attracted to grease and other oily substances. When you wash your hands, the soap forms something like a molecular bridge between the water and the dirty, germ-laden oils on your hands, attaching to both the oils and the water and lifting the grime off and away. Soaps can also link up with the fatty membranes on the outside of bacteria and certain viruses, lifting the infectious agents off and even breaking them apart. Once the oily dirt and germs are off your hands, the soap molecules thoroughly surround them and form tiny clusters, known as micelles, that keep them from attaching to anything else while they wash down the drain.
While it is true that you can get some dirt and germs off with just water and the friction of your hands, soap really does do a better job.
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