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Hand sanitizers have burst onto the market putting up a mean fight against bacteria. Marketed as an effective way to wash your hands without soap or water when neither is available, hand sanitizers appeal to the germ conscious out there, especially those germ conscious people with little children. For these people hand sanitizers are a dream come true.
Hand sanitizers work by stripping away the out layer of oil which sits on the skins epidermis. This is where a lot of different bacteria sit that we come in contact with. It should be noted that most hand sanitizers claim to get rid of 99.9% of bacteria present on the hands. However in the laboratory the hand sanitizer is test on non-human surfaces which are able to be controlled.
Soap and water has been shown by several researchers to be just as, if not more effective than antibacterial hand sanitizers. People have been using good old soap and water to wash hands and keep hygienic for many centuries. The addition of hand sanitizers does not reduce a person’s susceptibility to certain germs any more than the traditional form of hand washing. In fact, there are those in the academic community who believe that the constant use of such antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers in fact weakens the growth of a strong immune system, thus weakening a person’s immune system and making him or her more susceptible to illnesses which are caused by bad bacteria.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using hand sanitizers or soap and water for keeping clean and healthy. Either way you will keep germs at bay.
