CleanWell foaming soaps

There’s been a lot of sickness in my house recently. 

First, there was 6 months of cancer, treated by chemotherapy that kills bone marrow, white blood cells, and ultimately immune systems.  We had to isolate ourselves and the kids from the rest of the world to a large extent, turning down playdates with kids who had colds, staying away from the public library, the Ikea playspace, and other indoor playgrounds.  Every dinner out turned into a massive cleaning expedition first, as we surreptitiously wiped down the table, the high chair, the condiments, the silverware, and our hands with antibacterial wipes. 

Then, there was the horrible gastrointestinal bug that we fought last week, where almost everyone ended up throwing up or spending large amounts of time, um, indisposed.

Before that, there was a newborn in the house who needed special care and copious amounts of handwashing by everyone else.

Needless to say, we go through an awful lot of antibacterial soap.  Now, I know that antibacterial soap is not strictly necessary for most families, particularly with prolonged handwashing, but I just can’t guarantee that my 3 year old and everyone else in the household spends 5 minutes at the sink each time.  Heck, I can’t guarantee that I spend 5 minutes in the shower, some days are so rushed!  So we use antibacterial soap and it seems to help.

A couple weeks ago, Parent Bloggers sent us a big box of CleanWell all-natural antibacterial hand wash and several bottles of hand sanitizer.  When we opened the box, it was like Christmas all over again.  Three bottles of foaming hand wash in delicious colors and scents — orange vanilla, green ginger bergamot, and lavender absolute — were accompained by travel bottles of hand sanitizer and a big one for the kitchen counter.  My three-year-old was so tickled by the bottles he immediately said, “I want to wash mine hands!”  When I asked him which bottle should go in which bathroom, he said “Leave the orange one down here.  I really like it!”  And he proceeded to wash his hands without prompting.  Oooh, I was impressed.

The box arrived just in time for flu season in our house.  While the boys were down for the count, I used the foaming hand wash over and over again — and I didn’t get sick!  That’s right.  Because of frequent handwashing with good antibacterial soap (and isolating the sick ones in a single comfy room), I — the woman with cancer — was the only healthy one in the house.  Pretty impressive, huh?

The foaming hand soap is a neat trick.  It makes little ones laugh, pumps out just the right amount, and helps everyone remember to lather the soap up on our hands FIRST and then rinse it off under the water. 

And if a soap can do that, I’m impressed.