Do you carry hand sanitizer in your pocket, tool bag, or vehicle?
I have in the past, but for whatever reason, I haven’t been carrying hand sanitizer this year, and I didn’t put a new one in my car.
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I have been washing my hands a lot, though – every time I come home, and if I’m out, before I eat. And my kids do the same.
Well, it wasn’t enough.
Wednesday morning I was fine. Wednesday afternoon, I felt a bit lousy. Wednesday night, I had a 104.7° fever.
I’ve got strep and pneumonia.
I’m feeling a LOT better now, but I’ll be taking it easy for a few more days to facilitate recovery.
You can bet that I’m going to start carrying hand sanitizer again, in my pocket and in the car.
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So, do YOU carry any hand sanitizer with you? What kinds?
And if the answer is no, perhaps reconsider?
I am lucky that Ben was able and willing to keep ToolGuyd going while I was incapacitated (thank you!!). But it’s still going to take me a while to catch up on everything. What would happen to YOUR work if an unexpected and avoidable infection hit you hard?
I buy whatever alcohol-based sanitizer is at the checkout counter for the car. The HDX shown above is made in Canada, Germ-X from Lowes doesn’t mention COO, but internet information suggests it’s made in the USA. I use Purell too.
For my pocket, I like the 1 oz bottles from Bath & Body Works. They usually have a couple of blue or less feminine styles or colors. Why? Because their (current) bottle shape is unobtrusive in my pocket.
For a tool bag, something like the HDX above would work well.
There’s no guarantee that sanitizing my hands between washings, such as when getting in the car after picking up my kids from preschool, would have prevented me from catching anything. But it might have, and at the least, it wouldn’t have hurt.
Alex
I carry in my car and on my tackle box.
Doresoom
I share a console with a bunch of other people. Someone’s always manning it 24/7, and weird sleep schedules most likely negatively affect everyone’s immune systems. You better believe I carry hand sanitizer in my bag!
John
Baby wipes are more practical for me to clean dirty hands. I keep a pack in the truck all the time. I’m not concerned about germs because if you have children, you’re screwed anyway. They get stuff from other kids at school and bring it home regardless of showing symptoms.
I feel for you though. Wound up in the ER a few years ago on Thanksgiving with pneumonia and acute bronchitis, wheezing, I could breathe in easily and barely exhale.
Stuart
Yes, but baby wipes tend to freeze in winter, or at least clump together. (I keep a pack of those in the front too.) I haven’t had that happen to alcohol-based sanitizer yet.
MT_Noob
I keep a large bottle of (whatever is cheapest) sanitizer on my desk at work, wash my hands frequently, and I make sure to get a yearly flu vaccination. 3 simple steps to minimizing “down time”.
Travis
Never use that stuff. I don’t believe in sanitizing my hands. I keep my immune system in tip top shape.
Bob
That’s about the stupidest thing I’ve heard. I hope you don’t have a wife or kids to contaminate.
Stuart
Please be civil.
chris
Oh, Bob…..
firefly
Some people used to think that those believe the earth is round is stupid too. What do we think about those people now? Just saying…
Stuart
I hope you at least wash your hands!
I didn’t feel the need for a flu shot until a few years ago when the flu knocked me out for 3 days.
I thought I was doing fine now. Overworked and tired, yes, but my kids were both sick twice in 3 weeks or so, and I didn’t catch anything.
I was strong enough to have been fighting strep without knowing it, but it changed and fast.
A germ-packed handshake or payment console at the supply shop is all it takes to overcome even a tip top immune system.
Altan
I have a friend who has not had flu for 17 years now, he said when he was child he was always playing in dirty places and he had always runny nose, probably because of that he got a good immune system, his GP has told him to try to catch a cold or flu because it does not look normal for a GP to see a person to not have these things for 17 years! I do wash my hands a lot with normal soap and not with antibacterial soaps, I don’t like these things a lot, These things are connected to our childhood a bit also, what kind of birth it was, what kind of medicine our mum was using during pregnancy or we used when we were child, what kind of diet we had in our childhood and a lot of other things, My wife has master degree from Kent university in biology and she never lets our kids to use antibacterial soap for a lot of reason, my kids are quite healthy compare to other kids around i would say, they are very mixed also, Latvian-Polish from mother side and Turkish-Persian from my side, Americans (as continent also) are quite mixed and I do believe they are quite healthy by their genetics, just the US is very developed industrial country and that is the problem 🙂 Some problems come with heavy industry. It is going to be a ten page comment if I try to explain it properly and enough, I would just say it is not too good to be so hygienic. I use an organic hand spray very rarely for kids just when we try to eat something outside and there is no option to wash hands, the brand is called Neal’s Yard and you can find it easily in England. Here is the link
https://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bath-and-body/body/hand-care/0115.html
Mark Petrofsky
Excellent…I concur, thank you.
fred
Glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery. Pneumonia can be very debilitating – and even deadly so you need rest.
