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Tag: cosmetics
How to Wash Hands Properly
Do You Know How to Wash Hands Properly?
Bird flu, pig flu, germs in the toilet….all these have helped fuel a paranoia about germs, but do you really know how to wash hands properly? In the chemist, at the airport and even at the supermarket checkout we see the seductive little bottles of antibacterial gel that promise to kill almost everything….what the heck…I can buy peace of mind for a Dollar or a Euro! However, those impulse buys, that are easy to catch since everybody is afraid of being “dirty” or “catching germs”, have created a huge industry that feeds on our fears. According to a recent article in the Guardian the US market for hand sanitizer products is predicted to have grown to a staggering $402m by 2015. Read on to find out what these products are, do we need them and of course learn how to wash hands properly.
Dirt is a Marketing Dream!
From an early age we are brought up to believe that “clean” is good and “dirt” is bad…cleanliness is next to Godliness! Our modern society has an intrinsic fear of dirty public lavatories….hospital door handles and other peoples suspect personal hygiene. However, we are quite happy to let our dog lick our face straight after it has spent a “happy hour” shoving it’s nose up the bums of all the other dogs in the neighborhood during it’s afternoon walk. Your pet cat buries it’s poop with those lovely soft paws and then dashes straight back into the house to stand proudly on your kitchen worktop before spending 10 minutes to lick it’s bottom clean….after which it then spends an hour licking itself all over at which point you give the pooch a friendly stroke for being such a lovely clean animal. The reality is that no matter how much time you spend cleaning…and regardless of which products you use…your pets are working 24 hours a day to spread bacteria throughout your home, and over you! So we have a fear of dirt but calmly ignore the most obvious sources…..this is a marketing dream! How to wash hands properly?….of course you are going to need to buy some nice modern products to do that! Enter the Anti-Bacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer!
Dirt is Big Business and a Marketing Dream...you feel dirty just reading the label!
The History of Anti Bacterial Gel:
This modern “fashion accessory” now found in most lady’s handbags and on many office desks started out as a really useful product for healthcare professionals….and these are people who really know how to wash hands properly!
Laura Barton reports in a Guardian article on Hand Sanitizers that “in 1966, a student nurse named Lupe Hernandez first dreamed up the idea of hand sanitizer. The story goes that Hernandez realized alcohol delivered through a gel could clean hands in a situation where there was no access to soap and warm water. Recognizing the commercial potential of her idea, she duly called an inventions hotline she had heard about on television and set about registering the patent.”
This is now the "designer" way to wash your hands! Can you hear the cash registers ringing?
This is of course a great invention since it uses simple and cheap ingredients to achieve a high level of hygiene where normal soap and water is not available. It was designed for professional use by hospital and healthcare workers….not for putting on the corner of your desk as a status symbol to declare your own “Clean Zone“. How to wash hands properly…well you MUST use the same stuff that everybody else does otherwise people will think that you are dirty… Don’t worry, read on and you will find that there are alternatives!
Five Reasons Not to Wash your Hands With Anti Bacterial Gel:
Laura Barton in the Guardian describes the downsides of these modern chemical ways of washing you hands…..for a start most of these products contain more alcohol than a Tequila Slammer….
Read the full article here:
Hand sanitisers: saved by the gel – Link to the Article in the Guardian
- The Anti Bacterial Gel products are expensive….there are effective alternatives that are almost free
- The Anti Bacterial Gel products were originally developed for professional use…
- The effectiveness tests have been carried out on flat surfaces…not on human hands which contain a mixed flora of good and bad bacteria that naturally provide some protection
- The Gel contains alcohol which can be purchased and drunk by Children and this also removes all the natural oils as well as the beneficial bacteria
- 99.9% effective might sound good but bacterial colonies contain billions of bacteria so that 0.1% leaves a lot hanging around!
Take a look at these ingredients - more alcohol than a Tequila Slammer!
How to Wash Hands Properly the MeanyGoat Way:
So keep your money in your pocket, ignore the marketing hype, don’t take any notice of what all the trendy dudes are doing! Take a deep breath and switch on your common sense. How to wash hands properly? Well, with soap and water of course!!! Here is a free frugal alternative to the bottle of Anti Bacterial Gel:
- Collect the small free bars of soap that are given away as samples at the chemist or you get in hotel rooms
- Save an empty 0.5 litre water bottle
- Refill the bottle from the tap and you can have a quick rinse anytime you need it
Learn How to Wash Hands Properly with your own FREE kit!
That’s all you need for you own free kit that will enable you to wash hands properly.
