How to make hand sanitizer

When you don’t have access to a sink, homemade hand sanitizer is a terrific method to keep germs at bay when you can’t wash your hands right away.

Hand sanitizer gel created from scratch

Hand sanitizer is one of the first items to go missing during an epidemic, second only to face masks in terms of frequency. People hurried out to purchase hand sanitizer only a few days after the initial community transmission of COVID-19, and supplies were quickly depleted as a result.

I’ll confess it: I was one of those folks who went out and purchased a bottle as soon as the virus made it to the United States.

 

 

 

The use of hand sanitizer is not often a part of our daily life, and under normal circumstances, I would prefer to just wash my hands frequently and depend on my robust immune system.

I find myself wishing I had a little bottle of flu medicine in my pocket during this flu season, as I watch individuals sneeze their way through the aisles of the grocery store this year.

I had no trouble finding a bottle, but only a few days later, the shelves were completely bare, and the vast majority of individuals were not so fortunate.

 

 

 

In reality, homemade alternatives to commercial hand sanitizers are quite simple to produce and use. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rubbing alcohol is the active component, and as long as your homemade hand sanitizer has at least 60% alcohol, it is effective when used correctly.

 

 

If you completely wet your hands and massage them together to get between your fingers and other similar places, rubbing alcohol in a little spritz bottle will do the work.

If you’re seeking for a more elegant alternative, I’ve discovered a few possibilities for DIY purell equivalents that you may find useful.

 

 

WHAT IS CONTAINED WITHIN PURELL?

So, for starters, what exactly is in purell in the first place?

The components list seems to be somewhat lengthy, however upon closer inspection, it is only comprised of just three fundamental elements:

Water Are you still perplexed as to why this is the first component in a drink that contains more than 60% alcohol?

 

Isopropyl Alcohol This is the active component that is responsible for all of the hard labor.
Cosmetic ingredient Caprylyl Glycol (skin conditioner).
Glycerin has antimicrobial qualities as well as being a natural skin moisturizer.
Isopropyl Myristate is an emollient that helps the skin absorb more nutrients (for skin conditioners)
Tocopheryl Acetate is a form of vitamin E used in cosmetics.
Acrylates/C10-30 “Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer” is a synthetic component that is used in cosmetics and personal care products as a thickening agent, texture enhancer, film-forming agent, and emulsifier, according to the FDA. (Source)
Aminomethyl Propanol (AMP) is used as a pH buffer.

 

Due to the large amount of rubbing alcohol used, the fragrance greatly helps to market it…
Simply put, denatured alcohol, moisturizing agents, and some kind of gelling agent are the main ingredients of gel hand sanitizers. That’s all there is to it.

The skin conditioners come in useful if you’re using it numerous times a day, and they may help prevent dry hands from occurring. In reality, they’re not required, and using a separate lotion to prevent dry skin is just as effective as wearing them.

 

 

Gelling agents are used to make the hand sanitizer sit nicely in your hand and avoid leaking, which in turn encourages more people to use it as a consequence of its convenience. Using anything that spills or produces a mess makes you less inclined to utilize it. They are also optional due to the fact that they are not actually sanitizing your hands.

So the only item that can be used to sanitize your hands is alcohol (and maybe the glycerine if you want to get technical). Using rubbing alcohol (at least 60% concentration) in a squirt or spray bottle is the quickest and most straightforward method of making an efficient DIY hand sanitizer.

That being said, if you’re interested in genuinely attempting to recreate a gel hand sanitizer using skin conditioners and a gel texture, continue reading….

 

 

GEL FOR HAND SANITIZATION: HOW TO MAKE IT

According to some sources on the internet, a super-simple DIY gel hand sanitizer that just requires two parts 90+ percent rubbing alcohol and one part aloe vera gel may be created with only two ingredients.

My first assumption was that 2 parts alcohol would never result in a “gel,” but I decided to put it to the test…

Ingredients for making your own hand sanitizer gel
Aloe vera gel is used to sanitize the surface of the skin while also providing skin conditioners and a gel-like structure, at the very least according to theory.

Aloe vera gel, on the other hand, is mostly composed of alcohol. Or, at the very least, the vast majority of the bright green “after sun gel” bottles that are readily accessible. Their components list is formatted in the same same manner as Purell’s… Water, denatured alcohol, and glycerine are the first three ingredients, followed by a lengthy list of stabilizers and gelling agents, and the last ingredient is a teeny-tiny amount of aloe juice.