I’ve had no medical training – but have read info from the CDC, that alcohol in the hand sanitizer is often what does the germ-killing. So I look for sanitizers that have at least 60% alcohol. I’ve been using a brand my wife bought – called Dawn Mist.
Some studies also seem to say that regular washing with soap and water is the most effective.
I try all of this – I got a pneumonia vaccination and shingles vaccine some years back – and get my senior flu vaccination yearly – but I still keep my fingers crossed.
Stuart
I remember hearing the same.
I’d rather use soap and water when possible, but that’s not possible all the time., such as when leaving a store and paying at the credit card machine, or leaving my kids’ preschool.
Sanitizer disinfects one’s hands, but it doesn’t necessarily “clean” them. Because of that, I’ll always wash my hands before I eat, if possible.
Altan
Thanks Fred for reminding everybody!
Get well soon, Stuart.
jec6613
Sanitizing also causes other issues … I avoid sanitizer like the plague because of what the alcohol based stuff does to my hands. I do use soap and water though, all the time. 🙂
DJA
Thorough scrubbing with soap is probably the best practice, but sanitizer is better than nothing. Also keep in mind that common alcohol-based gels don’t kill norovirus (stomach flu). You need a higher concentration of alcohol (>70%) or virucide. Look for Clorox, My Shield, or Germstar brands.
ktash
Fred, there’s a new shingles vax, shingrex, just out in the past year or two. The previous one was only 60% effective, but the new one is about 95+% effective. There are two shots, and it’s slightly more effective to get them somewhat close together. There’s been a shortage lately, so getting the second one was tricky. I had to call a bunch of places and a little rural pharmacy still had some. Don’t know if there’s as much of a shortage as there was in early Fall, but highly recommended. A guy I work with got it and another woman I know. A horrible thing, and you have to be quarantined, I think.
ktash
Both these shingrex vaccines knocked me for a loop. I think that means it worked, though. Just know that a person should not get it right before you plan to go on vacation or anything like that.
Cr8on
My wife has “OCD” with hand sanitizer, I’m literally sitting on the couch in my living room and can count 3 bottles in view. She makes sure to buy me a bottle to keep in my truck.
Nicholas Tsaclas
They are all useless. Tested several hands including a physician hand with an ATP swab test after sanitizing with these types of products. Shocking results. Plus there is new data that demonstrate several superbugs are becoming immune to the germ killing agents in these sanitizers.
Stuart
I have never heard anything about increasing resistance to the germ-killing power of alcohol.
I have heard about studies focused on Triclosan, which I don’t believe is found in many hand sanitizers or soaps anymore.
Altan
I would say so.
Koko the Talking Ape
Sorry to hear you got sick, Stuart! For what it’s worth, no sanitation or hand-washing regimen will protect you from that, especially air-borne diseases like strep.
Most public health researchers favor soap and water to any hand sanitizer. Why?
– It works on all microbes. Hand sanitizers don’t work on some disease-causing microbes (like norovirus.)
– It works on greasy or grimy hands, which hand sanitizers struggle to remove or penetrate.
– It can also remove other unhealthy things, like solvents, paints, pesticides, etc.
– The non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers should be avoided: They don’t work as well; they rely on triclosan or triclocarban, which don’t degrade and enter the environment, merrily killing bacteria all the way through the food chain; and microbes could eventually evolve resistance to them. That is unlikely for alcohol (and impossible for being physically scrubbed away with soap and water.)
I would also add that soap and water are widely available and super-cheap.
The only downsides of soap and water are that
– For maximum effectiveness, you have to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, ideally using a specific technique. (See below.) You can more or less rub hand sanitizer into your hands, and you are done.
– You usually want to dry your hands, and the used soapy water has to go somewhere. The alcohol-based sanitizers mostly evaporate on your hands, so no need for drains or towels.
So unless you know you are going someplace where there isn’t soap and water handy, where you can’t dry your hands, AND where your hands won’t get greasy or grimy, then hand sanitizer might be good.
You can read more about the topic here
https://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/index.html
and
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/self-care/preventive-care/article/6-tips-smart-handwashing
(The Berkeley Wellness Letter is published by the famous UCal Berkeley School of Public Health, and is usually considered the most reputable consumer health news source.)
I would also point out that having germs on your hands PER SE doesn’t cause disease. Those germs cause disease when you touch your mouth, rub your eyes or nose, etc. So it isn’t necessary to keep your hands germ-free all the time. Washing your hands after you use the bathroom, before and after you prepare food, etc. will be enough (see the CDC site.) If you still get sick, then no amount of hand sterilization would likely have prevented it.
