Clean hands - with no water! (Carex Hand Gel with Aloe Vera)

Member Name: bluejules

Product:	Carex Hand Gel with Aloe Vera
Date:	19/06/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Kills 99.9% of bacteria, easy to use

Disadvantages: Strong smell

There's lot of attention in the media about the importance of good hygiene, especially surrounding Swine Flu and hand washing is an important part of this. It's not always practical to wash your hands with soap and water as they're not always available so that's where Carex hand gel comes in.

When I'm out and about I always have hand wipes, tissues and a bottle of Carex hand gel - you can never be too organised, especially when I'm looking after my sister's children!!

~ What is it and how does it work? ~

Carex Hand Gel is an alcohol based gel which claims to kill 99.9% of bacteria. There is no need for water and it dries instantly. I bought a 50ml bottle (from Asda for about £1.30) which is an ideal size for carrying in my handbag. This gel contains aloe vera and is green (it doesn't look green on your hands) and I believe you can get other Carex Hand Gels too. The front of the bottle tells me that there is enough gel for 100 applications. I don't count how many times I use it but it does last a while. The bottle has a pump to squirt the gel onto your hands and I usually find one or two pumps of the gel is sufficient. You just dispense the gel into your hands, and then rub over the palms, back of your hands and fingertips. The gel dries almost immediately and it doesn't leave my hands feeling dried out. If my hands are feeling especially dry and I have no hand cream with me this works as a short term moisturiser although I would never use this as a replacement to hand cream as it doesn't last very long.

This hand gel reminds me of the alcohol gel that's in hospitals for cleaning your hands and I assume it works in the same way. It smells slightly more pleasant than the alcohol gel in hospitals but I think it still smells like alcohol gel and is quite strong when you first apply it but then it leaves a more pleasant smell after a minute or two. My mam thinks it smells a bit like citrus and now that she's mentioned it I can detect a very slight hint of citrus but it's not overpowering.
(However, it tastes absolutely foul! I didn't taste it intentionally but was eating a packet of crisps not long after I applied it. I never notice hand creams or liquid soaps to taste so bad)

~ My opinion ~

I really like this hand gel as it's convenient and easy to use. I nearly always have it in my handbag and I find it's useful when using public toilets, as they often don't have soap. I also take it with me on a night out as the pubs and clubs don't always have soap so although I wouldn't use this to replace soap and water, I think it's better to use this than just water.

I've used about half of this bottle now and this morning it didn't seem to be dispensing very well but I gave it a quick shake and the air bubbles moved around and it works fine again now.

~ Advantages ~

* Easy to use
* Kills 99.9% of bacteria
* Convenient
* £1.32 for 100 applications works out quite cheap :)
* Kind to hands
* Small bottle so ideal for carrying around

~Disadvantages ~

* Smell is really strong when first applied
* Tastes awful (although that is obviously not the intended purpose!)
* Pump seems to get blocked occasionally (although shaking the bottle fixes this)

~Other Information ~

* Avoid contact with eyes (I can imagine this would sting!!!) but if this does happen rinse well with clean water.
* Do not use on broken or irritated skin

Overall, a very useful product that is good value! Thanks for reading! xx

Summary: A very useful product that is good value