I doubt that aloe gel has anything near the requisite 60 percent alcohol, but it does include a large number of chemical gelling compounds that operate best when alcohol is present (plus a few skin conditioners for good measure).

 

 

 

(It’s really rather difficult to produce a gel out of alcohol. Agar, gelatin, and arrowroot are examples of substances that will not function in a high alcohol solution. I attempted to come up with a more natural variant for the sake of science, but polymers are the ones that function…)

In a container, one part aloe gel and two parts alcohol were combined…

 

 

Making your own hand sanitizer gel at home

91 percent ethanol and one part aloe gel are combined in a container but have not yet been blended.

They had to be shaken vigorously for a long time before they came together, and the mixture was originally rather thin. I was not persuaded in the least.

When I went to pick up the bottle about a half hour later, it had really thickened significantly. Simply shaking the bottle would reveal that air bubbles were trapped within the gel in the bottle.

If you look carefully, you can see them in there, being contained in a perfectly acceptable homemade hand sanitizer gel mixture.

 

 

Hand sanitizer using aloe gel makes a loose gel that really contains bubbles and is far thicker than hand sanitizer containing just alcohol.
Hand sanitizer using aloe gel makes a loose gel that really contains bubbles and is far thicker than hand sanitizer containing just alcohol.

There is one more important component missing…fragrance. Despite the fact that it is officially optional, this product smells awful. This product smells like extremely strong rubbing alcohol, which is not pleasant to the nose at all.

 

 

 

The only reason I asked my husband to hold it in his hands was so that I could take a photo for the story, and he flatly refused. It’s just too smelly.

If you want to persuade someone to use this, try adding a few drops of a pleasant smell in the mix as well. It might be anything as simple as lavender or tea tree essential oil, both of which have anti-microbial qualities.

 

 

 

SPRAY OF HANDS SANITIZER MADE AT HOME

If the pile of chemical gelling agents isn’t your cup of tea, then don’t bother making hand sanitizer gel at all. Instead, use a straightforward spray.

Indeed, all “natural” hand sanitizers are available as sprays rather than gels, which is why they are so popular.

There are just four components in Dr. Bronners Hand Sanitizer Spray: ethanol (alcohol), water (glycerine), and a few drops of essential oil (aroma) for fragrance.

You could produce a similar product at home, beginning with a bottle filled at least two-thirds of the way with rubbing alcohol that is at least 90 percent alcohol and shaking it vigorously. Incorporate some glycerine as a skin conditioner (as well as antibacterial capabilities) before filling the bottle with water and a few drops of aroma.

The end result is the same hand sanitizer that is now being sold for $20 an ounce on the internet by online profiteers.

 

 

 

THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT DO NOT WORK.

A basic solution like rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle may be successful; nevertheless, there are many more suggestions that are not.

Vodka is a neutral alcoholic beverage, although the majority of brands do not contain enough alcohol to be considered hand sanitizers. For a beverage to contain 60% alcohol, it must be 120 proof or above; most vodka is 80 proof. However, grain alcohol with a high proof is an exception and would work.

 

 

Keep it aside for drinking (or make a batch of echinacea tincture, which helps in other ways).

Witch hazel, on the other hand, may not contain sufficient alcohol to be effective. Thayer’s Witch Hazel, which I have on my shelf, has just 10% alcohol and the remainder is primarily glycerine, according to the label. Despite the fact that it is anti-bacterial, it is not powerful enough to be considered a hand sanitizer.

 

 

 

There are a variety of hand sanitizers available that do not include alcohol. It seems that the majority of them make use of Thymol, which is derived from thyme leaves. Among the products on the market are clean well hand sanitizer and Seventh Generation Disinfecting Surface Wipes, which promise the same 99.99 percent efficacy as other alcohol-based brands.

 

 

 

I’ve read claims that a few drops of thyme essential oil in water may be used to make DIY hand sanitizer, but I wouldn’t put my money on that claim. While there are a variety of antimicrobial herbs and plants available, going for hand sanitizer indicates that you have a strong cause to suspect you have touched something harmful, and I wouldn’t put my confidence in a few drops of essential oil to get the job done either.

Always remember that hand washing is the most effective method of avoiding the transmission of surface bacteria; nevertheless, in a pinch, homemade alcohol hand sanitizer can suffice until you can get to a sink to wash your hands properly.