The Joyful Handwashing Ritual: Making Hygiene Meaningful

If the last few years have taught us anything, it is how powerful something as simple as washing our hands can be. A landmark systematic review in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found that washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhoeal disease risk by around 42–47%, highlighting just how much difference this small action makes at population level. You can see the data in this review on handwashing with soap and diarrhoea risk.

A separate systematic review on respiratory infections showed that handwashing also reduces respiratory illness, with risk reductions of up to 44% in some studies, as summarised in this analysis of handwashing and respiratory infection risk.

More recently, a comprehensive BMJ Open synthesis of hand hygiene evidence in community settings concluded that there is strong support for handwashing as a key part of infection prevention strategies around the world. You can explore their findings in this review of hand hygiene in community settings.

On a practical level, organisations like the CDC point out that washing hands with soap can prevent about a third of diarrhoea-related illnesses and around a fifth of respiratory infections, as explained in their overview of handwashing facts and statistics.

So the evidence is clear. Yet in daily life, handwashing is often a rushed splash under the tap.

As an artisan soap maker, I see that as a missed opportunity. With the right mindset and a beautiful handmade bar, a simple wash can become a small, joyful ritual that protects your health and gives you a moment to pause.

Why Handwashing Still Matters (Even When It’s Not in the News)

Before we talk about joy and ritual, it’s worth grounding ourselves in what the latest research is saying.

• A classic review led by Val Curtis showed that handwashing with soap significantly reduces diarrhoeal disease and could potentially avert around a million deaths a year globally, which you can read in this Lancet Infectious Diseases paper on handwashing and diarrhoea.

• A meta-analysis by Rabie and Curtis examined multiple studies on handwashing and respiratory infections and found consistent reductions in illness, detailed in this review of handwashing and respiratory infection risk.

• A 2022 systematic review of hand hygiene interventions for respiratory infections in the community reported that well-designed hand hygiene programmes can help prevent transmission of viruses such as influenza and coronaviruses, as summarised in this BMC Public Health review of hand hygiene interventions.

At the same time, research is moving beyond the simple “wash your hands” message to look at what actually changes behaviour. A 2025 systematic review for the WHO Guidelines on hand hygiene in community settings analysed theories, barriers and behaviour-change techniques used in real-world programmes, as described in this BMJ Global Health review of community hand hygiene interventions.

A separate review on the determinants of handwashing behaviour in domestic settings found that knowledge alone is not enough; emotions, habits, cues in the home and infrastructure (like whether soap and water are available where needed) all play a part. You can see those insights in this study on determinants of domestic handwashing behaviour.

Val Curtis’ influential paper on planned, motivated and habitual hygiene behaviour also highlighted that motivations such as nurture, comfort and disgust often drive handwashing more than fear of disease, as discussed in this article on hygiene motivations and habit.

All of this points us in a helpful direction: if we want handwashing to be consistent, it has to be emotionally rewarding and easy, not just a rule we half-remember.

From Chore to Ritual: A Mindset Shift

Most of us learned handwashing as a list of instructions: “before you eat,” “after the toilet,” “after playing outside.” Those cues are still useful, and the NHS maintains an excellent step-by-step guide in its page on the best way to wash your hands.

But turning a chore into a joyful ritual means paying attention to how those moments feel.

Behaviour-change research suggests that people are more likely to repeat hygiene behaviours when they are linked to positive feelings, pride, nurture and comfort rather than fear. The hygiene-behaviour paper mentioned above describes how these emotional drivers help sustain habits over time, especially once the urgency of an outbreak fades, as explored in this analysis of hygiene motivations.

A joyful handwashing ritual doesn’t ignore the health benefits; it layers in pleasure and calm. That is where a well-made bar of handmade soap becomes so helpful: it turns a hurried scrub into a small, sensory pause.

Step 1: Choose a Soap Your Skin (and Senses) Love

If you want handwashing to feel joyful, the soap itself matters.

Many commercial “bathroom bricks” are made with synthetic detergents and have had their natural glycerin removed. This can leave your hands feeling tight and dry, which is hardly an incentive to wash them more often. In contrast, cold-process handmade soaps retain the glycerin produced during saponification. Clinical work on moisturisers has shown that glycerin helps improve skin hydration and barrier function, as outlined in this study on glycerin and skin hydration.

In my own bars, I use a careful balance of oils (such as olive, coconut and shea), a considered superfat level and a full 4–6-week cure time to create soap that:

• Lathers generously without stripping

• Rinses cleanly

• Leaves hands feeling comfortable rather than squeaky

If you’d like to understand that process better, you might enjoy our internal guide to the benefits of choosing handmade soap over commercial bars, which explains how traditional methods preserve natural goodness in the bar.

