The Best Handwashing Methods

Handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent disease and infection. It's important to wash your hands each time you eat or prepare food, use the restroom, cough or sneeze, handle money or garbage and before and after coming in contact with an injured person. Washing your hands for a few seconds is not enough: You must wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.

The Basics

• Begin with warm running water; wet your hands, then add soap, rubbing your hands together to create a lather. Rub your hands together for at least 20 seconds (a good rule of thumb is to sing "Happy Birthday" twice). Be sure to wash your hands away from the running water so you don't wash the lather away. Wash the fronts and backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your fingernails.

  After you have washed these areas, place your hands back under the water and rinse your hands. Be sure the water runs into the sink, not back onto your elbow. Then turn the faucet off using a paper towel or other disposable/washable cloth.

Drying the Hands

• Don't use a damp cloth that others have used: Some public restrooms use long cloths that others can dry their hands on. These can carry germs and bacteria, so avoid them. In the same vein, do not use the same towel even when you are cleaning your children's hands.

  According to the University of California, San Diego, wet hands are more likely to transfer pathogens than dry hands. Therefore, it is also important to thoroughly dry your hands as the completion of your handwashing efforts. According to UCSD, both single-use paper towels and single-use cloth towels can dry in the fastest time: an estimated 20 seconds.

  If washing with paper towels, you should take two: Use the first to remove water and the second to completely dry your hands. Use a similar principal with a single-use cloth towel: use one section to dry most of the water and another section to completely dry.

  Air dryers may not be as effective in drying the hands. UCSD says these take 30 to 45 seconds to dry and may not achieve complete drying.

Stock Up on Soap

• According to the Minnesota Department of Health, there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps kill germs more effectively than standard soaps. Therefore, any soap effectively kills germs. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends liquid hand soap because germs can reside on bar soap. If you do choose bar soap, keep it on a self-draining holder.