Throw Hand Sanitizer Away If It Freezes In Your Car

It's getting a lot colder outside and freezing temperatures are very likely to occur overnight. Don't leave your hand sanitizer in your car in this weather.

This year, more than any other, folks are carrying hand sanitizer with them everywhere they go for obvious reasons. A lot of people, myself included, leave a bottle of hand sanitizer in their car so they can clean their hands after going into a store or getting gas. It's a smart idea, but it's an even smarter idea to be sure to take your bottle out of your car in freezing temperatures.

So if, by chance, you notice that your bottle of hand sanitizer has frozen, it's best to throw it away. It's not because cold weather ruins it. It's because if it freezes at all, it was probably no good in the first place.

Most hand sanitizers are alcohol-based, so they shouldn't freeze until it gets around -50 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, according to Fox 56. However, with so many newly created hand sanitizers as a result of the pandemic, there's a chance that your hand sanitizer might have the right amount of alcohol in it to be effective.

Now, there are some alcohol free sanitizers on the market as well. Instead of alcohol, they use something called benzalkonium chloride to kill germs. That being said, almost all the brands you see at stores contain alcohol. So if yours freezes, check the label. If it's alcohol-based, and it freezes throw it out and buy yourself a new bottle.

The FDA has a list of hand sanitizers that are not recommended for use. You can use this as a guide as to which hand sanitizers you should buy and ideally shouldn't freeze over.

(H/T- Fox 56)