Handwashing 101

You’ve probably been washing your hands since you were very little. But do you know if you’re doing it the right way?

Did you even know there’s a right way and a wrong way?

There is, and it’s important to know the difference. Why? Because it keeps you, and the people you come into contact with, healthier. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control shares that handwashing can reduce colds and other respiratory illnesses by 16-21%, and it can reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 23-40%.

If you don’t wash your hands, germs can spread when you:

• Touch your nose, eyes, or mouth
• Touch food or drinks
• Touch other surfaces or objects
• Touch other people, including shaking their hands

WHEN to wash your hands

You probably already know that you’re supposed to wash your hands after using the toilet, but cleaning your hands throughout the day is important because you’re always touching surfaces that could carry germs. 

You should also wash your hands:

• Before and after you eat
• Before, during, and after preparing food
• After you cough, sneeze, or blow your nose into your hands
• Anytime you’re with or caring for someone who is sick
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• After you touch an animal, its food, or its waste
• After you touch garbage

HOW to wash your hands

It may sound simple, but many people don’t do it correctly, either because they don’t know how or they take shortcuts because it’s easier. Here’s how the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says to wash your hands correctly:

• Wet your hands under clean running water.
• Put soap on your hands and rub them together to make a lather. Rub the lather all over the fronts and backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your fingernails.
• Scrub your hands for 20 seconds (about as long as two rounds of the “Happy Birthday” song) with the soap.
• Rinse the soap off under clean running water.
• Dry your hands with a clean towel or under a dryer.

Handwashing fact or fiction?

Many people get the facts wrong when it comes to washing their hands. Here are a few of them:

Hand sanitizer is the same as washing your hands with soap and water.

False. In fact, the CDC says that soap and water are most effective, while hand sanitizer does not eliminate all kinds of germs. However, sometimes soap and water just aren’t available. In that case, hand sanitizer is a good substitute, as long as it’s at least 60% alcohol (check the label).

Rinsing with water is good enough.

False. Although water will rinse some germs off, it’s definitely not as effective as soap or even hand sanitizer.

It’s best to wash your hands with hot, or at least warm, water.

False. Both warm and cold water are able to remove the same number of germs as long as you use soap. In fact, if you were trying to kill germs with water alone, the water would need to be scalding hot! So if you prefer cold water with soap, it’s very effective!!

The soap needs to be labeled as antibacterial to work properly.

False. It doesn’t matter whether you use regular or antibacterial soap or whether it’s a bar of soap or pumped from a bottle; it all works the same. In fact, some studies even say that antibiotic soaps may contribute to antibiotic resistance, so it’s best not to buy it.

It’s not necessary to wash for 20 seconds. Even a few seconds is fine.

False. Scientists have found that the way to remove harmful germs is to scrub for at least 20 seconds. If you wash for a shorter amount of time, you may not remove as many germs.