I’ve always used hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol as a disinfectant, but now my friend has brought up that alcohol doesn’t work very good and kills only a few germs. Is this true?
I don’t know the death rate amongst the germs, but if you pour it in a wound, the death rate amongst your own cells is too high, setting back any healing.
Use alcohol on objects, if anywhere.
And,of course,hydrogen peroxide doesn’t kill bacteria,and should only be used for cleansing wounds.
We’re talking about disinfectants here, not antiseptics.
Alcohol is perfectly safe to use as a disinfectant on unbroken skin. It works quite well. Exactly how well I couldn’t tell you, but it’s comparable to most over the counter stuff available. 70% alcohol actually works better than more ocnecentrated forms, so some rubbing alcohols aren’t as good as others.
I have found that pouring 91% rubbing alcohol on cuts results in dramatically reduced healing time. The sting is a delightful lagniappe.
Alcohol is great for killing bacteria - just about any lab dealing with bacteria will use alcohol to clean their counters and equipment.
It does take a couple of minutes to work, so you need to use enough to make sure it doesn’t evaporate too quickly
I use 95% ethanol here and it seems to work well. I’ve used it to sterilize objects and also to disinfect minor wounds.
Regards
Testy
Bleach is great – Not directly on the skin, of course.
For food prep areas, diluted bleach is the way to go. In the bathroom too.