Learn to Avoid the Risks:
Carrying round your own soap and a small bottle of water is both easy and practical…learn how to wash hands properly when you are out and about. Just shake your hands dry since towels can be a great source of bacteria…so along with good hand washing you also need to learn how to avoid the most obvious bacterial risks in the first place. Here is a checklist to help you:
- Avoid shaking hands with people unless you really have to – this is just common sense!
- In a public toilet and at your workplace the most contaminated things are likely to be the door handles and the actual taps. Try to find ways to avoid touching these with your hands…particularly try to avoid touching the door on the way out eg use your elbow to open it or wait for somebody else!
- When you have a cold or flu try to keep yourself to yourself to minimize the spread to others…this is called being considerate! Equally, cover your mouth & nose when you cough or sneeze.
- Learn to avoid touching your mouth and face all the time….hand to mouth infection can keep bacteria recycling for ages…and you will feel terrible!
- Think about those pet cats and dogs. Not only can you get an allergic reaction from the pet hairs but they spend their time pooping, playing with poop, licking their own genitals and then spreading the bacteria all over their coat. Do you really want to stroke a dog turd or a cat turd?
Learn How to Wash Hands Properly and You Will Notice the Difference in Your Health:
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat: Apply common sense to your personal hygiene rather than adopting the latest fashion and throwing money at products that you do not need. Learn to avoid risks of bacterial contamination in the first place and them keep your hands clean with sensible washing. Remember that over washing using any method will remove the natural oils from your skin as well as the beneficial bacteria and will leave your hands dry, cracked and vulnerable. Learn how to Wash hands properly and you will notice that you are healthier having fewer stomach upsets and not so many colds. Give it a try and save some money at the same time!
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Frugal Tip: Best Cheap Moisturiser
Elephant Skin! What is the Best Cheap Moisturiser?
In 2010 sales of skin moisturisers reached over £451 million in the UK alone. This is big business, and the glitzy products are accompanied by a host of extravagant claims about their effectiveness to improve our skin and reduce wrinkles. Are the more expensive products better? What is the science behind the products? Read on to find out the answers and also to discover which is the best cheap moisturiser!
What is Skin Moisturiser?
The outer layer of our body skin is dead but between the cells in the outer layer are lipids and sebum. These are naturally produced and make our skin look plump and healthy. Age, the sun, the cold, air conditioning, strong winds and a bad diet can all contribute to making your skin dryer than normal. And when the skin becomes dry the wrinkles that we all have are accentuated and become more obvious. So the outer layer of our skin needs oil and water in order to keep it moist and supple. The two are needed in combination since water will evaporate and oil alone does not soften.
A moisturiser is a product that combines the oil and the water so that it is retained in the skin.
Modern moisturising products contain humectants which actually attract water and emollients which can help act as a barrier to external irritants. Overall the moisturisers work by hydrating the skin and filling the cell space.
What about Posh Face Creams?
None of us like to think we are looking any older and so our friend Big Business is keen to help us think that we will look younger if we buy their products. Many new face creams are just crazy prices and claim to contain all manner of active anti-aging ingredients. In particular Retinoids are often added in order to “regenerate the skin and reduce lines”. The general scientific consensus is that Retinoids stimulate the production of collogen in the outer layer of the skin which can tend to obscure fine lines by making the skin plumper. The catch is that the medical dose of Redinoids required to induce this effect are many times higher than the concentrations found in over the counter products. In addition Retinoids can cause reactions in some people that actually make the skin look worse. So the best advice is to save your money and look for the best cheap moisturiser instead!
The Best Cheap Moisturiser:
So what is the best cheap moisturiser?
The best cheap moisturiser is the supermarket own brand. Ignore the hype about the posh ones...buy the cheap one and put loads on!
- Buy the supermarket own brand moisturiser and put loads of it on as often as you need to
- Face and hands will need several applications a day in cold weather in order to keep the skin hydrated and protected
- When you buy more expensive products you will use less so in fact they will have less effect…even if they smell nice!
DIY Moisturiser:
For the more adventurous you can try making your own moisturiser by creating an emulsion of oil and water that does not separate. Very simple ingredients like lanolin and glycerine can be used and there are many on-line recipes available. Always take care to follow the recipe exactly since the moisturiser will not work correctly unless it forms a proper emulsion. In addition people with sensitive skin should always avoid products containing perfumes, lanolin, vitamin E and paraben preservatives. For some people a DIY solution is the best cheap moisturiser, but take into account that the recipes can be complicated and you might have to buy some quite expensive ingredients…even though you only use a small amount in each batch.
Take a Frugal Tip from the MeanyGoat: The Best Cheap Moisturiser to use is the supermarket own brand, that way you will not be frightened about putting loads on…since that is what will make it work. A small amount of posh moisturiser will not be nearly so effective and once it has gone all you will have left is the pretty box!
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