For a joyful handwashing ritual, look for:

• Nourishing base oils and butters (olive, sunflower, shea, cocoa)

• No harsh SLS/SLES detergents

• Gentle essential oil blends if your skin tolerates them

• A bar that has clearly been cured, not rushed

If you tend to get breakouts on your hands or wrists, you might pair your everyday bar with a more targeted option for certain sinks, such as our charcoal-based formulation discussed in this post on charcoal soap for acne-prone skin.

Step 2: Use a Technique That Really Works

Joy and mindfulness are important, but technique is what gives you the health benefits.

The NHS “how to wash your hands” page covers a simple 12-step approach with clear photos and a recommended duration of around 20 seconds, which you can follow in their guide to proper handwashing technique.

UK infection-prevention manuals echo this and show the same WHO-adapted sequence in posters such as this UKHSA-endorsed handwashing technique leaflet. Local NHS trusts also provide simple step lists and posters, such as this child-friendly information leaflet on handwashing.

For your ritual, keep it straightforward:

1. Wet your hands with warm (not hot) water.

2. Lather with enough soap to cover all surfaces.

3. Rub for at least 20 seconds – palms, backs, between fingers, thumbs, fingertips and wrists.

4. Rinse thoroughly under running water.

5. Dry with a clean towel (or paper towel if in a public setting).

A recent systematic review commissioned to inform WHO guidelines pulled together evidence on what makes hand-hygiene interventions effective in community settings. It emphasised station design, availability of water and soap, and simple cues as key factors, summarised in this BMJ Global Health review of community hand hygiene interventions.

Put another way: your joyful ritual works best when it feels good and follows these basics.

Step 3: Layer in Mindfulness and Joy

Once you’re confident with the basics, you can start to let your handwashing moment become a little act of mindfulness.

Behavioural scientists have repeatedly found that handwashing behaviour is influenced by emotional and social drivers, not just facts. A detailed review of domestic handwashing determinants highlights the role of habits, norms and small environmental cues in shaping whether we actually wash with soap, as presented in this study on domestic handwashing determinants.

You can gently reframe your own handwashing by:

• Engaging your senses. Notice the texture of the lather, the warmth of the water and the scent of the soap.

• Taking one long breath. Each time you wash, inhale slowly while you rub your hands together, and exhale as you rinse.

• Adding a quiet phrase. Some people find it grounding to think, “I’m washing away the day,” or “I’m caring for myself and others.”

This approach lines up with grounding and relaxation techniques recommended by mental-health charities like Mind, which encourages simple sensory and breathing practices in its article on relaxation and reducing everyday stress.

Step 4: Make It a Family Habit (Without Nagging)

Handwashing habits often begin at home. Systematic reviews of hygiene behaviour in households and schools note that social norms and visible role-modelling are powerful predictors of who actually washes with soap. A review of global handwashing research in domestic and school environments describes how parental cues and facility design strongly influence children’s behaviour, as outlined in this overview of handwashing behaviour in low- and middle-income settings.

For children, making handwashing fun works better than constant reminders. You could:

• Let them choose a gently scented “special” bar for their own sink.

• Turn the 20 seconds into a song or counting game.

• Use a picture poster or symbol by the sink – a technique suggested in resources like this NHS paediatric guide on how and when to wash your hands. (buckshealthcare.nhs.uk)

• Praise them when they remember without prompting.

Behavioural public-health work led by Val Curtis has shown that motivations such as nurture (protecting loved ones) and social belonging (doing what others do) are more powerful drivers of hygiene than fear alone. The British Psychological Society’s profile of her work explains this beautifully in an article on understanding hygiene behaviour through an evolutionary lens.

So rather than “nagging,” you’re better off inviting children into a shared, positive ritual.

Step 5: Protect Hard-Working Hands

The flip side of regular handwashing is dryness, especially in colder months or for people who wash many times a day.

A number of reviews on hand-hygiene interventions note that skin irritation can be a barrier to compliance, particularly among healthcare workers, and that gentler products and moisturisers help sustain good practice. These themes are summarised in a systematic review of hand hygiene interventions in community and clinical settings, such as this BMC Public Health review on hand hygiene interventions and related work on healthcare workers’ hand-hygiene compliance.

To keep hard-working hands comfortable:

• Choose mild, glycerin-rich handmade soaps instead of strong detergents.

• Avoid very hot water – lukewarm is kinder to the skin barrier.

