Best Hand Sanitizers for Travel - gels, packs, wipes, or sprays?
Hand sanitizer is available in a variety of formats including gels and individual wipes. Which type is the best for travel?
Image: The Window Flyer
Soap and Water; two basic ingredients to handwashing that are recommended by the CDC as one of the best preventative strategies for staying healthy. We often take for granted having convenient access to a sink to wash our hands.
However, there might not always be a restroom nearby, especially when you’re in the car on the road, or at an airport waiting to board a plane with kids in tow.
ADVERTISEMENTWashing your hands when traveling
Handwashing when up in the air, sitting on an airplane, can be even more inconvenient. Imagine this – it’s 30 minutes into your flight, you’re in the window seat on the plane, and the drink/snack cart just went by your row. You decide on having a Coke and a small pack of those delicious baked pretzels.
But just as you are about to open up that finger food and pop a pretzel into your mouth, you remember how in the last hour you’ve touched the armrests at the boarding gate, your luggage, the plane’s overhead bin, the seatbelt at your seat, the window shade, the air vent, and finally, that tray table.
At this point, you decide it’s probably a good idea to wash your hands before you eat. But at the same time you realize it’s futile; you need to flip up your seat table tray (with open drink already on it), climb over two seat neighbors, and also figure out the sliding puzzle of navigating around the aisle cart, just to wash your hands in the lavatory. Yes, that lavatory that is at the very back of the plane.
So, in lieu of that, what’s the next-best way to keep your hands – and your kids’ hands – clean when traveling or flying?
Use hand sanitizer if you don’t have access to soap and water
While handwashing is undoubtedly the best option, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using hand sanitizer when you are unable use soap and water. It’s also important to know that not all hand sanitizers are created equally. According to the CDC, a good hand sanitizer is one that is alcohol-based, containing at least 60% alcohol.
Hand sanitizer is a good idea. If you’re looking to buy some to keep you and your family healthy during your next travel adventure, whether that be by car, boat, train, or plane, we’ve decided to you help out by compiling our list of favorite hand sanitizers that are well suited for travel.
As you’re probably also aware, hand sanitizer comes in different forms – bottled gels, individual gel packs, wipes, and sprays. We’ll share with you our pros and cons about each when traveling.
Pros and cons of different types of hand sanitizers when traveling. Which one is best?
Bottled Gel Hand Sanitizers
Pros:
Good Value – Bottled gel sanitizers are usually the best value in terms of amount of sanitizer you get for the price you pay.
Good Coverage – With gel that comes from a bottle, you can control how much or how little sanitizer you want to use. The use of a gel-based sanitizer is also a good way to ensure you’ve covered every part of your hands that you want to sanitize. For that same reason, if you have small kids, a gel-based hand sanitizer is a great option since you can feel exactly where you’re applying the sanitizer on their hands.
Cons:
Bulky – most bottled gels are as big as a laptop charger, and certainly bigger than the power block of an Apple MacBook or Microsoft Surface charger. Do you really want to lug that around the whole trip? Luckily there are travel-sized bottles available, though usually at a higher unit cost. Another strategy could be to buy a really big bottle, and use it to fill smaller, travel sized bottles for your flight.
Leakage – Pump bottles and snap-cap bottles might accidentally get squeezed in your bag, potentially creating a mess, albeit one that smells good.
May not be TSA-friendly – while during COVID, TSA is permitting bottles of hand sanitizer of up to 12 ounces, remember that during normal times, TSA’s liquids/gels size limit is only 3.4 ounces per container. Most bottles of gel hand sanitizer, except for travel-sized ones, are larger than this.
The Window Flyer Recommendations:
Purell Gel Hand Sanitizer:
What we like:
4-pack
Contains Aloe
70% Ethyl Alcohol - exceeds a lot of other hand sanitizers on the market and also exceeds CDC minimum recommendation for 60% alcohol content
Note, at 8 ounces per bottle, these are not travel-sized bottles under normal TSA regulations
Purell Advanced Gel Hand Sanitizer - Travel Size
What we like:
6-pack
Contains Aloe
Travel size - 2 ounce bottles
70% Ethyl Alcohol - exceeds a lot of other hand sanitizers on the market and also exceeds CDC minimum recommendation for 60% alcohol content
Individual Gel Pack Hand Sanitizers
Pros:
TSA Friendly – each individual pack only weighs a fraction of an ounce, so getting through TSA with these should be no trouble at all.
