Initial Report

Initial Report
All Terrain Hikers Hand Sanz

October 10, 2005

Manufacturer: All Terrain
Manufacturer URL: http://www.allterrainco.com/
MSRP: $2.99 US
Listed Weight: N/A
Tested Weight: 2.75 oz/78 g

Tester Name: Colleen Porter
Gender: female
Age: 30
Height: 5'8"/1.73 m
Weight: 140 lb/64 kg
Email address: tarbubble at yahoo dot com
Location: Orange County, CA

Backpacking History: I’ve been backpacking for 10 years, usually with my husband. We used to be heavyweights, but having children forced us to go ultralight, and now on my own my 3-season base weight hovers around 13 lb/6 kg. On family trips the weight usually doubles. I just had my second child in June of this year and he has already been on his first backpacking trip. Our 3-season backpacking haunts are the San Gabriels, The Santa Anas, the Sierra Nevada, and the Grand Canyon, and winters find me in the Mojave and Colorado deserts.

Product Description: A hand sanitizing gel that claims to use exclusively naturally-derived ingredients. I am testing it in a 2 oz/60 ml plastic squeeze bottle with a "press to open" style lid. The active ingredient is Ethyl Alcohol, and the inactive ingredients are purified water, wood cellulose, vegetable glycerine, aloe vera, Vitamin E, a grapefruit/orange/lime seed oil complex, and food grade colorant. It is slightly green-tinted.

Field Conditions: Over the next four months I am very likely to visit both the low and high deserts of the southwestern region of the United States, possibly the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, plus the Santa Ana and San Gabriel mountains. Terrain will include sand, mud, and a wide variety of rock. Maybe even snow. Trails will range from wide and well-maintained to water-damaged and neglected, level to steep, forest-clad to exposed. We are planning four or more nights of camping this month in a local park and in Joshua Tree National Park, will pack into the waterless Mecca Hills in November, and possibly into the Orocopia or Whipple Mountains in December. Once the snow falls, we will head to the high mountains to try snow-camping. Temperatures will likely range from 95 F/35 C to at or just below freezing. Weather should mostly be dry, unless we are blessed with snow & rain within the next four months.

Initial Impressions: Of course the first thing I did was open the bottle and squirt the stuff into my hand. It smelled strongly of ethyl alcohol, which is hardly surprising since that is the active ingredient. I rubbed the Hand Sanz all over my hands and noticed that its texture is slightly different than I expected - it is a little thicker and perhaps a bit more slippery than other hand sanitizing gels I have used. Slippery only describes the texture - it stayed in place a little better than the thinner hand gels I am accustomed to. As the gel dried, it entered a sort of tacky state where my hands felt slightly sticky, but then it dried out completely, leaving no trace on my hands that I could detect. However, when I later got my hands wet, I could very definitely feel that the gel had left some sort of residue or coating on my hands, because the water rehydrated it and my hands felt somewhat slippery. This seems consistent with the claim that the gel also moisturizes - it definitely provides some sort of barrier for the skin. The bottle states that wood cellulose is used as the thickening and moisturizing agent.

There is an extremely faint scent left on my hands after using the Hand Sanz, only detectable if I hold my hand right up to my nose. It's not a perfume-y sort of smell, just the faintest hint of a smell that I can't even name. It's not citrusy, like I would have expected from the citrus-seed oils in the ingredients. Just the barest scent of cleanness.

Test Plan

Moisturizing. I'll be using the Hand Sanz primarily in the deserts of southern California, so the moisturizing element will be put to the test. The cold, dry desert winter winds can suck enough moisture out of the skin that it begins to crack. Will the Hand Sanz help ward off the dryness? I have used other sanitizer gels that promised to moisturize as well as sanitize, but they still left my hands dry. The Hand Sanz seems to actually leave an imperceptible coating on my hands, which I hope may help protect them from the winds.

Cleanliness. Obviously I won’t be putting my hands under a microscope or performing a bacteriological culture, but will it get the job done as far as I can tell? I change diapers about 10 times a day (at home and on the trail), so hand sanitizer is sometimes my best friend, especially for those emergency parking-lot diaper changes. Beyond that, it’s a great convenience item in the backcountry – washing hands takes time & water, and sanitizer is enough in most situations.

All-Terrain was kind enough to provide me with four bottles for testing, so for the next four months I'll have a bottle in my purse, in my pack, and in the car. I'll lock up all my other hand sanitizing gels and use only the All-Terrain.

Many thanks to both All Terrain and BGT for the opportunity to test the Hiker's Hand Sanz.

Read more reviews of All Terrain gear
Read more gear reviews by Colleen Porter

Reviews > Personal Hygiene > Toiletries > All Terrain Hikers Hand Sanz > Colleen Porter > Initial Report

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