Hand gel

I have resorted to buying it on eBay but it does not arrive until next week. It is overpriced but the vast majority were. It will not last long because there are only 60 mls in the bottle. I did not want or need 500 mls because I wanted to pop it in my handbag.

We've been told that ordinary anti bacterial gel is no protection against this virus. It needs to be alcohol based. I already had a couple of half empty anti bacterial gels so I have topped them up with surgical spirit. I don't know if this will make them effective against Corvid 19, maybe an expert here can tell me.

I haven’t seen any since the crisis started. It has been disappearing off the shelves as soon as the supermarket doors open by the sound of it! I have a couple of small bottles that I have carried in my fishing bag for a while, and I will eke it out. When it runs out I will find some other way of cleaning my hands while I’m out and about without, I hope, agonising unduly about it.

I am washing my hand with ordinary bar soap which is far less harsh and no less effective than hand sanitiser. Sanitiser has its use if you are unable to access soap and warm water for a period of time but apart from that it isn't much good.

It is also important to hydrate hands from all this handwashing as dry skin develops 'grooves' which bacteria and viruses can lurk in - so a good handcream or barrier cream is important as well.

Take a pack of Dettol anti-bacterial kitchen wipes out with you.

There's also Mylux 70% alcohol wipes.

I have used it for years, as I go everywhere on public transport and a lot of people are really manky .

I found a couple of bottles with a bit in the bottom, and have been using them sparingly, as I haven't seen any since the virus made the news.

It is foolish of people to overstock it though. Unless we all use it, the virus will spread, so even if Selfish McMememe had a million bottles, they would still be at greater risk than if we all had a bottle each.

The worst thing is people stealing it from hospitals, and denying it to those who really need it, such as chemotherapy patients.

Oh Doodledog, why are people so selfish? It makes me so sad.

Make you own mix surgical spirit with body lotion or aloe vera

Desdemona I know what you mean. It is depressing to see, and is much more likely to result in enforced rationing.

I think that a lot of people just don't think about the impact of their actions on others. I can't believe that most people would deliberately deprive a cancer patient of the ability to stay germ-free, effectively confining them to the house. It's more that they just grab everything for themselves thoughtlessly.

It's the same with the loo roll, isn't it? What people want with vast quantities of the stuff is beyond me, and do they really want to see others do without?

I gave up using hand gel because most contain palm oil and chemicals which make my hands dry and sore. I seem to accumulate hard soaps as I can’t resist them. I’ve got some really lovely Lush soaps perfuming the bathroom at present.

I went with my sister to our local Aldi yesterday as she wanted some antibacterial handwash for the kitchen and her 2 bathrooms. The cashier would only let her buy 2 lots so I had to buy the other one and then give it to her. There was no hand gel available (we didn't want that anyway).

It occurred to me today that nobody has mentioned that if you wear glasses all day, their surfaces could well pick up the viruses coughed out by other people. I have little sachets of wipes which I think are alcohol impregnated and which are easily obtained - I got some in Aldi - and I am now carrying them around with me so that I can keep my glasses clean and hopefully virus-free.

Yes, its available locally here. Not sure for how long though

Dettol kills 99.9 germs and viruses, according to the bottle I have under the sink.
Perhaps we could mix Dettol with handcream, wouldn't smell too nice but as shelves have been emptied of handgel........desperate times, call for desperate measures.
The local Comprehensive was closed on Monday for a deep clean as two people had tested positive for the virus. That's brought it very close to home now as 2,000 kids go to the school, so hopefully none infected as that will be very worrying.

Stay healthy everyone xx

To make it effective there should be a minimum of 60% alcohol in the bottle.

That is ideal if one does not have access to soap and water such as a bus, train or tube.

I have never seen so much hysteria in my entire life.

May be best to just drink the alcohol and may stop us worrying.

As someone said in a letter in our paper, it’s not bubonic plague or smallpox...... !

Oh, come on, just wash your hands, often, every time you come in from outside, with soap, or whatever. It isn´t really going to protect you from the C-virus, which is spread
through coughing and sneezing, just like any cold virus.

rubysong, Corkie19 and Buffybee you all seen to have got the message [Smile] . The important ingredient that medical professionals are indicating we use is actually called isopropyl alcohol, it is one active ingredient contained in surgical spirit, products like hibiscrub and Dettol. Aloe vera is also a good ingredient as it is a natural antiseptic. We keep being told to use anti bacterial hand gels but an antiseptic is what we need to use really. I've made my own, adapted from an 1980s recipe - one third Dettol and two thirds diluted aloe vera anti bacterial hand wash. I've put some in a small spare bottle spray in my handbag along with a pack of tissues. Simple and easy and no panic needed.

Oops I seem to keep having problems with the Emojis! [Grin]

I always have hand gel in the car, in my bag, and in the pocket of my work jacket, with three spares at home to replace them, and I bought another six through the last week of January, three each from Boots and Tesco. I've always used it between customers at work (supermarket), especially if I've had to handle cash or their loyalty cards.

The nature of too many people is to make a buck where they can, and it's those who cleared the shelves, trays at a time, unchallenged, just so they could list the gels on eBay or sell them at car boot sales at grossly inflated prices. I'm utterly disgusted that people can be so awful. We have so many elderly customers and their distress over last week, when there was no soap left in store, no paracetamol, and the few packs of 16x loo rolls that were left were more than they could carry home, or even afford to buy.

I'm off today but luckily yesterday the shelves were well stocked other than the hand gel which is not coming to the store at all, and paracetamol other than the 'extra' type with caffeine. The store was incredibly quiet, last week was manic, but it was also the week after payday for a lot of people and I expect some who normally shop weekly were buying dry goods and toiletries for the month ahead.

Greed will be the downfall of the human race - oil, drugs, land, they're all about greed, and the hand gel shortage is no exception.

I'd just add that, as mentioned above, it needs to be at least 60% alcohol (ethanol), preferably 70%, to kill viruses as well as bacteria. Carex is my favourite brand at 70% ethanol and the Moisture Plus version isn't too hard on my hands. I use a small tube of L'Occitane hand cream at work and a tub of O'Keefe's Working Hands cream at home. Cuticura's cucumber gel is also kind to hands but it is only 58% ethanol - I have to remember to take my glasses every time I shop!