Hand sanitiser (alcohol cleaner)

[Dana Hawkeye]

There is a handy sized alcohol hand rub in a 60cl bottle by Purell that is used by the District Nurses where I live. Not sure on price or stockists though.

As has been stated though, hand rub is NOT a substitute for washing hands with good old soap and water. It is best used after washing the hands.

 

[crazydave]

does seem a bit silly taking alcohol when soap does the trick nicely, a small travel bar is still one of the best items in a first aid kit. otherwise tesco do a small handy pump bottle.

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, but you can't burn soap in a trangia...

 

[crazydave]

but alcohol gels will wreck the trangia anyway so you may as well make a fire.

 

[sandsnakes]

The same place does a gel or liquid, so any one found a higher content alcohol content?

This makes an argument for distilling your own and calling it 'hand wash' for drinking, firestarting, triangia use and hand washing... now thats bushcraft.

Sandsnakes

 

[rik_uk3]

Just use meths instead of alcohol gel, as said, soap and water first, gel or meths second. If you don't use a meths stove I'd rely on soap and water to be honest, does a great job, and if your hands have grime the gel is not that effective anyway

 

[w00dsmoke]

Sooo...if alcohol gel is not a substitute for soap and water and it is more or less marketed as such; how then do we wash our hands when out and about?

I try to use boiled water if possible but this is not always possible or practical, so are any of the above a good substitute for use without water?

I personally have used a small bar of hotel soap and used it from water out a clean burn, I also shave and wash my hair this way when out and about however, I use the alcohol gel to clean my hands before cooking or handling food.



WS

 

[rik_uk3]

Sooo...if alcohol gel is not a substitute for soap and water and it is more or less marketed as such; how then do we wash our hands when out and about?

I try to use boiled water if possible but this is not always possible or practical, so are any of the above a good substitute for use without water?

I personally have used a small bar of hotel soap and used it from water out a clean burn, I also shave and wash my hair this way when out and about however, I use the alcohol gel to clean my hands before cooking or handling food.



WS

The soap and water cleans off grime, gel can just seal it in if you get my drift. I seem to have survived 35 years of camping without gel by just using soap and water.

Strange thing, all this talk of washing/cleaning hands when in real life most men don't wash their hands after they have a pee

 

[ex Member swampy99]

Nicked some from hospitals as they have them by every door. the alcoholics do and mix it with coca cola it's the way to go.

 

[crazydave]

true most bugs we have got acclimatised to, gippy tummy is the odd ones we havent got used to and why we get the trots on holiday.

if the food is cooked properly then a few bacteria wont make much difference. most soldiers will tell you that going in the field youre lucky if you can find anything to wipe your hands on let alone wash with. at most some pack wet wipes or dew wash with a bar of soap generally relying on the mess tin bath every few days to sort themselves out. you rely on not chewing your nails and having a strong constitution. if kim and aggie ever did how clean is your mess tin then they would faint as we just didn't get enough water for housekeeping purposes

people are obsessed with bacteria when its not like we can avoid them and when we try to we increase problems like childhood asthma and allergies.

scout camps we have hand washes next to the elsans which are normally just soapy water followed by air dry. not perfect but hopefully enough to avoid problems.

an old guy I used to know used to tell me the 1 square of paper technique where you fold it into quarters and tear the middle bit out. you then wipe getting smaller with each pass then use the middle bit to clean your nails

 

[crazydave]

one key thing is though - gels, creams, potions, cleaning agents are there to be sold to make money for the makers and not for our benefit. before alcohol gels what did we do? soap and water. kim and aggie use vinegar and ordinary bleach or washing liquid which is cheaper than dettol, flash, mr muscle etc...

not all bacteria is harmfull and 99.9% of them we tollerate and deal with naturally. good job too as everything we deal with is covered with them.

 

[rik_uk3]

Nicked some from hospitals as they have them by every door. the alcoholics do and mix it with coca cola it's the way to go.

We switched to alcohol foam a year ago. Most don't drink it, they put the stuff in a crisp packet and sniff it, had to remove it from acute mental health wards and issue staff with individual bottles.

 

[DrSin]

Hi All,
You can get IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) at 99.5%+ from Ebay. Very cheap! Cleans and sterilizes almost anything! Great on open cuts, just have a stick ready to bite. Oh and what ever you do don't drink!!!!