Hand Sanitizers VS Disinfectants - What You Will Choose?

Posted by sofia comas on April 30th, 2021

When it comes to hand sanitizers and disinfectants, you bump into a lot of confusion between the words - cleaner, sanitizer, and disinfectant. Often products can be a combination of the two which makes it even more confusing. So let’s break it down for you. 

Sanitizers reduce bacteria on a surface by at least 99.9% and disinfectants kill a wider range of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms compared to sanitizers. However, there is a bit more to it. Let’s explore the categories. 

  • EPA certification

Sanitizers and disinfectants are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and must be certified through a certain process that tests them so that they meet certain pre-defined criteria. A product cannot be labeled as a hand sanitizer in Malaysia unless it meets certain certifications. All these products need to go through rigorous testing and certification before they can leave the lab or the facility and end up on the shelf and will usually have a mark of certification. This is something you need to keep a check on. 

  • Germ specificity

Both sanitizers and disinfectant spray must be tested against specific germs. It needs to be specified and tested how many germs each bottle can kill and know which germs your products work against. Sanitizers are certified for bacteria only whereas disinfectants will kill all microbes, viruses, mold, mildew, and fungi. 

  • Time taken 

The time it takes to kill germs is one more factor when you are considering whether to pick between hand sanitizer in Malaysia and disinfectants. Some chemical formulas kill germs in 5 minutes whereas others do it in 1 minute or less. This is called dwell time and needs to be taken into account while choosing and using sanitizers and disinfectants for various applications. 

If you have kids and pets at home, ensure you invest in a good quality sanitizer that will be able to kill and remove the maximum number of germs, especially in this pandemic. Having a good quality sanitizer is great and it helps to keep pathogens out of your home and keep your family safe. Check online and in-store to see if you can get a good quality cleaner that is gentle on the skin as well as good at cleaning, some disinfectants used for households are quite strong and can cause reactions so take note of such things before buying it.

Another thing when picking hand sanitizer, you need to keep in mind if the time that it takes to work as some people use the hand sanitizer and eat straight after. Normally, you need to give it a couple of minutes to work before you eat, touch your face or do anything. This is something you need to find out about and it depends on the formulation and the brand that you bought it from. 

Summing Up

When it comes to cleaners and disinfectant sprays, they are simple, straightforward compared to sanitizers and represent a wide category of products that use soap or detergents to physically remove dirt and soil from surfaces. Cleaning doesn’t kill germs; it just removes them. You can find disinfectants right from floors to carpets to bathrooms, kitchens, and more as well as different strengths and qualities of the same. Always ensure that when you are buying disinfectants or sanitizers, you go for a natural brand that is of high quality. Sanitizers will kill certain bacteria so find out beforehand what it kills and disinfectants, on the other hand, will kill viruses, mildew, fungi, and more in a specific period of time. The good thing is that both are regulated by the EPA. 

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sofia comas
Joined: February 27th, 2019
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