A kitchen sink sees more hand washing than anywhere else in a house. That makes two things matter: doing it properly, and the state of your hands afterwards.
Washing properly
Most people wash for a fraction of the time that actually works. For food safety the method matters:
- Wet hands with warm water
- Soap, and work it in for at least twenty seconds — long enough to be slightly tedious
- Cover everything: backs of hands, between fingers, thumbs, fingertips, under nails. The backs of hands and thumbs are the most commonly missed
- Rinse thoroughly
- Dry properly — damp hands transfer bacteria more readily than dry ones
When it genuinely matters
- Before starting to cook
- After handling raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs — this is the critical one
- Between raw and ready-to-eat ingredients
- After the bin, cleaning, or pets
- After coughing, sneezing or touching your face
Between raw meat and anything else is where kitchen cross-contamination actually happens.
Why a cream soap in a kitchen
Frequent washing strips the skin's lipid barrier, and hands have very few oil glands to replace it. Kitchen hands crack more than any others, particularly in winter.
A cream soap contains conditioning agents that moderate the stripping. It helps — and it does not replace hand cream.
The habit that protects your hands
Cream after washing, kept by the sink. Not in a drawer, not upstairs. The minutes right after washing are when it does the most good, and accessibility decides whether it happens.
Gloves for washing up, which is harder on hands than any amount of hand washing.
On fragrance
Pleasant, and fragrance is the most common cause of contact dermatitis. If your hands are already irritated, or anyone in the house has eczema, an unfragranced soap is the safer choice while things settle.
When it is medical
Cracking, bleeding, persistent itching or a spreading rash is not dryness. Hand eczema is common among people who cook and clean frequently, and it is treatable.
The full composition is in the Faberlic catalogue. For hand care, see the hand cream guide.