Remember the early days of this pandemic when there was a veritable run on hand sanitizer, amongst other normally basic household items? It seemed as though overnight, toilet paper, eggs and hand sanitizer became worth more than my car.
Now, I’m not a CostCo member and have only been inside one of their warehouse retail centers once with my sister, but as I read various news articles documenting such an unexpected shortage, I couldn’t help but picture fleets of people sprinting through those sliding doors towards the parking lot with flatbed carts stacked four feet high with pallets of hand sanitizer.
I’m sure that never actually happened… right? But it was a curiously momentous moment on a random day at the end of May when I was in Target for some household necessities and I stumbled upon three entire shelves of hand sanitizer for the first time in months. I remember impulsively moving fast to grab three or four bottles before anyone else got to them (I was the only person in the aisle), before I realized I didn’t need more than two for my family to share. The worry was real. What if the hand sanitizer runs out again at all my local stores? Do I resort to pouring straight Vodka on my hands in a pinch? What’s my move?
Flustered, I took a deep breath and couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of life in that moment. I remembered that considering we were spending 99.9% of our time at home, soap and water would continue to be sufficient. And that given time, the global hand sanitizer supply would catch up to the demand… and that I could simply grab the single bottle that would serve my family and relish the fact that I WAS ABLE TO BUY ANY AT ALL.
Fast forward to Global Pandemic Month… 6?… and I’ve become a hand sanitizer expert. Because during the last few months, I’ve realized how picky my entire family is to the texture and smell of hand sanitizer. So I’ve made it my mission to source the goods. Have I had some misfires when I accidentally bought an enormous jug of that one Target recently recalled? Sure. But in the end, I feel pretty good about the options that have become my go-tos. And I’m here to share my discoveries.
So here it goes. My favorites…
- Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer Soothing Gel (Duh. This is my default. So basic. So good.)
- Merci Handy You Are Heroes Hand Sanitizer
- Barr-Co. Unscented Hand Sanitizer (This one is a liquid, a bit of a surprise at first! But rubs in quickly.)
- Curie Mini Hydrating Hand Sanitizer (Grapefruit is our family favorite!)
- Kalastyle Swedish Dream Sea Salt Hand Sanitizer
- Jao Brand Refresher Hand Sanitizer (Smells like an Aveda salon, the scent of my collegiate years…)
- FP Hand Purifier
- Pipette Hand Sanitizer
- Megababe Squeaky Clean Hand Sanitizer
- Yuzu Hand Sanitizer Spray
So there’s my list of current favorites. What are yours? During this time of compulsive hand cleaning, at least we can smell good and stay moisturized. Right?
