On average, we apply hand sanitizer up to five times a day, which means that in less than a month, we use up a 1oz. (30 mL) bottle of Purell or Kolonya™! It’s crazy to think about just how much sanitizer we use! What may be even crazier is just how little care companies seem to take when it comes to what’s actually going in their hand sanitizer formulas. For example, that dry, cracked skin you experience after using a rinse-free cleanser? Yeah, that could’ve been avoided.

Before we get to how we formulate a hand cleanser that is moisturizing, let’s start with the science behind it all. Esas Beauty customers often ask us—do skincare products even enter the skin? Fortunately, the skin’s upper most layer—stratum corneum (SC)—is very tough, and it’s actually VERY hard to penetrate this top layer. Silicones, heavy oils, and waxes typically sit on the SC and never actually perforate it without the help of the entire formulation.

Other than if the skin is broken, the main route of passage into the SC is through a skincare product that either 1) alters the pH of your skin or 2) uses chemicals small enough to penetrate it. You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with my poor dried and cracked hands?”

Well, alcohol is used in hand sanitizers to kill bacteria and viruses by taking advantage of alcohol’s drying effect, which also strips the oils from the SC. In the oil stripping process, the skin’s pH will be altered, degrading the skin strength and overall moisture very quickly. The skin becomes thirsty immediately, and most hand sanitizers fail to include moisturizing nutrients that can penetrate the SC post-sanitizing. In fact, we’d argue they take it one step further in the wrong direction, adding things like carbomer and denatured alcohol. It’s important that either the sanitizer itself or the moisturizer used after replenishes the skin in the best way possible.

We formulated our kolonya to work in four ways:

1) Kill 99.9% of germs with organic alcohol at 70% and colloidal silver

2) After the alcohol evaporates, moisturize with plant-based hyaluronic acid and coconut glycerin at high levels within the formula

3) Fortify with natural vitamins A, C, E, K, and resveratrol found in grape leaf, chlorophyll, and burdock root

4) Seal and protect the skin with Medium Chain Triglycerides extracted from coconut and organic essential oils

TL;DR: Skincare needs to be more thoughtfully developed, and the regulations currently shared across major companies are often outdated. This results in everyday products such as hand cleansers with negative effects that include dried out skin. Esas Beauty is using science to change the status quo and harness the benefits of ingredients like organic alcohol and hyaluronic acid to effectively clean and moisturize, saving you time and giving you peace of mind.