DIY Hand Sanitizer
- Toxic Free Lifestyle
- May 12, 2020
- 2 min read
As a classroom teacher I used to love the idea of hand sanitizer but never liked the way it made my hands feel. As I started digging into a toxic free lifestyle I learned the ugly truth about hand sanitizer - in short, I found that it's less effective than a good old hand washing with soap and water, it's often full of harsh and dangerous chemicals and it's not great for your skin or for the environment. As a frequent traveler working in schools across the country and spending too much time in airports, hotels, etc. I wanted a safer option for when I couldn't wash my hands. That's when I stumbled upon EO hand sanitizer spray. It solved a lot of the harsh chemical and feel problems but with everything going on right now it's almost impossible to find. So I decided to play around and make my own.
Luckily I stumbled on an old bottle of aloe vera and we had all the other ingredients on hand. So I took an empty bottle of EO spray and played around with what we had. Most of the recipes I found online were versions of some sort of alcohol, a moisturizing element and essential oils (specifically those with antibiotic properties). CDC recommends that the overall percentage is at least 60% alcohol (since I only had Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol that was 70% I wanted to use a little extra to balance the overall percentages. Ideally I would have had a higher percentage to start with). Most recipes aim for 3 parts alcohol to 1 part moisturizing. WHO also recommends Hydrogen peroxide so I will probably add this next batch. For mine, I used the following:
- 1 cup Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (can also use Everclear, witch hazel or other 80%+ ethanol products)
- 1/4 cup aloe vera (can use vegetable glycerin)
- 10 drops of tea tree essential oil
- 10 drops of lavender essential oil
- a few drops of almond oil (I didn't have Vitamin E oil but that is probably best or jojoba oil)
Ideally, here is what I would have used:
- 1/4 teaspoon vitamin e oil
- 1/2 cup aloe vera gel
- 10 drops of tea tree essential oil
- 10 drops of lavender essential oil
- 1 1/2 cup of Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (99%)
I poured the rubbing alcohol directly into the spray bottle and then I mixed the aloe and the essential oils in a small bowl and then added the almond oil. After mixing I poured them into the spray bottle. It's really that easy!
It is essential to shake the bottle to remix everything before spraying and with any ingredient that uses essential oils, glass is preferable to plastic.
If you need some or all of the ingredients, you can find them here.
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