Why soap? With Curiosity Champion Lucy!

Prof Lucy, our cosmic blast off box champion (read about her here), has made a lovely short video on how soap works to wash away viruses!

There is so much going around at the moment about hand hygiene so to keep it really simple here are 3 top tips:

1. Soap and water with proper washing technique: It is VERY easy to miss bits when you wash your hands, here is a heat map of most commonly missed parts. 
2. If you want to nail your hand washing technique, this NHS resource is really clear
3. Only when you cannot wash your hands with soap and water should you use hand sanitiser. It is clearly second best when it comes to hand hygiene. If you can’t get soap and water, and you can’t buy any sanitiser you can make some using MINIMUM 70% Alcohol (really you need 90% and above) and Aloe Vera gel in a ratio of 1:1 e.g. 100ml of alcohol plus 100ml Aloe Vera.
4. Soap and sanitiser can really dry out your skin, especially if you have a little one with eczema or dermatitis. Try to keep hands moisturised. If you have a skin condition and have been prescribed or recommended cream for your skin then continue to use that. If not, Jojoba oil is very similar to the natural oils on human skin and can be used on its own as a moisturiser.