With the current situation that the world is in right now, we all know the feeling of having to wash our hands more than we have ever had to before. We can also feel the effects that all this hand washing is doing to our skin. If you have irritated and dry hands from washing constantly, you are not alone.
Washing our hands has always been part of a best-practice hygiene routine. If you are a healthcare professional or work in the service industry, you have to wash your hands even more frequently than others. Using soap and water can get rid of pathogens and unwanted irritants on our skin but it can also damage our skin at the same time. Feels like a catch-22, doesn’t it?
The Effects of Soap and Water on Our Skin
Washing with soap and water does a great job at cleaning our skin but unfortunately it also strips the skin of its natural oils and moisture. While this leaves us with dry and irritated skin, there is a worse side effect. Our skin is our body’s defense system against letting irritants and pathogens in such as bacteria, viruses and fungi.¹ If our skin becomes dry and damaged, it’s a sign that our skin’s defense system is compromised and this puts us at risk of getting infections and getting ill. When the skin becomes so dry that it cracks, it is all too easy for these microscopic intruders to get into our body and cause an infection, or worse, a disease.
Protect Your Skin So It Can Protect You
The solution is not to stop washing our hands. We don’t want to harbour unwanted bacteria and viruses that could infect us and spread to others, but we also need to protect our skin so that it can continue to protect us. The best way to help keep our skin healthy while keeping up with a good hygiene routine is to use a shielding lotion like Gloves In A Bottle. A shielding lotion forms an invisible layer of protection with the top layer of your skin, helping to keep irritants and pathogens out but allowing our hands to keep their own oils and moisture in.
Using a shielding lotion throughout the day will help to keep our skin soft, hydrated and healthy, even through hand washing, so that it can continue to do what it’s meant to do – protect us.
If you want to protect your hands from being damaged by too much hand washing, make sure your skin is protected with a shielding lotion. Let’s make dry hands from washing a thing of the past.
Written by Martina Joller
Freelance Writer
Connect with me on LinkedIn
¹ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/pathogens-definition#pathogen-types
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