This is probably the single most used product in our house. And for that, I felt like it absolutely deserved a “best of all time” badge. 

Look, most hand sanitizers are also skin compromisers; seems like the majority of them dry out my skin and give me hangnails—an act of punishment for simply wanting to have clean mitts.

We probably use hand sani more than the average household. I don’t know if I would call us germophobes (we aren’t the ones spraying down the tray-back of our airplane seats, for example). That said, I hate having to touch things like subway poles, public garbage bins (our street has a communal receptacle for daily trash), gas pumps, and the door handles at the grocery store… things like that. So for me, I add “hand sanitizer” to my checklist whenever I leave the house, up there with my wallet, phone, and keys. 

And Dr. Bronner’s is the only one we use in this house. So for that reason, it’s probably the single most routine product in our daily routines—given we use it every day, and since we tend to swap out every other type of product, given the glut of things coming through our doors for this job. And for what it’s worth: I get just about every product I want or need for free, given my career. Yet we go out of our way to pay for this hand sanitizer (both scents—the uplifting peppermint is our favorite, but the lavender is super soothing, too). Also, the Dr. Bronenr’s team is kind enough to keep us stocked, but we use a couple bottles a month, so I feel bad calling it in that often.

Trust me here, though: It’s not going to dehydrate your skin like most others, despite having the necessary alcohol concentration (62%) to market as a sanitizer. (That baseline amount might account for why it doesn’t punish skin.) 

Plus, those essential oil extracts have skin-soothing properties—not to mention they smell incredible. I think it’ll help you remember to sanitize your hands more often, given you’ll enjoy the process so much.