Cleaning your hands properly is one of the first measures they asked us to take. Every time we touch something outside our house, when we cough or sneeze, it’s important to get our hands clean again. But after a while our skin gets very dry and irritated. Therefor Joke will tell you about her hand care rituals and how to keep them hydrated.
I wash my hands like a maniac, even when there isn’t a corona crisis. I hate the feeling of imaginary dirt on my hands. And now it’s even worse with this virus. But what can we do to keep our hands clean and soft? It’s actually very easy and if you follow the next hand care steps, you will have the perfect hand hygiene in no time.
Is it necessary?
Maybe you’re not convinced about the rules we get when it comes to washing our hands. I assure you, it is very important! Studies has shown that there are between 39.000 and 4.600.000 bacteria just on your hands only, and this in a normal situation. It’s therefor not unlikely for a virus, such as COVID-19, to be present on your hands as well.
Now that you know the possible amount of bacteria we carry on our hands, it’s time to clean them properly. How? With soap and water of course!
Why, when do we need to wash our hands?
Washing your hands is a way to avoid that the virus will spread over on other surfaces. Simply because we touch everything with our hands. When you touch a doorknob and your husband touches the doorknob, then you have the same bacteria on your hands.
Therefor it is not only wash your hands after visiting the bathroom or touching public surfaces. But make it a habit to wash your hands when you’re sick. This includes cleaning your nose, after coughing and sneezing. Even before and after you take care of a wound, or before and after you eat a meal!
And don’t forget the worst place for bacteria to spread: public transportation. Thousands of people touch the chairs, support straps and doors. It’s obviously that this is the ultimate environment for bacteria and viruses to contaminate others.
Learn how to clean your hands correctly
We can all clean our hands within a few second by putting them underwater and take a little bit of soap. However, that’s not the correct way, neither long enough to clean them properly. There’s actually a little trick to know how long you need to wash them off. Whether you count to 30 or you sing the ‘happy birthday’ song 2 times. Isn’t that a fun fact? Teach your kids this trick and they will make sure their hands are clean. And don’t just focus on your hand palms. Also focus on your fingertips and the back of your hands.
These particular rules of hand washing are made by the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By following their advice we will all help to avoid a bigger spreading of the virus. Team work it is!
A short summary: spread the soap all over your hands, fingers, and nails. Do this for at least 30 seconds and rinse your hands properly. You really don’t need to use special antibacterial soap, but try to take a soap that doesn’t dry out your skin. And if you want to do it completely perfect, you dry them with paper towels instead of a cotton one.
The secret for soft hands
Now that our hands are perfectly clean, they also might be dry, cracking and irritated. This is unavoidable but luckily very easy to take care of. Hand balm and cream are your solution and unmissable to use during your hand care routine.
While most of us, including myself, think that hydrating your hands with hand balm should happen in the morning or evening, is wrong. I would always do it twice a day and sometimes add an extra cream when they were dry. But during my research for this article I noticed that it’s definitely not enough. You actually need to moisturize your hand every time after you wash your hands!
That’s the only secret for soft hands at any time of the day. In combination with a very nice cream or hand balm of course. My favorite hand care is from Rituals, especially from the “The Ritual of Dao” assortment. Their night balm is a must have!
Ps: disinfecting gels have no effect on the Covid-19 virus. These gels kill bacteria but don’t kill aggressive viruses like Corona.
How to make it a habbit?
If you’re not used to wash and moisturize your hands on a regular basis, then it can be a challenge in the beginning to get used to the measurements.
Make it easy for yourself and buy a hand soap in a pump with a matching hand lotion to put it together on the sink. Not only is this the perfect way to moisturize every time you wash, it also looks super fancy.
I’m using these tricks since the start of the pandemic and even my son, who is 8 years old, is now putting lotion on his hands after he washed them. It’s all about creating a habit or hand care routine and to make it a normal every day act. Stay safe and make sure you have happy hands!
