Safe In 60: Do You Know The Best Way To Wash Your Hands?

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The best way to reduce the spread of disease is to wash hands often, avoid touching your face, and cover a cough or sneeze.

The two latter seem simple enough, but do you know the best way to wash your hands?

We have all heard it: Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. Hum the birthday song twice while washing to time yourself. But besides the 20 second rule, do you know how to properly wash your hands?

Throughout the day the oils in your hands attract dirt, germs and microbes. Washing your hands with soap and water will loosen those microbes so they can be washed down the drain.

The best way is to follow a routine of hand washing steps recommended by the CDC and World Health Organization. 

1. Wet hands and apply enough soap to create a good lather
2. Lather by rubbing palms together; friction from lathering helps lift dirt and microbes from your skin
3. Scrub
   1. Back of the hands – use right palm over left to interlace fingers and wash the back of the left hand and vice versa.
   2. Palm to palm while interlacing fingers
   3. Cup fingers – backs of fingers to opposing palms, fingers interlocked
   4. Clean thumbs – scrubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa
   5. Fingertips and nails – fingertips in circular motion in opposite palm

4. Rinse hands with water

Use a clean towel, a single-use towel or air-dry your hands. You can use a single-use towel to turn off the faucet if needed.

If you don’t have access to soap and water to wash your hands, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol will hold you over until you can get to soap and running water. Hand sanitizers don’t get rid of all types of germs, so it shouldn’t be used as a replacement for proper hand washing.

To date, there is no added health benefit (except for health workers) to using anti-bacterial soap compared to regular soap.