A Doctor on the Best Way to Sanitize Hands + My Latest Quarantine Tips
Dr. Herzog shares the best way to sanitize hands, how to do it with straight alcohol, and my latest quarantine tips.
A doctor on the best way to sanitize hands.
I talk to my friend and dermatologist Dr. Jo Herzog pretty much daily. This morning, she gave me these tips on hand sanitizing. We are all having to “make do” with what we can find at stores, and hand sanitizer is not likely to be found anywhere. Aloe vera gel can be hard to find. Hopefully, alcohol will stay plentiful. Here is what Dr. Jo shared with me this morning that is very helpful regarding hand sanitizer.
Is hand sanitizer or hand washing best?
Dr. Jo emphasized that hand sanitizer is not needed when we have access to soap, water, and a sink.
Hand washing reduces the amounts of all types of germs and chemicals on hands. … Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of microbes on hands but do not eliminate all types of germs.
Reserve your hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer of at least 70% isopropyl alcohol should be reserved for times when we have no access to soap, water, and a sink. When traveling, confined to a meeting room, or in a situation where hands might get dirty, hand sanitizer is helpful.
How to use straight alcohol as hand sanitizer.
Dr. Jo said that there is no need to panic if you can’t find hand sanitizer or aloe vera; straight alcohol can be used to sanitize hands. Here is how to use it.
- Use spray bottles ($ Tree is fine; get several for everyone to use).
- Fill with 70% isopropyl alcohol. This is plenty strong; higher will be very harsh on hands.
- Let alcohol dry on hands.
- Apply moisturizer to hands. Rinsing not necessary.
- Repeat spraying after touching things or getting hands dirty.
- This post on making clorox wipes and hand sanitizer was written before things got really bad and things started selling out. I update it routinely with new info + tips on how to pivot.
A few quarantine related blog posts.
- Got SNS/gel nails? I share how to remove them in this blog + video.
- If you sew, here is my friend’s pattern for making your own face masks.
Quarantine friendly food + recipes.
- Browned ground beef is inexpensive and easy. You can make it and freeze it to pull it out as needed to make chili, spaghetti, or our favorite baked ziti. Another family favorite is my friend Leslie’s Mimi’s Famous Lasagna which is unique and absolutely divine.
- This all day in the oven pulled pork recipe is very active on my google analytics, probably because we are all feeding more mouths than usual. I updated the recipe with helpful tips on making this perfect.
- Beans, greens, and cornbread is our go-to quarantine meal. If you need recipes, here are my black eyed peas, my instant pot collard greens, and the pimento cheese cornbread. Don’t forget the pepper sauce:-).
- Speaking of Mimi, my mother-in-law makes the best (and easiest) blackberry cobbler; the recipe is here (and a photo below).
Quarantine beauty tools.
I’ve done a few videos and instagram stories on beauty products that I’ve been using during the quarantine. Most of them I use all the time; a few are quarantine only:-)
- I routinely use these dermaplane razors exfoliate and to remove peach fuzz and dry dead skin.
- To remove SNS for quarantine, I bought this 100% acetone at amazon. A friend found this one at Wal-Mart.
- For quarantine only, I used this hair gloss to make roots less noticeable.
