Where to buy hand sanitizer online - and everything you should know about using it effectively
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- When soap and water aren't accessible, using hand sanitizer is an excellent method for keeping your hands clean.
- The CDC recommends using hand sanitizers that are at least 60% ethyl alcohol or 70% isopropyl alcohol, and to avoid anything with 1-propanol or methanol, which can both be toxic.
- Retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, or even Office Depot all carry hand sanitizer online, but options frequently sell out.
- Below, we compiled a list of every place we know that carries hand sanitizer and provided links to as many in-stock options as we could find.
In July 2020, the FDA warned consumers about hand sanitizers that contained methanol and released a list of brands that should not be used. Read the full list of brands to avoid here.
According to the FDA, methanol is not fit for use in hand sanitizers because it's toxic. Methanol poisoning can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system, or death. Although anyone who uses hand sanitizer with methanol on their hands is at risk, children who accidentally ingest it or people who purposely drink it as a substitute for alcohol, are most at risk.
All of the products in this article do not contain methanol and meet the CDC's and FDA's guidelines and recommendations.
Hand sanitizer has always been a useful way to keep your hands clean while on-the-go, but the continued spread of COVID-19 has caused the demand to increase exponentially.
If you've noticed that Purell is often missing from websites and stores, it's because the company says it's focused on supplying hospitals and first responders first. To fill the market gap, plenty of smaller brands have started producing hand sanitizer that's just as effective.
Before you grab whatever's in stock online or at the store, here's everything you should know about shopping for it and how to effectively use it. We've also listed the top places to find hand sanitizer online, below.
The top 5 places to buy hand sanitizer online
- Amazon - great for buying in bulk, also has brands like Germ-X and Suave
- Walmart - has a good variety of well-known name brands like Palmer's and Hello Bello
- Office Depot - might not be the first place you'd search, but has Germ-X and other brands in stock
- Touchland - offers moisturizing spray hand sanitizer in many scents (read our full review here)
- Poo-Pourri - offers scented and unscented spray hand sanitizer
In-stock hand sanitizer options
The CDC's recommendations for using hand sanitizer
- Use hand sanitizer Before and after visiting a friend or loved one in a hospital or nursing home, unless the person is sick with Clostridioides difficile (if so, use soap and water to wash hands).
- If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, and wash with soap and water as soon as you can.
- Do not use hand sanitizer if your hands are visibly dirty or greasy- for example, after gardening, playing outdoors, fishing, or camping. If a handwashing station is available, wash your hands with soap and water instead.
How to use hand sanitizer
- Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% ethyl alcohol or 70% isopropyl alcohol.
- Put a generous amount of sanitizer on to cover the entire surface area of your hands, including the entirety of your fingers and palms.
- Rub your hands together until they feel dry (this should take roughly 20 seconds) and make sure to get between fingers and thumbs, as well as the back of your hands.
- When finished, your hands should be dry - and don't wipe or rinse off any of the hand sanitizer.
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Check out our guide for the best hand sanitizers here.
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