How to Wash Your Hands Properly: The 7-Step Method
Handwashing is the cheapest way to prevent illness, but most people rush it. Here is the right method, how long it takes, and when it matters most.
Washing your hands with soap and water removes germs that cause diarrhoea, colds, flu, and many other infections. It is one of the simplest and strongest public health tools we have. Yet studies show many people skip steps or rinse for only a few seconds.
Why soap works
Germs stick to the oils and dirt on your skin. Soap molecules grab onto both the dirt and the germs, and the running water carries them away. The rubbing is important because it physically lifts germs off your skin.
The right way, step by step
The World Health Organization teaches a full routine that takes 40 to 60 seconds. A short version with soap takes about 20 seconds.
Wet your hands
Use clean running water, warm or cold. Then turn the tap off if you can to save water.
Apply soap
Use enough soap to cover all hand surfaces.
Rub palm to palm
Rub your hands together for a few seconds to build a lather.
Backs of hands
Rub the palm of one hand over the back of the other, with fingers interlaced. Switch hands.
Between the fingers
Interlace your fingers and rub them so soap gets into the gaps.
Thumbs and fingertips
Wrap one hand around the other thumb and rub in a circle. Rub your fingertips on the opposite palm to clean under the nails.
Rinse and dry
Rinse well under running water, then dry with a clean towel or air dryer. Wet hands spread germs more easily, so drying matters.
When you should wash
- Before cooking, eating, or feeding a child.
- After using the toilet or changing a nappy.
- After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
- After touching animals, rubbish, or anything dirty.
- Before and after caring for someone sick or treating a wound.
Soap and water or hand sanitiser?
Soap and water is best when hands look dirty or greasy. An alcohol-based hand rub with at least 60 percent alcohol is a good option when you have no water and your hands are not visibly dirty. It does not work well on very dirty hands, and it does not kill every kind of germ, so use soap and water whenever you can.
What most people miss
- Plain soap is enough. Antibacterial soaps do not clean better than regular soap for everyday use.
- Nails and thumbs get missed. These are the spots people forget most often.
- Shared towels spread germs. Use a clean towel, change it often, or use disposable paper.
