No hand sanitizers in stores? No problem! You can make your own with ingredients that you might already have at home.
It is important to remember that hand sanitizers shouldn’t and won’t replace hand washing. You should only use a hand sanitizer when you don’t have access to soap and water to wash your hands.
This is what Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says about use of hand sanitizers:
” Sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in many situations. However,
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- Sanitizers do not get rid of all types of germs.
- Hand sanitizers may not be as effective when hands are visibly dirty or greasy.
- Hand sanitizers might not remove harmful chemicals from hands like pesticides and heavy metals.”
So to be on the safe side, make sure you are washing your hands for 20 seconds when necessary and leave the hand sanitizers as the last resort on those occasions when you don’t have access to a sink.
4-ingredient Hand Sanitizer Recipe based on CDC’s potency guideline:
- Isopropyl alcohol (91% or greater)
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Aloe vera gel
- Tea tree oil
Mix 5 parts isopropyl alcohol to 1 part aloe vera gel and 1 part of vegetable glycerin. Add a few drops of tea tree oil which is proven to kill several common bacteria and viruses including E. coli, S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. Mix well with an electric or hand mixer.
- 1 2/3 cups of Isopropyl alcohol
- 2 tsp of Glycerol
- 1 tbsp of Hydrogen peroxide
- 1/4 cup Distilled water or boiled then cooled water
- Spray bottle
Mix all the ingredients. If you’re working with a lower-concentration solution of rubbing alcohol, use far less water; remember, at least ⅔ of your final mixture has to be alcohol.
Pour the solution into spray bottles and have fun spritzing!
In my next blog, I will share some alternatives to alcohol that can be as effective in sanitizing and killing germs.
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