BY AAGD STAFF
MARCH 27, 2020
The worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 has paralyzed many cities across America and the hoarding of household and personal hygiene products has been at an all-time high. If you can’t find sanitizer on the shelves and don’t want to overpay on the black market, you might want to consider making your own.
Over the last several weeks, our entire world has been shaken by COVID-19 so, it’s smart to stop freaking out and start taking control to protect yourself and your family.
We’ve been advised by the World Health Organization (WHO) to stay clean by frequently washing our hands for at least 20-seconds under running water. This advice is said to help reduce and stop the spread of viruses, as well as preserve our own health. An alternative to hand-washing is the use of a hand sanitizer that you can carry around to protect yourself, but unfortunately, the little bottles of antibacterial liquid are nowhere to be found.
The good news? All it takes is three ingredients to make your own hand sanitizer at home. Read on to find out how.
A word of warning
Hand sanitizer recipes, including the one below, are intended for use by professionals with the necessary expertise and resources for safe creation and proper utilization.
Only use homemade hand sanitizers in extreme situations when handwashing isn’t available for the foreseeable future.
Don’t use homemade hand sanitizers on children’s skin as they may be more prone to use them improperly, leading to a greater risk of injury.
What ingredients do you need?
Making your own hand sanitizer is easy to do and only requires a few ingredients:
How do you make your own hand sanitizer?
Dr. Rishi Desai works as the chief medical officer of Osmosis, and a former epidemic intelligence service officer in the division of viral diseases at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Dr. Desai has professional experience with public disease control efforts and says that the hand sanitizer recipe below will kill 99.9 percent of germs after 60 seconds. Consider making a batch of your own to keep handy for use at home and while active outdoors.
Hand sanitizer recipe
What you’ll need:
- Jagdish Khubchandani, Ph.D., associate professor of health science at Ball State University, shared a similar formula.His hand sanitizer formula combines:
- two parts isopropyl alcohol or ethanol (91 percent to 99 percent alcohol)
- one part aloe vera
- a few drops of clove, eucalyptus, peppermint, or other essential oil.
Directions:
- Pour all ingredients into a bowl, ideally one with a pouring spout like a glass measuring container.
- Mix with a spoon and then beat with a whisk to turn the sanitizer into a gel.
- Pour the ingredients into an empty bottle for easy use, and label it “hand sanitizer.”
If you are making hand sanitizer at home, Khubchandani says to adhere to these tips:
- Make the hand sanitizer in a clean space. Wipe down countertops with a diluted bleach solution beforehand.
- Wash your hands thoroughly before making the hand sanitizer.
- To mix, use a clean spoon and whisk. Wash these items thoroughly before using them.
- Make sure the alcohol used for the hand sanitizer is not diluted.
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly until they are well blended.
- Do not touch the mixture with your hands until it is ready for use.
For a larger batch of hand sanitizer, the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source has a formula for a hand sanitizer that uses:
- isopropyl alcohol or ethanol
- hydrogen peroxide
- glycerol
- sterile distilled or boiled cold water
