As the general public seeks to protect themselves from coronavirus and prevent the widespread transmission of the virus, hand sanitiser is flying off the shelves.
Although the primary advice from the NHS, Public Health England (PHE) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to practice thorough hand hygiene by washing your hands with hot soap and water to help combat the spread of coronavirus, hand sanitiser is a decent alternative when you are nowhere near a water source, such as on your daily exercise or shopping trip.
The NHS and Public Health England have stated that to kill most viruses, a hand sanitiser needs to have at least a 60% alcohol content – with most big brand hand gels containing 60-95%.
This is a huge misconception. Not only does the right formulation not need alcohol in it to be effective - a hand sanitiser with an alcohol content that high can be really bad for your skin.
It is said that repeated and frequent use of hand sanitiser has the potential to cause irritation to your hands over time and even minor damage through dryness.
Nick Barker, founder of travel protection essentials company THEYE, said: ‘‘There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that alcohol based hand sanitiser has adverse effects over time to the skin - these products can cause damage and dryness due to the harshness of the formula.
Whilst we appreciate that the severity of the Coronavirus is such that dry, painful hands are a better choice than having the infection, we want to highlight that there is protection available which doesn’t include alcohol, and is therefore kinder and gentler on the skin. We’ve already seen the impact that not having enough PPE is having on the bodies of our NHS staff and key workers. Our formula, built over the past 10 years using chemicals that combat the Coronavirus and 99.9% of germs, doesn’t contain any alcohol at all and therefore doesn’t have any of the harmful effects.”
You can find out more about THEYE at www.theye.co.uk, and you can buy our hand sanitiser here.