Alternatives to Antibacterial Hand Soap

Hand Washing

• One alternative to using an antibacterial hand soap is to simply wash your hands more frequently and thoroughly with a normal soap. Wet your hands and lather them well, then rub your hands vigorously for at least 20 seconds. Make sure you clean in the spaces between the fingers and rinse off. Dry your hands thoroughly on a clean towel. You need to either have a good supply of clean towels or use disposable paper towels to keep germs at bay.

Essential Oils

• A number of essential oils, especially tea tree oil, have antibacterial properties. Make your own antibacterial hand wash by buying a natural liquid soap from a health food store. At home, add 25 drops of tea tree oil to the liquid soap. For a more pleasant scent, replace 10 to 15 of the tea tree oil drops with lavender oil. Other suitable oils that you can add to tea tree are rosemary and lemon. Put the liquid soap in a pump container, obtainable in health and beauty product stores.

Natural Brands

• There are many soap products that do not contain triclosan, but have natural antibacterial properties. Health stores are a good sources of these. A triclosan-free soap created for athletes, especially those participating in contact sports, such as wrestling or martial arts, contains eucalyptus oil, which has a powerful antiviral and antibacterial action, according to information from the University of Maryland Medical Center. The soap also contains tea tree oil. This combination of oils is said to control skin bacteria and act as a remedy for skin infections such as impetigo, according to the manufacturer.

Immune System

• In the supermarket, check soap product labels for triclosan, and avoid products labeled as "antibacterial." A study by Stuart Levy, M.D. at the Tufts University School of Medicine, showed that antibacterial soap does not really protect us from germs at all. Dr. Levy and other medical professionals believe that we need some exposure to germs or our immune system weakens and we are less able to fight common infections such as the cold.