The correct order for handwashing is five steps: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, dry. The whole process takes about 20 seconds of active scrubbing, plus a few seconds on either end for wetting and drying. Simple as it sounds, each step matters, and skipping or rushing any one of them significantly reduces how many germs you actually remove.
The Five Steps in Order
1. Wet your hands with clean running water. Turn on the tap and get both hands thoroughly wet before reaching for soap. The water can be warm or cold. A study published in the Journal of Food Protection found that water temperature ranging from 60°F to 100°F made no significant difference in bacteria removal. Cold water works just as well, and it saves energy.
2. Lather with soap. Apply soap to your wet hands and rub your palms together to build a lather. Make sure the lather covers the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Soap works not by killing germs directly but by lifting them off your skin so water can carry them away.
3. Scrub for at least 20 seconds. This is where most of the germ removal happens. Rub your hands together vigorously, covering all surfaces. If you need a timer, humming “Happy Birthday” twice from start to finish gets you to about 20 seconds. During this step, pay special attention to the areas most people miss (more on that below).
4. Rinse under clean running water. Hold your hands under the stream and let the water wash away the soap along with the loosened germs and dirt. Running water is key here. Standing water in a basin can be contaminated.
5. Dry your hands completely. Use a clean towel or an air dryer. Researchers at the University of Arizona found that neither paper towels nor air dryers have a clear hygienic advantage over the other. What matters is that your hands are fully dry when you’re done. Wet hands transfer germs far more easily than dry ones.
Areas People Miss Most Often
Even people who wash their hands regularly tend to miss the same spots. Research tracking handwashing habits over 15 years found that fingertips were the most neglected area, skipped by 48% of people. The space between the fingers was missed by about 31%, and the backs of the hands were overlooked by 28%. Healthcare data echoes these findings, flagging thumbs, fingertips, and the spaces between fingers as the areas providers most frequently skip.
To cover these spots, use these motions during the scrubbing step: interlace your fingers and rub them together, clasp each thumb with the opposite hand and rotate, and rake your fingertips across each palm to clean under the nails. These aren’t extra credit. They’re the parts of handwashing that make the biggest difference.
Why 20 Seconds Matters
Twenty seconds feels longer than you’d expect when you’re standing at a sink. Most people scrub for about 6 seconds and call it done. But the friction of rubbing your hands together is what physically dislodges bacteria and viruses from your skin. Shorter scrub times leave significantly more germs behind, particularly in the creases around your knuckles and under your nails where pathogens tend to collect.
If you’re in a healthcare setting, guidelines recommend at least 15 seconds of vigorous rubbing covering all hand surfaces. For everyday situations, the CDC sets the bar at 20 seconds to account for the fact that most people aren’t as thorough as trained professionals.
Avoiding Recontamination
One commonly overlooked detail: the faucet handle you touched with dirty hands is still dirty after you wash. If you turn it off with your bare hand, you pick up some of those germs right back. In public restrooms, use a paper towel as a barrier to turn off the tap and to open the door on your way out. At home this is less of a concern, but it’s worth knowing if you’re washing your hands because you’ve handled raw meat or been around someone who’s sick.
When Soap and Water Aren’t Available
Hand sanitizer is a reasonable backup, not a replacement. Use one that contains at least 60% alcohol. Sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60% and 95% are the most effective at killing germs. Products with lower alcohol content, or those that aren’t alcohol-based, don’t work nearly as well.
That said, sanitizer has real limitations. It doesn’t remove visible dirt or grease, and it’s less effective against certain types of germs, including norovirus and bacterial spores. If your hands are visibly dirty, or you’ve been gardening, handling raw food, or changing a diaper, soap and water is the only option that gets the job done. When you do use sanitizer, apply enough to cover all surfaces of both hands and rub them together until they’re completely dry, which takes about 20 seconds.