Hand Washing the best practices

26/08/2022

Jess Kilby, Brand Ambassador Australian Bodycare UK Ltd

Hand Washing

Hand Washing.

Washing your hands, something we have never heard so much about these past couple of years. Hand washing is now on my radar more than ever and I am so conscious to wash my hands at every moment possible. Hand washing is so important and so simple and easy. Hand washing not only prevents you from catching germs, but it helps to stop you spreading them too. Hand washing is the most effective way of ensuring we don’t pass on any infections.

Its always been pretty obvious that in salon, we have to wash our hands to stop the spread of germs and infection. Especially as our job is so hands on and personal. But I now think everybody is much more aware of it in day to life too. I mean come on, it was drilled into us for almost 2 years. Hands face space? Ring a bell??

I wanted to go through some basic steps on why and how to wash your hands, properly and not just a quick rinse under the tap and a quick dry with a paper towel or even a squirt of hand sanitizer for that matter.

The most common way germs are spread are from peoples hands. They are often harmless germs but they can result in illnesses such as colds or tummy bugs or a really popular one, COVID! Sorry I said it..

You need to make sure you try to make a regular routine of hand washing and be conscious of making sure you take the right steps when doing so.

Not to state the obvious but, here are a few times in the day where you should certainly be washing your hands:

• Before or after handling food
• After using the toilet or changing nappies
• After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
• After handling rubbish
• In salon of course you need to be particularly cautious during and in-between each treatment and client

Another point is, try to encourage children to do so by making it a fun task. I learnt during COVID times that singing Happy Birthday twice should be the optimum time for your hand washing, around 15 seconds. Although Hugo (my 15 month old) did look rather confused when we were doing this and there was no cake at the end! Haha

So a few pointers on how to wash your hands effectively.

• Remove all of your jewellery
• Wet your hands with water
• Apply soap - preferably one with antibacterial properties
• Rub your hands palm to palm and then place one hand on top of the other and rub in between your fingers, do this on both hands
• Interlace your fingers and scrub those
• Rub your thumb and fingers on your opposite palms to make sure all your fingertips have been cleansed
• Rinse your hands with water
• Thoroughly dry your hands
• Germs breed on wet hands, so make sure your hands really are dry.

As mentioned before, it is a great idea to use a soap or wash that has antibacterial properties. Guess what, we have one! Our award winning Skin Wash is not only perfect for daily skin washing, it’s also the best to keep at every basin for hand washing. The tea tree oil is anti-bacterial and antifungal. It stops and prevents bacteria spreading. It’s non-drying too so it causes absolutely no side effects. In the winter, especially I suffer quite badly from dry skin on my hands, hand washing can sometimes then cause cracks in my skin on my knuckles and they can even bleed! This does not happen, thank goodness when I use my skin wash. It keeps your skin clean and comfortable.

Happy Hand Washing!