The Sixty-Second Hand Wash: Turning the Sink Into a Small Pause

Most of us wash our hands somewhere between eight and a dozen times a day and could not tell you a single thing about any of them. It is one of the most repeated acts in a life and one of the least noticed. Which makes it, if you think about it, one of the best places to hide a small pause.

This time of year, the sink gets busier. Cooler weather sends everyone indoors, colds go around the office and the classroom, and hand-washing goes from habit to something we all do a little more carefully. Rather than treat it as one more chore, we would like to suggest making it sixty seconds you actually enjoy.

Why sixty and not twenty

Twenty seconds of lather is the number most of us have heard, and it is a fine number. We are not asking you to scrub for longer. We are asking you to slow the whole thing down: a few seconds to run the water warm, twenty or so of real lather, a rinse that takes its time, a proper dry, and a moment for moisturizer at the end. That adds up to about a minute, and the minute is the point.

Sixty seconds is short enough to fit between anything and long enough to register as a break. It is the length of a deep breath taken three or four times. Done a few times a day, it is one of the easiest rituals there is.

The wash itself

Hand + Face Wash is made for exactly this kind of frequent use. It cleans with plant-based cleansers rather than sulfates, so the lather is soft and low rather than squeaky, and hands come out feeling clean without the tight, papery feeling a harsh soap leaves behind in cold weather. Because it is gentle enough for the face, it is more than gentle enough for hands washed a dozen times a day.

The scent is where the pause lives. Eucalyptus Rosemary Mint turns the sink into a cool, clean breath, particularly welcome when the house is closed up against the weather. Grapefruit Bergamot is bright and waking, good for the first wash of the morning. Lavender Ylang is the one for the last wash of the evening, soft and quieting. Keep one by the kitchen sink and a different one in the bathroom, and the day gets a little variety.

A sixty-second shape

• Seconds one to ten. Run the water warm, not hot. Hot water feels good for a moment and leaves hands drier afterwards. Let this be the moment you stop whatever you were doing.
• Seconds ten to thirty-five. A pump of wash, and a slow, thorough lather: backs of hands, between the fingers, around the thumbs, up to the wrists. Breathe in the scent while you do it.
• Seconds thirty-five to forty-five. Rinse until the water runs clear and the skin feels smooth rather than slippery.
• Seconds forty-five to fifty-five. Dry properly, patting rather than rubbing. Damp hands in cold air are the fastest route to that chapped feeling.
• The last five. A small amount of Hand Crème, worked in while skin is still faintly warm. Shea butter and coconut oil give the cushion; ExSeed® Deep Moisturizing Complex, the cold-pressed seed oil blend in every body care formula, helps hands feel soft and comfortable between washes.

Keeping the sink stocked

A ritual only survives if the things it needs are within reach. Keep the Hand Crème next to the wash, not in a drawer. A Mini Hand Crème in a coat pocket or a bag takes care of the washes that happen away from home. And if hands are doing especially hard duty, a little Body Butter worked in before bed gives them a longer, richer moment to feel like themselves again.

None of this is complicated. It is only a decision to treat an ordinary act as though it were worth a minute of attention, which, several times a day, it is.

Warm water, a soft lather, a breath. Then back to it.

If you would like more small pauses like this one, our post on the five-minute home spa is a good companion.