Best of luck!
ktash
Koko, my grandson is allergic to most soap, specifically soap used in nursery school, public places, so the pediatrician said soap is not necessary, but plenty of scrubbing your hands under warm water using proper technique will do the trick.
Good thing to know about the triclosan.
Altan
Did you try Burt’s Bees 100% natural baby soap?
https://www.burtsbees.co.uk/product/baby-bee-buttermilk-soap/
KokoTheTalkingApe
Sorry to hear about the allergy.
Yes, it really is the rubbing, though soap also helps remove grease and grime that can trap bacteria.
If it helps, I had pretty severe dermatitis as a kid, and the doctors prescribed me a very mild detergent to wash with instead of a soap. It was called Lindora, but it looks like it is out of production now. But I’m sure your doc could recommend a substitute.
(FYI, “detergent” just means it is chemically different than soap (which is an alkylated fatty acid). It can be as mild or as harsh as any soap.)
And as I recall, “natural” products are actually MORE likely to trigger allergies than super-purified, industrially produced products. The allergen is often not the actual functional ingredient itself (like soap), but traces of other, nonfunctional substances (like bee pollen, milk proteins, essential oils and fragrances, etc.)
ktash
I think my daughter has some better soap for him. Those are good suggestions to try if not. Mostly it is the soap out in public places that’s the problem.
jec6613
There’s also the effect that an alcohol based hand sanitizer has long term, which can open small cuts and sores to make you more vulnerable than you would have been otherwise. Certain conditions can make this much worse, of course.
John Patel
Heck no, that stuff is forced on me st work. Wife is crazy over it. I dislike it. You touch it with presumably dirty hands only to clean them es hole reinfecting them by touching the bottle if EDC sanitizer itself. I just wash my hands and I lived this long.
ktash
Stuart, that’s horrible! Such a high fever is alarming!! I’m glad Ben was able to pick up the slack. I’d say just take your time getting well. . . the website can wait. I’ve dragged on with pneumonia because I didn’t get enough recovery time. The only upside I’ve noticed is that after a bout of illness is over, you can feel great, better than usual.
I used to carry it in my car. Not always easy to wash hands when shopping, etc. I rely more on hand washing at other times. I just took some out of my car, but maybe I’ll put it back. I use alcohol based, whatever is available.
Frank D
No.
Don’t have it in any of our vehicles, at home, in toolboxes, …
I do use a wipe to scrub down the cart handle at the grocery store, if they have a dispenser. But that is about it, because sadly there’s none present or forever empty at the hardware stores.
I do try to wash hands semi-frequently though … especially before eating … and can’t stand people who leave restrooms without washing hands … which is why I won’t touch door handles with bare hands, if I can avoid it, and will use an extra paper tissue or a sleeve.
Other than that. Sanitizers are widely overhyped and overused, and contribute to other issues with killing good bacteria, have been said to lead to more resistant bacteria and other health issues / weakened immune system from trying to live in too clean of an environment. This was illustratively covered in some health related documentary I saw years ago, where a physician took his little kids to work, let them play with their toys on the floor, run up and down the hall, etc. Some exposure helps them build a better immune system apparently … versus kids growing up completely sheltered in a continuously sanitized environment.
Regular hand washing should be fine.
MacLean
No on hand sanitizer. I have a ziplock bag full of alcohol wipes on my tractor for accidental poison oak exposure. I just wash my hands a lot…I do computers for work and touch a lot of keyboards.
Frank D
I have a large TecNu bottle at home.
Any time a rash seems to start up, due to exposure to any poison-something or other substance that may irritate, whether during yard maintenance or indirect exposure via pets, … it is a stop what you’re doing and scrub with it. Helped me avoid repeats of a major outbreak I had one time a decade ago.
Shawn
Full sized baby wipes and hand sanitizer are a must for my work van, for bathroom and general hygiene/eating/ post work dust off.
A W
My wife swears by Zylast. The FDA, apparently, disagrees.
Koko The Talking Ape
oops, never mind.
firefly
Glad you are feeling better Stuart. I am a bit OCD about washing my hand. I used to love the hand sanitizer from Bath and Body. I don’t care much for them anymore because they make my hand too dried especially in the winter. So nowadays I also belong to the good ol’ fashion soap and water hand wash camp.
While basic hygiene are important I firmly believe that stress level and exercise or the lack there of has always been the bigger factor to me getting sick. I rarely get sick but when I do it’s almost always because I am stressed out about something.
Stuart
Thanks!
Yea, my work and sleep schedule the 2 weeks prior to getting sick couldn’t have helped.
I had a tickle in my throat earlier in the month for a while – apparently that was strep. So I had apparently been fighting strep without knowing it, and I guess I wore myself down too much and then pneumonia knocked me flat.
I thought I had been doing fine – my kids were sick 4 times this month, 24-36 hour bugs at most, and even a sneeze to the face didn’t seem to affect me. They do get me sick once a year or so, and it’s usually over by itself in 48 hours.
