The Power of Soap & Water
Soap doesn’t kill germs on our hands, it removes them.
Even hand sanitisers containing 60% alcohol can’t remove all types of germs, and may only reduce the growth of germs. Studies have found that hand washing is more effective than hand sanitisers at removing norovirus, for example. Handwashing can reduce the risk of respiratory infections by 16%.
The detergent effect of soap and the friction of washing work together to reduce the number of microbes on our hands.
1) Viruses are “self-assembled nanoparticles” in which the weakest link is
the fatty bilayer.
2) The soap contains fat-like substances which loosens the “glue” between the virus and the skin.
3) Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus becomes inactive on our skin.
This being said, hand sanitizer most definitely has a place when you need a quick hand-clean. That is why the Legend ShoulderSink comes with a bottle of 80% hand sanitizer, as well as soap.