Packable – Individual packs easily fit into pockets, backpacks, and purses
Long shelf life – individual, foil sealed packs are better for evaporation than a bottle of sanitizer gel that is constantly opened, closed, and pumped.
Cons:
Relatively pricey – compared to an entire bottle of hand sanitizer, you certainly get less overall gel for the same price.
Waste – If you’re not near a trash can, you’ll need to hang on to the empty foil pack until you’re able to properly discard it.
Fixed portions – what’s in the pack is what’s in the pack – if you need more, you need to use another pack. If you don’t need the whole pack, you can’t exactly reseal the pack.
The Window Flyer’s Recommendations:
Purell Advanced Singles Gel Hand Sanitizer:
What we like:
Large box - 125 individual gel packs per box
Portable - 1.2 mL (0.04 oz) per pack
Fragrance-free
70% Ethyl Alcohol - exceeds a lot of other hand sanitizers on the market and also exceeds CDC minimum recommendation for 60% alcohol content
Wipe Hand Sanitizers
Pros:
TSA Friendly – disinfecting wipes are not classified as a liquid and such, are TSA-approved in carry-on bags without restriction
Packable – Similar to individual gel packs, individual wipe packs also fit into pockets, backpacks, and purses. Multi-wipe packs are also pretty small and don’t make a mess.
Can be reused – Individual wipes can be refolded and temporarily stored in their original foil wrappers for a little bit without drying out too much; this should give a chance to sanitize your hands before and after eating on the plane.
Gets extra grime off your hands – Using a wipe, similar to a napkin or paper towel, can help get some of that built-up dirt or grime off your hands
Cons:
Waste – You’ll need to hang onto the used wipe and foil pack until you see a trash can. Wipes are also more material that goes into the landfill.
Evaporation – If you get a multipack of wipes there’s a chance the wipes may dry out before you use them all, especially if the lid isn’t tight. If this is a concern, be sure to purchase wipes that are individually packed.
The Window Flyer Recommendations:
Purell Hand Sanitizing Wipe
What we like:
Large box - 300 individual packets per box
Portable
Fragrance free
62% Ethyl Alcohol meets CDC recommendation for 60% alcohol content
EO Biodegradable Hand Sanitizing Wipes
What we like:
Multi-pack wipes (10 wipes per pack is great for a trip)
Portable
French-Lavender scent, contains essential oils
Biodegradable
62% Ethanol meets CDC recommendation for 60% alcohol content
Spray Hand Sanitizers
Pros:
Longer lasting – spray bottles provide better control over how much sanitizer you use, helping to ensure you get more mileage of the bottle. We’ve all had that moment where we use a pump gel sanitizer only to realize we pumped out way too much. Using a spray hand sanitizer should solve that issue.
Cons:
Mist cloud – aerosolized alcohol may be bothersome to you, or your seat neighbors if you’re on a plane. And because it also means some of the sanitizer will inevitably be wasted.
The Window Flyer Recommendations:
Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Hand Sanitizer Spray
What we like:
Travel-sized: 2 ounce bottles (4-pack)
Lavender scent, also available in Basil scent
62% Ethyl Alcohol meets CDC recommendation for 60% alcohol content
EO Organic Hand Sanitizer Spray
What we like:
Travel-sized: 2 ounce bottles (6-pack)
French-Lavender scent, contains essential oils
USDA Certified Organic
62% Organic Ethanol meets CDC recommendation for 60% alcohol content
Solimo Hand Sanitizer Spray
What we like:
70% Ethyl Alcohol exceeds CDC recommendations for 60% alcohol content
Note, at 8 ounces per bottle, these are not travel-sized bottles under normal TSA regulations
Be sure to share this post with your friends and fellow travelers!
Also, once you land at your final destination, consider these portable air purifiers for your hotel room, Airbnb, or relative’s house.
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