Triclosan in hand sanitisers? Yuck! Irritant-packed moist toilet paper? Eeew!.. But what if you’re just LOST without those? READ ON, help’s here.
The Song Of Crazypants Sanitising
The line between good hygiene and a crazypants routine of “SANITISE-ALL-THE-THINGS!” is thin and fragile.
I know that. I’ve been there.
Knowing that advertising wants only my best (my money), I was hyper-sanitising merely out of Panic:
Particularly in the office, where I had the unlucky chance to experience first-hand the poor hygiene of several of my co-workers.
It made me cringe, no: C-R-I-N-N-N-N-N-G-E, to know they’ve touched the doorknob to my office or maybe even picked my post.
YIKES, YIKES, YIKES!
So yes, this basically drove me Mr-Monk-style-batshit-crazy about germs.
However, I just as quickly succumbed to the quiet voice of reason.
Here’s what it said:
YOU STUPID DOLL!
Conventional, Triclosan-based sanitisers destroy everything designed to actually protect you from germs:
Your skin dries out,
you put toxic stuff onto your skin –
and just think of the horrible artificial fragrance!”
Oh yes, fragrance.
Most conventional sanitisers, both spray and tissues, gave me terrible headache; and hand sanitisers were just drying beyond compare.
However, sometimes a sanitiser is due, and most often it happens on the go.
Maybe you drop your smartphone in a train station loo.
Ooooops.
Or your hands receive unsolicited attention of an unknown dog.
Or strange person.
Or you just unattentively shook hands with a guy who happens to have the worst flu on the planet.
Whatever.
My favourite hand sanitiser for the road
Gotta love Dr. Bronner’s take on sanitisers. Pure, toxin-free, gorgeously Lavender-scented spray – this stuff is seriously the best I’ve ever tried.
INCI check: organic alcohol, water, organic glycerin, organic lavender oil
Moist Toilet Paper (REALLY?)
Don’t fear, I’m not going too in-depth here.
Hehe.
Let’s just say, sometimes it’s better to be prepared, and this Natracare thingy is a really good pick.
I stumbled upon this product in my fave bio market in Berlin, and have it on stock for every trip.
In fact, these tissues are soft enough to be used as a surrogate handwash.
INCI check: organic cotton tissues, water, glycerin, organic rose extract, organic rose oil, organic chamomile, organic calendula, polyglyceril-10-laurate, levulinic acid, sodium levulinate, terpineol, potassium sorbate, sodium phytate.
So why not a conventional product?
1. Even the “sensitive”-branded products can contain the cheapest ingredients, the worst allergy offenders, irritants, and thus cause more suffering than comfort.
2. To make matters worse, German independent testers from Ökotest have found formaldehyde donors and halocarbon compounds/heavy metals from bleach in several of 15 tested products.
How gross is that?
3. In addition, if you couldn’t care less for an occasional irritating damp wipe the tissues used can contribute to the microplastic problem.
This is very handy info….so glad i’m not the only one troubled by colleagues’ hygiene habits… I once went on holiday and when I came back 1 week later the empty hand wash in the bathroom hadn’t been moved *shudder*….anyway I enjoy my own office now!
oh my, that’s disgusting…
that’s why I like to be prepared 😉
I am trying to remember how we kept our hands clean in the days before sanitisers. ??
probably we weren’t used to eat, drink and press things (=smartphones) to our faces constantly when out? and when you had gotten home, or to a place, you’d go and wash your hands first thing.
Yes, I guess that is so. There were no shopping trolleys or baskets to handle, that’s for sure.
Good to know the alternatives.