• Apply a simple hand cream or balm after repeated washing or before bed.

• If hands are already cracked or inflamed, follow NHS advice for hand eczema and talk to your GP or dermatologist.

From my side, I formulate bars with an eye on people who wash often – parents, teachers, healthcare workers. Balancing cleansing and conditioning is part of the craft, and we go into this in more detail in our post on why quality cold-process soap takes 4–6 weeks to cure.

How Handmade Soap Supports a Joyful Ritual

At The Humble Shepherd, my aim is to create bars that you look forward to using.

Every batch is:

• Made in small quantities using the cold-process method

• Formulated with skin-loving oils and butters

• Allowed to cure fully so the bar is long-lasting and gentle

That means each time you wash your hands, you get:

• A generous, creamy lather

• A comfortable, non-stripping cleanse

• A calming scent profile that feels like a tiny exhale

If you’d like to explore, you can browse our range of everyday moisturising bars in our handmade soap collection and choose a “sink soap” that makes your handwashing ritual feel special.

Weaving Handwashing Into the Rest of Your Day

The beauty of a joyful handwashing ritual is that it slots into moments that already exist:

• Coming home: Wash your hands mindfully as a way to “re-enter” your home.

• Before meals: Use handwashing as a small pause before you sit down to eat.

• Before a bath or shower: Let it be the first note in a longer self-care ritual, perhaps followed by the kind of Sunday reset we explore in our weekly bath ritual guide.

• Before bed: Make a slower, more nourishing handwash part of your evening wind-down, alongside the steps in our three-step bedtime routine for better sleep.

Over time, these little anchors can add up to a day that feels more grounded and intentional, rather than one long blur.

Gentle Reminder: Not a Substitute for Medical Advice

Even though this post draws on peer-reviewed research and official guidance, it is not a substitute for personalised medical advice. The systematic reviews and guidelines referenced – such as the Lancet Infectious Diseases handwashing review and the BMJ Global Health analysis of community hand hygiene interventions – offer strong general evidence but cannot take your individual circumstances into account.

If you have specific skin conditions, allergies, or concerns about infection risk, please speak with your healthcare professional or follow tailored advice from sources such as NHS hand-hygiene and dermatology pages.

FAQs: Joyful Handwashing Rituals

1. How often should I really be washing my hands?

The NHS recommends washing with soap at key moments, including after using the toilet, before and after handling food, after blowing your nose or coughing, and when you get home from public places. Their step-by-step guidance is laid out clearly in the NHS best way to wash your hands page.

Public-health bodies like the CDC add that regular handwashing can prevent around 30% of diarrhoea-related sickness and about 20% of respiratory infections, as explained in the CDC’s summary of clean hands facts and stats.

2. Is bar soap hygienic, or do I need liquid soap?

Decades of research and infection-control guidance suggest that a normal bar of soap used under running water does not increase infection risk when used properly. Many NHS resources focus on technique and timing rather than insisting on one specific format, such as this NHS handwashing leaflet which simply emphasises “soap and water.”

For home use, a well-drained bar on a soap dish is absolutely fine – and often kinder to the skin.

3. How can I remember to wash my hands more often without feeling anxious?

Reviews of handwashing behaviour highlight that guilt and fear are not very effective long-term motivators. Instead, habits tend to stick when they feel pleasant, socially normal and easy to do, as explored in this review of determinants of domestic handwashing behaviour and in Val Curtis’ work on planned and habitual hygiene behaviour. (ScienceDirect)

You can support yourself by:

• Keeping soap and a towel ready at the right sinks

• Linking handwashing to existing routines (coming home, pre-meal, pre-bed)

• Using a bar you genuinely enjoy

4. What if my hands are already dry or cracked?

If your hands are sore, focus on repair and protection:

• Switch to a particularly gentle, moisturising bar and avoid very long, hot washes.

• Moisturise after washing and before bed.

• If there is redness, cracking or bleeding that doesn’t improve, follow NHS advice for hand eczema and speak with your GP or a dermatologist.

Systematic reviews of hand-hygiene interventions often note that making products more skin-friendly improves people's willingness to wash regularly, as described in this BMC Public Health review of hand hygiene interventions.

Final Thoughts

If you’d like to turn your everyday handwashing into a small, joyful ritual, a good place to start is with a bar that feels as kind as it looks. You can explore our small-batch range in our handmade soap collection, and if you’d like first access to new sink-side soaps and limited-edition batches, you can join our waiting list by signing up to the newsletter form on our site.

That way, every time you turn on the tap, you’ll have a tiny moment of comfort waiting for you.