To want to buy hand wash

[ChipsCheeseAndBeans]

Not even after hand sanitiser. Just some hand wash as we are almost out. The shelves in my local supermarket are completely bare. There are not even any bars of soap left.

Feeling annoyed at the panic buying! Just shop as usual.

I work in retail and last night practically every item with the words anti bacterial on the label was empty. Soaps, wipes, sprays all empty.
But we had loads of loo roll, kitchen roll and ibuprofen.

Went to Lidl this morning which is within 5 minutes walk of where I work and it was the opposite way round. No loo roll, kitchen roll or ibuprofen but loads of anti bac sprays and wipes. Lots,of bars of soap but no anti bac liquid soap.

All very strange.

SerendipityJane would it be better if I couldn't wash my hands?

I have no idea. I'm not an expert.

They are all within 10 mins in the car. 4 of them walkable.

But my point still stands. You've been around quite a few shops, so exposed yourself to countless others, and they to you. OK, you didn't rock up at your local hospital and shake everyones hands, not being PM and all that. But there has to be a point at which pinging all around the town or county (or country as I read about a man in Northern Ireland did yesterday) is doing far more harm to society that individual good to you. Especially if you returned empty (and grubby ) handed.

Really stupid question, but ... is hand wash as effective for hand washing as bar soap? I would prefer to use hand wash (and have not been buying any extra as we already have plenty in the house) as it exacerbates my eczema less than soap does. None of the guidance mentions hand wash at all!!

Ahh but you're wrong! I managed to find some bar soap in the end.
I have OCD so having no soap in the house isn't really an option for me.
I shouldn't really be on this thread even 🙈

It’s ridiculous. My local supermarkets are out of pasta as well as soap and hand gel. I don’t remember the same with SARS or Swine Flu which to my knowledge was much worse. People need to calm down and ALWAYS maintain good hygiene, not just for five minutes because there’s a particular strain of flu around.

People who stockpile are so unbelievably selfish, they really need to stay away from the tabloids.

Order a 5l one online. A lot less plastic.

I have 11 in my house but I didn’t panic buy them...just bought them over the months when the good offers came on

I buy handwash and bath soap as and when I need it. But if the shortage is ongoing then the hotel soaps I've snaffled will finally be used up. I don't think people have previously had lax handwashing practice, it's just that not everyone had loads in the house, and are now struggling to buy any replacements.

YANBU it’s crazy. I work in one of the big retailers (clues in the name) and it’s been unbelievable.

No loo roll, soap, handwash, sanitiser, dettol or anything disinfectanty, people are buying vodka in lieu of sanitiser , no bloody baked beans either.

The home shop department are inundated too. Sales are up massively. Bosses are happy though .

It’s not u reasonable, but it’s not all panic buying. We’ve always washed our hands in this house, but the frequency which we are washing has increased massively.

This was the Carex/Radox/Imperial Leather/own brand hand soap shelf in my local Tesco yesterday. Loads of fancy hand wash on the next set of shelves though.

I’ve made sure we’ve got enough to replace what we usually have but I don’t really understand why hand wash and cleaning materials have suddenly become such a must have? If someone in your house has it then it’s highly unlikely you’re going to avoid it without turning one room into a sterile area.

It seems a bit pointless to concentrate your efforts on your house rather than out and about.

Im predicting the next rush will be on baby milk, i work in a smallish sized shop and had 3 people asking for it today (can go days without selling any baby items) we can only fit a couple of tubs of each brand on our shelves and each person took what we had and wanted more.

It's highly amusing.... lucky for me I've got bars and bars of the stuff at home. I seem to be a collector and don't really use bottled stuff much anyway for 'green' purposes I suppose.

Our local Sainsbury's was diminished in the pasta and loo roll aisles, I didn't look in the soap aisle, just did my normal weekly shop. I do tend to buy in bulk when there are offers on/shop at Costco so have enough pasta and loo roll to last.

I'm not sure what we're expecting here. Although I was a little miffed that my local hospital didn't have handwashing facilities at the entrance like they do when there's a norovirus outbreak...

There were loads of handwash in my sainsbury's local and tons of rice which my DP said I wouldn't be able to get .. I've got 4 hand gels in my car which were bought before the coronavirus hit .. thankfully... I didnt really use it before to be honest and dont use it now , I wash my hands very regularly in dettol soap but its nice to know it's there if I need it
My local boots has a delivery of hand gel twice a week but you've got to ask for it as they keep it under the counter and are limiting to one per customer the own brand £1.50 hand gel .. I managed to get one tuesday and the manager said they should be getting more tomorrow morning and I should get there for 8.30am if I want one .. I wont because I have 4 in my car and I dont see the need to hoard more than what I'll use
And THAT is the problem .. people clearing shelves .. ridiculous if people just calmed the fuck down they'll be enough for everyone

*It's not all panic buying
*
This is true, I wanted dettol today for work. I bought 5 and got some scathing looks but if they'd have cared to ask I'd have told them it's for 11 members of staff, over 5 pool cars, to use. It's a necessity now and as a business owner, it's my job to provide it

Superdrug had it today,
Shelf was pretty bare,but they had a big stand full of their own brand hand soap.

One DD told me very there are very few baby's nappies in our local supermarket.

Other DD said absolutely no pain killers left in her local supermarket and, of course, no hand sanitisers.

You do have to wonder how many people who are panic buying all this hand sanitiser realise that probably a lot of what they are buying will have absolutely no impact on viruses.

Try poundland. Went yesterday and got antibacterial hand wash, disinfectant spray and cloths (better for the environment then wipes) and 3 packets of paracetamol - plenty of stock available.

Sanitary protection might be an issue too, if we're looking at how other countries ahead of us on the timeline are faring.
Not a problem for me anymore, however, so I won't be stockpiling.

Sanitary protection might be an issue too, if we're looking at how other countries ahead of us on the timeline are faring.

The next problem is loads of container ships being in the wrong place and not empty. So cheap shipping is going to die off. God alone knows how much it would cost to move stuff around by air. That's if cargo flights are possible anyway.

chocolateandchats but this isnt flu or "a particular strain of flu" Its a new virus to which we have no immunity with a high infection rate and with a 3.4% death rate meaning 1 in 30 people who get it will die. That's nowhere near comparable to flu.

In answer to OP I suspect most people don't wash their hands much throughout the day. Also people are expecting to have higher than normal levels of handwashing and potentially to be in lockdown and unable to pop out and get any more so they're buying a few weeks worth at once.

Have you tried TK Maxx? Always loads of bar soap in there.
I have a big stash of hand wash and hand gels because I love Bath and Bodyworks and always stock up when I go to the US. I have lots of nice bar soap as well and that lasts ages.
No shortages at all in either Aldi or Asda today (West Yorkshire).

Try Lidl or Aldi ? They had hand sanitiser,soap,Vitamin C everything as normal yesterday at least.