Nov 1, 2009 4:00 pm US/Eastern
Designer Hand Sanitizers Trendy This Flu Season
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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With more of us carrying sanitizing gel over concerns of H1N1, many stores are giving them a designer touch.
CBS
Now we can wash away germs in style. With more of us carrying sanitizing gel, stores like Victoria's Secret and Ed Hardy are giving them a designer touch. CBS station WBBM-TV comes clean with the story.
Concerns over H1N1 have a lot of us carrying a new staple in our pockets and purses. Just stop folks on the street and you'll find they have a small bottle of hand sanitizing gel.
But Nisa Bermudez, a stylish 20-something, takes it a step further.
"This is berry kiss antibacterial sanitizing hand gel," Bermudez said. "It smells really, really good and the soft beads in there make it feel really nice on my hands."
With names like warm vanilla sugar or sweet pea, these scents are making cents for Bath & Body Works where sales have doubled in the past year.
The market leader charges $1.50 for a 1-ounce bottle, about 50 cents more than drug store brands. Recently the national chain has increased bottle sizes and scents.
Now sanitizers can smell like cucumbers, melons and foam with the aroma of Japanese Cherry Blossoms. There's even Yuletide Pear Vanilla for the holidays.
Even on the practical shelves at stores like Target, more space is now devoted to hand sanitizers, where growing options include colored and fruity varieties.
"A year ago, it was one of those things where every once in a while people might ask where it was, but now it's an everyday staple," says Julie Walz, a Target Team Leader.
If you buy them, be sure to check the labels. In order to be effective, the sanitizers must have an alcohol component of at least 60 percent to break down the germs that cause influenza.
Health officials admit when combined with good hygiene, they are useful, even when it comes to H1N1.
Mary Alice Lavin, an infectious disease nurse at Rush University Health Center, Chicago, says there is no reason to believe sanitizers won't work with H1N1.
She adds, however, that sanitizing gels should not take the place of hand washing in the long run.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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