Pardon me while I rant:

Why is the adhesive on bandaids (all brands, not just one) getting worse and worse?

When I apply one to clean, dry skin, it falls off in a few hours. I have to put white tape around it to last the day.

I thought it was just me. But recently I found some old Elastoplast bandaids, sealed in plastic, in the pocket of an old pack -- probably 10 years old. I used it on a nick on my finger. It stayed on for four days, through repeated washing and everything. The ones I bought recently -- same brand -- don't even last half a day.

Does anyone still make a bandaid that stays on?

3M Nexcare Waterproof Bandaids seem to do a pretty good job of staying on.

Put some Tincture of Benzoin on your skin under where the bandaids adhesive part will go. Let it dry. Apply bandaid. It will stick much better. Unfortunately, it also turns your skin yellow/brown, which comes off pretty soon though. A bottle lasts a very long time, one bottle may even be a lifetime supply.

https://www.amazon.com/BENZOIN-COMPOUND-...VAKVNDFYEN7YX2J

+1 - agree. They stick quite well.

That hasn't been my experience. I've taken showers with fabric band-aids on and even after being soaked they were a chore to pull OFF. (I hate the feel of the plastic ones). I rarely go more than 24 hours without changing a band-aid anyway, sometimes 2x a day, so that I can give the wound a few minutes to breathe and for me to examine the tissue. Going 4 days without changing seems like an invitation for bacteria buildup.

Hm! You've had better luck than me. Maybe I'm naturally slippery? Politics as a second career?

In this case the wound had just healed, but it was on a knuckle and I kept banging it on things -- I knew I would open it again, so I needed cushioning and abrasion protection mostly.

Both Band-Aid Flexible Fabric and Tough Strips hold long enough for bacteria to build up

I’ve not had any problems with bandaids sticking. I prefer cloth bandaids but plastic will do.

Hi,

I learned long ago, as far back as I can remember, unless the bandaid sticks to itself , like a loop around your finger,
the bandaid has no chance of lasting 15 minutes.

What is clean dry skin?

I only learned in the past couple of years, that clean/dry skin means skin sprayed/rubbed with isopropyl rubbing alcohol (50% will do) after being well washed/rubbed with soap and rinsed (once or twice), or after being moisturizing hand sanitizer sanitized.
The rubbing alcohol helps defeat the moisturizer/oils and let the glue stick to dry skin. Inadequate rubbing can defeat rubbing alcohol moisturizer/oils removal properties. A greasy nose might needs two or three soap/rub/hotwater applications plus rubbing alcohol for a bandaid to stick.

Also learned to take skin stretch into account. Apply bandaid when skin isn't at the extremes of stretching, but in between skin stretched as tight as possible, or as loose as possible, closer to tight than to loose. Sometime applying bandaid lengthwise in direction of the bend helps it stay on longer. One or two days is possible.

But,

Going a day or days without changing bandaid on hands seems very suspect.
It gets annoying, but I would change bandaids every time after getting them wet , like washing hands.
I could see changing bandaid once per day,
If you don't use that hand to touch anything in the bathroom,
or dont poop that day,
or use gloves or shower/bidet instead of wiping,
..
or you're using bandaid merely to keep a thick scab /blister/ zit / skin flap from snagging/rubbing open on clothing.


I also used to apply too much antibiotic ointment,
a cotton swab/q-tip comes handy for that,
and bandaids with antibiotic pre-applied also exist.


Don't remember how bandaids were a decade or more ago, but current stickyness seems adequate with rubbing alcohol.

Regardless of the brand,
The stiffer novelty cartoon crinkly (paper or plastic) finger sized bandaids do seem less gooey than more flexy/noncrinkly/cloth(?) types.

Super tiny bandaids always seem under glooed.

Bigger than finger sized bandaids also appear more gooey/sticky than smaller finger bandaids.

Agree with the 3M Nexcare recommendation: they stick very well. They are harder to find, more expensive.

Fabric bandages also work almost as well

Almost all first aid kits have the rather poorly sticking plastic bandages. Replace them with either the Nexcare or fabric
bandages before you need them.

