General Question

Supacase's avatar

Does anti-bacterial hand wash work if you have dirt on your hands?

Asked by Supacase (14573points) April 29th, 2010

I know it isn’t good to use often, but it does have its time and place. Or so I thought. Say we are at the playground and I squash a gnat with my finger or my daughter wants a snack but has dirt on her hands from playing in the mulch…

Does the hand wash do anything to remove the bug guts and dirt or is it just rubbing the bug guts into my skin and spreading the dirt out on my daughter’s skin?

Or is it essentially for hands that are already visibly clean and just removes the unseen germs?

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16 Answers

CMaz's avatar

Anti-bacterial hand wash is creepy.

sleepdoc's avatar

Most of the washed are actually alcohol based. So they will kill most “germs”. Now if you are worried about getting rid of something stuck to your hands… ie dirt then you might need a lot of it to make it come free.

TILA_ABs_NoMore's avatar

Im not an anti-bacteria pro…but I would imagine it just moves the dirt around on your hands. Might kill some or all of the bacteria but dirt and bug guts are not going to just disappear…just might make it a little cleaner?!?

Captain_Fantasy's avatar

Purell is for when you don’t have access to soap and water. It is not a replacement.

SundayKittens's avatar

Soap and water is always better, in my opinion. Hand sanitizer is over used…some germs are good!

The_Idler's avatar

The only way to be sure is to boil the whole Earth in acid.

Or you could use a tissue or a tap or even soap if you’re actually dirty.

Supacase's avatar

I get that anti-bacterial is not ideal, it is not soap & water, it is not the best overall option. I said that in my first sentence specifically to avoid answers addressing that instead of my actual question.

@The_Idler Yes, the tap and soap is so convenient when you are at a park that has neither.

@Captain_Fantasy I realize that. My actual question is whether or not using purell in such cases is even worth it.

Lightlyseared's avatar

If your hand is visibly soiled then no alcohol based hand rub will not work.

Captain_Fantasy's avatar

It’s better than nothing.

The_Idler's avatar

@Supacase uh, ok.

What’s wrong with tissue, I thought you wanted to clean something from your hands?
Anti-bacterial stuff kills… bacteria.
Tissues wipe ‘bug guts’ off your hand.

Perhaps a handkerchief; something a little more effective?

SundayKittens's avatar

She knows how to clean…she’s asking if it does any good. I should’ve read the question better before my first answer.
I don’t think so…but, yeah..better than nothing.

The_Idler's avatar

@kikibirdjones I thought she was asking whether is does “anything to remove the bug guts and dirt or is it just rubbing the bug guts into my skin and spreading the dirt out on my daughter’s skin?”

To which I replied:
you could use a tissue or a tap or even soap if you’re actually dirty.
Anti-bacterial stuff kills… bacteria.
Tissues wipe ‘bug guts’ off your hand.

The implication being that, no, the anti-bac doesn’t remove ‘bug guts’ and dirt, but tissues…........... do.

thriftymaid's avatar

If it is antibacterial soap, yes it works for dirt.

Plone3000's avatar

Anti-bacterial will git rid of the germs, but will just make the dirts spread. Wipe youre hands with a towel, cleanex, tissue, ect, then use the anti-bacterial.

Supacase's avatar

Thank you @kikibirdjones.

@The_Idler No where in my question did I ask how to clean bug guts off of my hand. I asked if the purell-type stuff is helpful or not in that situation. I did not ask for alternative options, but thank you all the same for the pointing out the obvious, Captain.

The_Idler's avatar

“The implication being that, no, the anti-bac doesn’t remove ‘bug guts’ and dirt, but tissues…........... do.”

I guess it wasn’t that obvious. I’ll try to be more explicit.

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