Bust those germs! (Carex Hand Gel Sensitive)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Carex Hand Gel Sensitive
Date:	07/05/09 (221 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, kind to skin, kills germs

Disadvantages: Could get obsessive for some.

For many years now, the news occasionally mentions "superbugs" - the likes of MRSA and such that people associate with hospitals. The advice has always been to maintain good hygiene practice - keeping your hands clean being just one of the common sense things we should be doing. To help with this, hospital wards place antibacterial dispensers at their entrances to try and encourage visitors and staff to observe good practice.

But of course, germs are not restricted to hospitals - they are around us in every day life. Exposure to them is not necessarily a bad thing, because it helps to build up our immune system to protect us against future infections, but not all germs are good, and it is essential that we get the balance right between maintaining good hygeine and getting obsessive with either dirt or cleanliness.

However, until you get a big news item such as the recent outbreak of "Swine Flu" and the possible rapid spread that may occur, many people do not give a second thought to common sense good hand hygiene.

Back in the 1940s, there was a poster campaign - "Coughs and Sneezes spread Diseases - catch them in your Handkerchievses!"......Common sense - if you have a cold, use a hanky, or a tissue! Don't spread your germs around as other people may catch them too! Nothing has changed over the past 70 years! When we sneeze, the germs fly all over the place, landing on every surface possible. We then touch those surfaces and the germs are on our hands, making it easy for them to enter our body when we next pick up a sandwich or whatever.....

So, firstly, good hygiene says use a hanky or a tissue.........secondly, keep good hand hygiene, by washing your hands before eating and preparing food. Nothing new there then.....

What is new, is the availability, away from the hospital wards, of antibacterial hand gel. Now available in chemists and supermarkets at very reasonable prices, you can banish those germs from your hands wherever you may be, whenever you need to do so.

There is no need for water, simply dispense a little gel on your hands, rub it in, and away you go - it dries quickly and you can get on with whatever it is you are doing, without interruption. Whether you are in the office, on the bus, or generally out and about, good hand hygiene is easy to maintain.

These gels are alcohol based, and some of them have a very harsh smell - almost industrial. While there is nothing wrong with this, it can be a little offputting. In addition, some make your hands feel a little dry as they go about their germ busting way.

Carex have come up with a range that addresses that - with aloe vera handgels and this one, for sensitive skin. The basis is exactly the same, an alcohol based gel to keep your hands clean without the need for water, but this particular one smells slighly less chemical. I think it smells more like a skin toner that you would use as part of a daily facial routine. In addition, being specifically for sensitive skin, it is less drying to skin than some others, and is suitable for giving to children to use.

I find that this gel is easily absorbed and quick drying - there is no residual smell on my skin, and I can use it several times in the course of the day without it drying out my hands, as can my daughter who has suffered from severe eczema in the past - so if she is comfortable with it, it is good enough for me!

The bottle is a small 50ml plastic bottle with a pump dispenser and a cap. Providing 100 applications, this is big enough to be a useful size, but small enough to have in your handbag, schoolbag or desk drawer without getting in your way. You can discretely use this on public transport or when you are walking along the street......simple!

That's it really - we should not get obsessed with over cleanliness, but we should exercise common sense and good hygiene - some things that the 21st century seems to have left back in the middle of the last century sometimes! This little bottle of gel is a useful addition to that common sense and good hygiene routine I feel.

Summary: There is no substitute for common sense though!