Thieves Hand Purifier Testing

Comparing Young Living Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier to Zylast antiseptic hand sanitizer

Let me first say that a good thorough hand washing with soap and water is ideal. However, there are times when me must eat but can't get to a sink to wash hands. For example, my children are not permitted to wash hands before lunch at school. Some teachers claim that hand washing takes too much time. I think that is ridiculous, of course. However, there are times when you need a good hand sanitizer and I've been trying to find the best ones. 

For this experiment, I wanted to determine if the Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier really killed bacteria. I got the Thieves Waterless Hand Sanitizer here. For this experiment, I used my children's hands and some of their friend's hands. First they rubbed their thumbs all over the dirty control plate. Using a disposable 1mL syringe, I put .5mL of Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier onto their left fingers and rubbed it in with my clean gloved hand. I let the fingers dry for 1 minute, and then they rubbed their fingers all over the agar plate. Finally, I put .5mL of Zylast antiseptic hand sanitizer onto their right fingers. I rubbed it in with my clean gloved hand. I let it dry for 1 minute and then they rubbed those fingers all around an agar plate. I put the plates in my warm incubator for 24 hours to let the bacteria grow.



As you can see, the Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier did a very good job! It is important to note that these hands did not have ACTUAL DIRT on them. As you will see when you keep reading, most hand sanitizers ( except Zylast) don't work well on hands with actual dirt. So, if you or your child's hands are actually dirty, you need to wipe them off with a wipe before using the Thieves Hand Purifier.

Comparing Homemade Thieves/Witch Hazel Spray with Clorox Hand Sanitizer Spray


For this experiment, I made my own Thieves hand sanitizer. I used 15 drops of Young Living Thieves oil, 1 teaspoon Witch Hazel, and 5 teaspoons of distilled water. I put it in this amber glass spray bottle. Since it is a spray, I compared it to the Clorox Hand Sanitizer Spray  that I purchased from Amazon. (The Clorox Hand Sanitizer Spray is primarily ethanol and does not contain chlorine bleach.) For this experiment, I had the kids rub their thumbs all over the dirty control plate. Next, I sprayed 8 sprays of the homemade thieves spray all on their left fingers, and I rubbed it in with my clean gloved hand. I let it sit for 1 minute, and then the kids rubbed those fingers all over the agar plate. Finally, I sprayed 5 sprays of the Clorox hand sanitizer all over the right fingers. I only used 5 sprays because that seemed to make the fingers wet enough. I rubbed it in with my clean gloved hands and let it sit for 1 minute. Then I had the kids rub their right fingers all over another plate. I incubated the plates for 24 hours in my warm incubator to let bacteria grow.




As you can see, the homemade thieves spray killed some germs but I don't think it does enough to be actually used as a hand sanitizer. I wouldn't trust it. It is also important to note, that these hands all looked clean. They did not have actual dirt on them. As you will see when you keep reading, most hand sanitizers (except Zylast) don't work well on hands covered in actual dirt.

How does the Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier and the Homemade Thieves spray do in the presence of dirt?


I have done many hand sanitizer experiments in the past that show that most alcohol based hand sanitizers don't do well on hands with actual dirt on them. The alcohol just can't seem to penetrate the dirt. I wanted to know how the Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier and the homemade Thieves Spray do when actual dirt is present. Normally, I would send my children outside to play and then they would come in with dirty hands. However, since there is 6 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature is below zero, this is not an option. So, I tested the hand sanitizers on the dirty countertop, just like I did for the first experiments on this page. I put 1.25 mL of dirty "germ water" on each square, rubbed it all around and let it dry. Then using disposable 1mL syringes, I added .5mL of each hand sanitizer to the appropriate square. I rubbed them all around with a clean gloved hand. I timed them each for 1 minute and then took swabs of the squares. I rubbed the swabs all around the appropriately labeled agar plate. The plates incubated for 24 hours.

As I expected, only the Zylast Antispetic hand sanitizer was able to cut through the dirt. Don't feel too bad, Thieves lovers. Purell Advanced and the Clorox Hand Sanitizer do not do well in this test either. My advice is that if you use any hand sanitizer besides Zylast antiseptic, wipe dirt off your hands with a wipe before using your hand sanitizer.


To sum up, I am surprised and impressed with how well the Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier killed bacteria in my experiments. Its main ingredient is ethanol like most other hand sanitizers so it is not really THAT surprising that it kills bacteria. We don't know if it would kill norovirus, though. It is also important to wipe off your hands with a wet wipe before using the hand purifier if you have visible dirt on your hands. The Thieves Hand Purifier also smells WONDERFUL. It smells like peppermint and smells so delicious that you need to be careful that your kids don't eat it. If you would like to buy Thieves Hand Purifier, you can order it from www.striveforhealthy.com or buy it from another authorized Young Living seller. Do not buy it from Amazon. Many Young Living Products on Amazon are counterfeit. 


Zylast antiseptic is a wonderful product! It kills norovirus and works on dirty hands! Sometimes people complain that it leaves a sticky film. You can order it from http://www.zylastdirect.com/catalog.php. If you use the coupon code "StopNorovirus" you will get 10% off your order. I recommend getting Zylast Antiseptic and NOT Zylast Lotion. The lotion has never been tested for its ability to kill norovirus. Zylast antiseptic is also available on amazon.