I work in a field that requires constant hand washing. If my staff aren’t washing their hands, they are instructing individuals with disabilities on how to properly wash theirs. We’ve gone so far as to purchase learning materials on how to correctly wash your hands. Most recently I attended a food safety training where we illustrated how dirty the normal person’s hands really are. The results were startling! (And for me, being an obsessive-compulsive, they were also extremely nerve wracking.)

To assuage my own germ fears I’ve prepared this tutorial on how to properly wash your hands. This is essential when working with food, but I recommend this as the standard way you should wash every time.

1. Start by turning the water on to the hottest temperature you can stand.
2. Next lather your hands with a regular soap. I say regular because antibacterial soaps actually do more harm than good. They do remove and kill the bad germs, but they do the same to the good germs. If you’re wondering why more and more people are contracting these “super” bugs that are resistant to antibiotics you can partially blame antibacterial soaps (misuse of antibiotics is another culprit). For this reason you want normal cleansing hand soap. I recommend one of the milk and honey varieties for its pleasant smell and moisturizing properties.
3. Make sure you work up a good lather, because this is what lifts germs from your hands and traps them so they are rinsed down the sink at the end of the wash cycle.
4. Scrub your hands, starting with the center of your palms, and work your way outwards covering the base of each hand. Work up the fingers and pay close attention to your nail beds (where bacteria tend to breed). Scrub nail beds with a brush or your fingertips if no brush is available. Work each finger individually then move to your wrists. Most people forget their wrists and arms, but these are areas that come into contact with anything from food to laptop computers, and they have the same number of germs as your hands.
5. The enter lather process should take between twenty and thirty seconds minimum. If you do it properly you won’t have to count, but singing a rousing round of “Happy Birthday” to yourself twice is a good indication of time.
6. Take two paper towels (yes, Greenies everywhere are glaring at me) and dry each hand. When your hands are dry use the paper towels to shut the water off (I bet you thought you should shut it off before getting the paper towels, huh?).
7. If you’re extra cautious (or crazy, take your pick of the word usage) you can use the bottom of your shirt to open the door like I do.

You have now effectively washed your hands.

Some tips on how to avoid turning your hands into a germ free-for-all:

• Keep nails trimmed to no longer than ¼ inch in length. Germs breed under there and are difficult to remove.
• Don’t lick yourself. You laugh, but think of how many times you lick a finger to turn a page or to wipe something from your child’s face (it grosses me out when I see a mother lick her hand and wipe something from her kid’s face, are we cats?). The human mouth is full of disgusting germs.  I carry a travel size of handywipes for times like these.
• Wash your hands as soon as you can when they get dirty. If you sneeze or blow your nose at least use a baby wipe to get the germs off. When you come in from gardening, wash your hands first. Little things like that.
• Always, ALWAYS, wash after using the restroom. Yes, technically urine is sterile when it leaves your body, but it doesn’t stay that way.
• Clean your hands off after handling money. Money is dirty. You can tell from the funktastic smell on your hands after you’ve handled a lot of it.
• And finally, when in doubt wash ‘em. It never hurts to be a little OCD, right?