You've probably seen that you need at least 60% alcohol content for hand sanitiser to work properly. There's no need to pay extra for or hunt down products that carry specific 'antibacterial' claims on their label. Repeated use of alcohol-based hand sanitiser can irritate your skin, too, despite many containing moisturising agents.

Our Mildly Medicated Dry Skin Cream is specially formulated to help make your problem dry and sensitive skin feel and look better. Cuticura is here to turn self-consciousness into self-confidence. They can be gentler on the skin but the scientific evidence varies more for alcohol-free products than it does for sanitisers containing alcohol. Broadly, traditional solid soap bars tend to be made from a combination of fat or oil, water and an alkali substance such as lye. Liquid soap, or hand wash, is made from synthetic detergents, such as sodium lauryl ether sulfate, instead. The pitfalls of hand sanitiser are that it doesn't work as well on sweaty, greasy or visibly dirty hands, and you need to use a lot to completely cover the entire surface of your hands.Soap is able to dissolve this lipid layer, causing the virus to fall apart and stopping it from binding to our cells.

There are many possible causes of itchy skin, but whether it’s the result of general dry skin, a particular skin allergy, seasonal skin issues related to summer or winter, or another ongoing skin problem like eczema, there are various ways to relieve it. Depending on the cause, there may be simple steps you can take to prevent it.… Medical grade sanitisers, such as Defendol (above) usually have around 70% alcohol and will have been tested to show specific pathogen-killing efficacy relevant to hospital settings.As Dr Mark Webber, research leader at the Quadram Institute, explains: 'The reason that alcohol-based sanitisers are prioritised in official World Health Organization and NHS guidance is that the evidence for it is much clearer (as with soap and water). Other chemical compounds have varying efficacy, but it's harder to be sure.' Boots Anti Viral Hand Foam We're all now hyper aware of hand hygiene due to the coronavirus pandemic, but confusion remains about exactly what works best and why. These types of wipes, along with antiseptic creams such as Savlon or Germolene, tend to be more antibacterial than antiviral, as they're designed to work on the skin where bacteria are (usually) the main skin pathogens. This doesn't contain alcohol and one of its active ingredients is primarily antibacterial. But it also contains didecyldimonium chloride. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers work in a similar way, inactivating the virus by breaking down the lipid layer.