A shopper has shared her hand sanitiser shampoo hack after seeing a mum reduced to tears in the aisles of a shop.
Laurie Lee, a trained biomedical scientist, took to Facebook claiming shampoo could be used as an alternative to hand sanitising gels.
Revealing her heartbreak for a distressed woman at budget store B&M, Laurie said: "I was in B&M yesterday and saw a young woman nearly in tears because they didn't have any hand soap and she had young children in the house.
"I told her to use shampoo instead. She didn't believe me that it could be used because it's not 'antibacterial'.
"For anyone that doesn't know. The active ingredient in hand wash is a surfactant called sodium laureth sulfate along with sodium chloride.
"It's the same active ingredient in shampoo, shower gel and bubble bath.
"'Anti-bacterial' hand wash isn't any better than any of these or a simple bar of soap - as long as you wash your hands for the right amount of time.
"Things are scary right now. I hope this helps someone that reads it."
Laurie went on to defend herself when some people doubted her suggestions at using shampoo.
She continued: "I have a degree in biomedical science, I worked for nearly 10 years specialising in microbiology in a pharmaceutical company and I have conducted FDA submitted disinfectant studies on bacteria fungi and yeast.
"I know people are scared. I didn’t expect this post to blow up it was posted for my friends and family. I put it up trying to help."
Hand gel has been out of stock in shops across the country, as well as online.
Supermarkets has been attempting to stop panic-buyers stripping the shelves of goods.
Tesco said it will impose the restrictions as it copes with the high demand from the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest limits, which effectively ration purchases of a huge range of products, significantly widen the scope of restrictions that had previously been implemented on a small number of items such as hand sanitiser.
Superdrug imposed a two pots per person rule.
In a letter to staff, chief executive Dave Lewis wrote that all counter services will be closed to focus on stocking shelves from Thursday.
Lewis said the chain will encourage healthy shoppers to come to stores and free up online capacity, and make 9am to 10am an hour prioritised to vulnerable and elderly customers.
He added: "It is fair to say that we find ourselves in uncharted waters. Covid-19 is bringing a change to the UK and it's clear that lots of things are going to have to shift around in order to help us cope."
A Tesco spokesperson added: "We are changing these store hours to ensure we can serve customers better at this time.
"It gives our colleagues the time overnight to restock the store, replenish the shelves and support our online grocery service at a time when demand is high."