Nate B
I carry a little bottle in my pocket at all times, but seldom use it. Digging it out of my pocket just seems like it would spread whatever I’m trying to kill.
I have an 8-oz pump bottle sticking out the “headphones port” on my backpack. I don’t carry a Discman in that compartment (who does anymore?), so the port was just begging for another use. This is the one I use the most.
I have a 32-oz pump bottle in the center console of my car, secured with string. That’s the one I hit after grocery shopping, or any other shopping.
And I follow it up with hand washing ASAP in every case possible. Better to wash ’em gone than have ’em lingering around mostly-dead. What annoys me to death are public restrooms with air dryers and pull-to-exit handles. No towel to pull the handle with. Absolutely worthless!
Stuart
Indeed – it’s better to wash than sanitize, but in this case I caught something in between washings.
I also agree about public restrooms. It’s even grosser when you know the person that just left didn’t wash their hands. It’s best when there’s no door (like at the mall or airport), or one where you can use your elbow on the lever handle and push it open.
Farid
I am glad to hear you are on the mend. Get some rest.
Stuart
Thanks! That’s the plan for the next few days.
Mark Petrofsky
When I was a 2nd grade teacher there was some scare and everyone started using hand sanitizer. The vast majority of the stuff stinks. I like my wife’s perfumes but the odors they put in this stuff are putrid.
It’s like antibiotics for poultry and cattle…a long term hazard. And it’s related to the rapidly problem of resistant pathogens in hospitals.
Do hand sanitizers help with viruses? They certainly don’t do anything for airborne pathogens. Do you wear a mask all the time?
I traveled and lived overseas on the cheap for years, eating with the locals in slums, native villages, and other funky places and only got sick (aside from malaria and mata-satu) a couple of times. Live dirty…build immunity…that’s my motto.
But hey…nobody has appointed me god of health…yet.
Which reminds me, I appreciated your gentle admonition of the person who comment called someone stupid.
Joe
Never seen hand sanitizer on a construction site ,in 35yrs….never use it,no one I know uses it in the trades…at home maybe……I rarely if ever get sick or are bed ridden .Never been in the hospital except to visit other people..
…….both grandparents lived over 95, grandma too…both died of natural causes…let the immune system build up tolerances by just living…
..as for work,you have to train everyone to be able to do the other guys job…I’ve never missed a day of work (7 days week) in 35 yrs…..
Get a cut outside ,put mud in it…duck tape it , call it a day…
Nicholas Tsaclas
Google…. Hospital Bacteria starting to tolerate hand sanitizers. It was a posted report this past August.
Steve
I’m glad you’re feeling better too Stuart.
Don’t like to sound like an old curmudgeon but people make you sick not dirty hands. Use the hand sanitizers when I visit the hospital “cause there are nasty bugs there. Drink out of garden hoses, get dirty often, wash when you need to and can, go enjoy life, and hit the blankets when you get sick until you aren’t anymore.
I do bathe every night for my own comfort and wash before and during food prep but the rest of it is just stuff you catch and ducking and dodging it just makes for paranoia. (left out the bathroom, that seems obvious)
DC
GermX from Wal-mart. In the car, office, shop and home.
DC
PS Glad you’re feeling better.
ktash
I just saw this article on using bleach for sanitizing during the “stomach flu.” It gives details on how to clean up after someone who is ill so it doesn’t spread. Especially if you have kids, this might come in handy. They are talking about norovirus, which is the most difficult one to get rid of and highly contagious. Apparently bleach (half water) left to sit for 10 minutes or more is the only way to get rid of it. Nothing else works.
Here’s the kicker for toolguyd readers: They suggest the use of sawdust :D. Just spread it over the contaminated area of an “accident” to keep the nasty germs from migrating. Then wearing face mask, goggles, gloves, proceed with cleanup and bleach.
Also mentioned that hand sanitizer is ineffective with certain bugs, norovirus among them. Also, that some blood types are more resistant to norovirus, B and AB.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/smarter-living/norovirus-prevention-stomach-flu-winter.html?emc=edit_sc_20181204&nl=science-times&nl_art=&nlid=73681419edit_sc_20181204&ref=headline&te=1
Anyhow there are details in the article if anyone is inclined to read it. And finally, a way to put sawdust to use. Who knew?
Dave
Alcohol indeed works well. However, I choose to ingest it.
Kevin M Smith
I keep a few Purell individually wrapped wipes pretty much everywhere. I have some in the truck, shop, desk at work, travel trailer, IFAK and my hunting kill kit.
Besides keeping my hands clean, they make decent emergency fire starters as well!
Kevin M Smith
https://www.amazon.com/Purell-GOJ902210-9022-10-Sanitizing-Individually/dp/B07F5D2QGL/