Hand Wash Misunderstood

THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF BASIC SOAP

In the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak there seemed to have been quite a bit of confusion about hand sanitisers. There was a massive wave of panic that those little bottles of hand gel you can buy at the stores "don't work" against the novel coronavirus, or any virus for that matter, since they only claim to be "anti-bacterial".

There was a rush that ensued to buy and hoard stuff that does work. The anti-viral foaming hand sanitiser that I usually used quickly sold out on Amazon in days. The shortage of hand sanitisers moved many, including myself, to try creating their own out of everyday household products. I created , partly in jest, the Corona Killer, which consisted of portions of alcohol and water.

Where the confusion came in, hence the mad panic, was that people were misconstruing what to use on the go with what to use at home. See, most people's homes are already very hostile to viruses generally. The modern cleaners that we use contain bleach. Bleach obliterates all viruses. The second, extremely effective anti-viral substance that is in every home is soap. Just the common, everyday soap. Nothing fancy.

The chemistry of soap is so harsh, but most people are not aware due to the fact that it's so ubiquitous. The fact that we have soap in virtually every home in the world is one of the reasons why we aren't yet extinct as a species, in my opinion.

There are millions of viruses that we come in contact with daily that never get a chance because they encounter soap, either when we shower, or when we wash our clothes in detergent. Soap attacks viruses on several levels. It dissolves their fatty skin - which deactivates them forever. It also competes with their bond to our tissues, and detaches them from places like our skin or hair.

Water molecules also compete with viruses bonding to our skin surface, even if not as effectively as soap. Water is not viscous, so it more efficiently guides the mix of viable and deactivated viruses away from our skin, and down the drain to their doom.

So What About The Antibacterial Hand Wash ?

The ubiquitous antibacterial hand wash that many people have in their toilets at home got a bad rep in the early days of the outbreak. The word was that they were only effective against bacteria, but not viruses. A lot of them are labelled "kills 99.99% of bacteria". Therein lies the problem.

People confused hand wash, with hand sanitisers because of this "antibacterial" claim on the label, whereas they are totally different things. Most of these hand sanitisers contain a mix of alcohol and some biocidal chemicals, as well as gel (Aloe Vera for example) to counter the dehydrating effect of alcohol.

The truth is, alcohol does kill most viruses, especially coronaviruses. It also dissolves their lipid membrane, as well as dehydrate (hence deform) the protein. However because these sanitisers are often less than 60% alcohol, they're not effective enough to ensure all viruses are deactivated. Also, most people don't use them correctly. You're supposed to apply generously, and leave to air dry - not rub it dry. The alcohol needs time to work. A lot of people don't give it the chance.

A part of the ineffectiveness of hand sanitisers is actually due to user error, believe it or not.

The main anti-viral ingredient in hand wash, however, is soap. Yes, a number of them will also contain alcohol and other active agents, but what does the critical damage to viruses is soap. Ironically, the other stuff; the agents, the moisturiser and so on, only get in the way of the soap's devastating action. You're better off using as basic a soap as possible to wash your hands, and then applying moisturiser afterwards.

Washing your hands (and in my case, my face) with basic soap and warm water for about half a minute is hence the best way of ridding yourself of possible lurking coronaviruses. With self isolation, your home should be coronavirus free, so there's probably no need to be OCD about it once you've done it well after returning from outside :)

So, YES, hand wash is effective against SARS-COV-2, as long as it's made of soap. Hand sanitisers need to be above 60% alcohol to be effective, and you have to apply generously and allow them time to work. Hand sanitisers that are labelled "anti-viral" probably just have a high enough percentage of alcohol, or some other chemicals like chlorine, that deactivate viruses faster.

I hope that clears up some of the confusion, and again, I'm ever grateful for the simple, humble soap.

Peace & Love,

Adé