There is little/no evidence that applying antibiotic ointment, or using antibiotic impregnated bandages, despite longstanding practice and advertising by Neosporin etc. is of any value at all in reducing wound infections. The major beneficiaries would appear to be the ones who make it and those who sell it. I've stopped using it in our office. There is a small risk of inducing an allergy to neomycin or polymyxin with applying these to a wound. Just use soap, water, and friction to clean the wound, then cover it.

agree!!!

I'm appreciative of all the replies, though the discussion has expanded from the "degradation of adhesives" issue (measurable and repeatable, in my world at least) to wound care.

It's important to differentiate between the endless shallow dings and scrapes that come from working an intensively managed 3-acre micro-farm and deeper, more significant wounds.

Deeper wounds (and I've had a few, and managed them very carefully) require the more cautious and intensive measures many have suggested here. Bandaids need not apply; this is the territory of non-stick pads and butterfly strips.

But dings on working hands are cleaned and protected with a bandaid, to prevent the entry of more crud. And then the work continues. I often put a tiny dab of vaseline/polysporin on the pad to protect from dirt entry or water entry from the ongoing handwashing that is a necessary part of the mix. The bandaid has to stay on or it's useless.

I'll try the 3M version suggested here. And I'll check with my father regarding the Band-Aid brand Tough Strips I got him for his Christmas stocking. He (independently) discovered the exact same thing when I lent him an antique Elastoplast from the same stash, and called me to ask if I had any more.

Knuckles are very difficult to bandage. Which is why they make special "knuckle bandaids". A regular bandaid will not hold well at all, you have found that out. Same thing goes for fingertips. They make special bandaids for that too.

CC’s Grab & Go First Aid Kit has a bunch of knuckle and fingertip bandages. That’s the description from the webpage. Not affiliated other than as a customer.

If you're looking for a quick fix for very minor scratches, then what about liquid bandaid? (Basically medical nail polish.) It often protects better in tricky areas like knuckles or fingers, especially if you expect to wash your hands. Sometimes you can combine the liquid bandaid with the regular one for extra protection. (The liquid bandaid can be rubbed off, and water can get through the fabric bandaid.)

As for the 3M Nexcare, you do need to form a good seal with the skin. If so, it will stay there for days, and you can even shower with it. Because it's so thin, clumsy fingers can result in a poor seal. Then it will come off like anything else.

Haven’t read through sorry if I repeat.... a friend who worked for a major chemical company (think Dow/3M level) use to be one of the people that MADE the adhesives. She said they had to continually find new ones because people kept developing an allergic reaction (after awhile) to each one they came up with. My wife and I are firm believers that ‘the old stuff was/is best....find it if you can. Lol.

I am currently using BandAid Tough strips on two places (hand and arm) and they stick very well. I thought they would come off in the shower (had to see because of this thread) and they did not. They are not too tough to get off when you want them off either.

if you don't ever want it to come off, haertig's tincture of benjoin + russ' and montanero's band-aid tough strips would do the trick.

works for me. ymmv.

Yep, this is true. Some of us get allergic reactions -- sometimes bad ones -- to bandaids. Last week I used an old bandaid, and the resulting allergic reaction was worse than the little pinhead wound I covered. So watch out, guys!

I use knuckle bandages and the Curad Extreme Length ones pretty much exclusively.

duct tape. working with oil is murder on the adhesive and honestly band aids are not up to the task. i have cleaned with alcohol and getting oil on them they will still release (yes it is a rather extreme application) . so i make my own from duct tape. it does not breathe well and basically you use the tape to stick to its self but it works and lasts for a decent amount of time. i usually cut a little piece of gauze and put triple a on a bleeding cut, just some gauze or something to keep the tape from ripping of scabs/tissue of a non-bleeding cut.

back to the original thread...yes band-aids are not as sticky or tough as i remember from yesteryear. Fabric is better than plastic imo.

Aren't there 'sport', 'extreme' or 'premium' plasters you can get? I tried the more expensive ones with those labels and they do work a lot better than the cheaper ones.