Waterless hand sanitizers are well-known and can be divided into two main categories. The first is the use of alcohol gels and rubs. These products may contain both alcohol and glycerin or some other water-soluble ‘moisturizing’ agent for use as skin sanitizers. The problem is that skin depends upon naturally occurring oily materials known as skin ‘lipids’ to keep it in good condition. These are the very materials that alcohols, on their own, remove from the skin. The addition of water-soluble materials such as glycerin will not repair this damage: thus these competitive products are good at sanitizing the skin but remove vital skin lipids at the same time. Glycerin works in a limited way for a limited amount of use but can never leave the skin feeling soft and properly moisturized.

The second category of products contain little or no alcohol, but rely on other sanitizing ingredients to kill the harmful bugs. These are based on standard creams and lotions, which means that they can supply oily, moisturizing ingredients to keep the skin supple. However, with frequent use, these build up, making the skin sticky and oily. In addition, the bug-killing actives are no match for alcohols (alcohols cannot be included in standard creams and lotions at a bug-killing concentration). These products tend to be less effective in killing bugs and are sticky and oily in use. Moreover, they are relatively expensive to produce. more >>>>