This Spring, Americans have mistakenly been stocking up on hand sanitizers and face masks. To avoid colds, flus, and viruses, they've been flying off the shelves lately to the point where people are trying to make their own versions.
Antibacterial hand soap can sound reassuring. The big brands have a reputation for killing 99.99% of common germs - sounds like a great stat, but it's actually troublesome.
Not all bacteria are evil. The bacteria in yogurt? Great for digestion! Wiping out all but 0.01% of germs wipes out the good stuff, too and won't prevent or treat viruses any more than regular hand soap.
All of the experts at the respected public health bodies agree that the absolute best defense you have is consistent hand-washing above hand sanitizers and face masks.
A hearty 20-second wash will do you good - that's 2 rounds of "Happy Birthday" or 1 chorus of Beyoncé's "Love On Top" - but with that much handwashing, you need to pay attention to your brand of soap.
In 2013, an FDA study1 concluded that chemical-based antibacterial hand soaps are not proven to be any more effective than normal, natural soaps. They also contain ingredients that are not proven to be safe for use to your body and your immune system in the long term.
Soaps without controversial ingredients like triclosan can be super drying, from the use of alcohol. It's best to find a soap with no harmful ingredients that'll moisturize your hands.
MyGreenFills is offering a major sale on their Aloe Vera Hand Soap as well as bonus free soap refills. With nourishing aloe vera and coconut oil-derived cleaners, it's a formula that's tough on bad germs, but not your hands.
The excess of handwashing this season also puts you into higher contact with the harmful chemicals in your soap.
MyGreenFills' formulas are free from fragrance, dyes, thickeners, formaldehyde, fillers, glycol ethers, monoethanolamine, isopropanol, phthalates, perchloroethylene or "PERC", triclosan, quaternary ammonium compounds, or "QUATS", ammonia, chlorine and lye.
All of these ingredients can be harmful and are just plain unnecessary. To be sure you aren't at risk of coming into contact with possible carcinogens, take a look at your soap bottles for these ingredients.
If you are one to keep buying those plastic soap bottles, you definitely want to consider switching.
Instead of clogging up landfills with plastic bottles, MyGreenFills offer everlasting bottles and unique nontoxic refills that come in sustainable color-coded pouches!
If you make the full switch to their cleaners, you'll have a new bathroom, laundry room, or kitchen stocked to the brim with natural sustainable products that really work.
You'll also be able to say goodbye to smells of alcohol, ammonia, and bleach. If you miss having a scent in your cleaners, you can always add a pure organic essential oil blend to your order. MyGreenFills offers six different blends that all have their own beneficial properties (and smell great!).
For staying healthy, handwashing is where it's at, not hand sanitizing. And to be diligent, you probably need more soap, so you might as well make it natural and eco-friendly.
