With all the fear that COVID has brought with it, it has also made the public more aware of the importance of hygiene and how to practice good hygiene. The humble roller towel is perfect for keeping the house, bathroom or office as hygienic as possible! Simply wipe up the spill or mess, and throw it away!

A 2012 study looked into the efficacy of different hand drying methods with the main focus landing on air dryers and paper towels.

This study revealed that paper towels are far superior to air dryers! With just 10 seconds  of drying your hands on a single serve of paper towel, the residual water on your hands can be reduced to 4%, this dropped to 1% with 15 seconds of drying. The long and short of this is that paper towels can guarantee a 90% dryness with normal use.

Hand dryers in comparison, proved slower in achieving the same results – they require up to 45 seconds of drying to reduce residual water to 3%. Not only this, but air dryers are the least effective method of removing bacteria from washed hands. Contrary to popular belief, warm air dryers do not “grow” bacteria as is often speculated; they blow germ particles that are already on the hands of those using it into the air. This is why paper is more hygienic – it is the friction caused by the wiping of one’s hands that gets rid of remaining bacteria.

All in all most people prefer the use of paper towels when drying their hands, saying that they do not feel as if a hand dryer is as efficient or hygienic as using paper towel.

Leblond, N., 2020. Paper Towels Vs Hand Dryers: Which Are Better?. [online] Blog.initial.co.za. Available at: <https://blog.initial.co.za/update-paper-towels-vs-hand-dryers-which-are-better>[Accessed 01 June 2020] .