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Washing your hands is an essential practice to protect both yourself and others from bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and other contaminants that can remain on your hands after a long day. In some situations, handwashing is crucial, but you can also use hand sanitizer if your hands aren't visibly dirty. Regardless, it's important to know the proper way to wash your hands to ensure they are thoroughly clean.
Steps
Washing hands with water and soap
Wash your hands when they are visibly dirty. You should wash your hands at any time you feel they are dirty, but there are certain situations where it is essential to do so. These include:
- Before and after caring for a wound.
- Before and after preparing food or eating.
- Before and after taking care of a sick person.
- After using the restroom.
- After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
- After taking out the trash or handling waste.
- After changing diapers.
- After touching or caring for animals, and handling animal waste or products.
- Before inserting or removing contact lenses.
World Health Organization
Global Public Health Agency
Global Public Health Agency
Experts suggest: Our hands come into contact with many surfaces, making them vulnerable to carrying viruses. Once a virus is on the hands, it can easily spread to the eyes, nose, or mouth. Washing hands with soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizer will help eliminate the virus on your hands.
Remember to wash your hands for at least 20-30 seconds. If desired, you can wash for a longer time. The 20-30 seconds guideline ensures you wash long enough to effectively remove bacteria.
Wet your hands with warm or cold water. Turn on the faucet and place your hands under the water to fully wet your palms and the back of your hands, ensuring the soap is spread evenly.
- It’s essential to wet your hands under running water, as water in a stagnant sink or basin can harbor bacteria or germs.
Use an appropriate amount of soap. Dispense a coin-sized amount of soap into the palm of your hand. Then, rub your hands together to create a lather.
- You can use liquid soap, bar soap, or powdered soap. It is not necessary for the soap to be antibacterial.
Interlace your fingers to scrub between your fingers. Place one hand on top of the other so both palms face down. Slide the fingers of the top hand in between the fingers of the bottom hand. Move your hands up and down along the length of the fingers to scrub. Continue interlacing your fingers and repeat the process.
- Wash each hand with this technique for 3 to 5 seconds.
Grab your thumb and rotate your hand around it. Extend your left thumb and use your right hand to hold it. Twist your right hand up and down to scrub the left thumb, allowing soap to flow where the thumb meets the palm. After 2 to 3 seconds, switch hands to scrub the other thumb.
- Hold the thumb firmly enough for the soap to clean deeply into the skin.
Use the fingertips to scrub the palms. Open your left palm and face it upward. Bring the fingertips of your right hand together and use them to scrub the palm of the left hand. Continue to rub the soap into the palm for 3 to 4 seconds before using the same technique to clean the right palm.
- This action will allow the soap to get underneath the nails and clean them as well.
Tip: In total, you should wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. If you find it hard to measure time, sing "Happy Birthday" twice while scrubbing your hands.
Rinse your hands thoroughly. Once you finish scrubbing, place your hands under running water again. Let the water wash away the soap until you no longer see soap suds.
Dry your hands with a clean towel. Take a clean, dry towel and use it to wipe your hands. If possible, you may opt for disposable paper towels to prevent the spread of germs. Make sure to absorb all the moisture until your hands are completely dry.
- If you need to use a hand dryer, ensure you move your hands and rub them together under the warm airflow to fully dry them.
Use a towel to turn off the faucet. If the water doesn't turn off by itself, you can use a towel to twist it shut. This way, you won't immediately contaminate your hands again. Dispose of the towel if it is single-use, or hang it up to dry if it is reusable.
- You can also use your elbow to turn off the tap if you don't have a towel.
- If you are using a reusable towel, make sure to wash it at least once a week to avoid germs accumulating.
Use hand sanitizer
Check if hand sanitizer is suitable. There are some instances where you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead of soap and water. However, it’s important to evaluate the situation. Consider these points:
- Are your hands visibly dirty? If you can see dirt or grease on your hands, you should wash them with soap and water.
- What’s on your hands? Alcohol-based hand sanitizers don't eliminate all germs, and they can't remove certain substances like pesticides or heavy metals.
- Is water available? If there is no access to water, you can use hand sanitizer because it’s better than leaving your hands dirty. However, if you can wash your hands with soap and water, that’s the better option.
Apply enough hand sanitizer by dispensing it onto one hand the size of a coin. Choose a product that contains at least 60% alcohol for better effectiveness in killing harmful bacteria. Press the dispenser to release a sufficient amount of sanitizer into your hand.
- If available, you can also use alcohol-based wet wipes.
Rub your hands together until the hand sanitizer evaporates completely. Rub your hands together for about 20 seconds, then spread the hand sanitizer evenly across your palms as if you're washing your hands with water. Interlace your fingers and rub your palms with your fingertips to allow the solution to penetrate under your nails. Continue rubbing until your hands feel dry.
