homemade hand sanitizer

[Northland Naturals]

with a newborn at home and a slew of people expecting to roll through the house and hold him, hand sanitizer is in high demand. i bought some 'all natural' stuff at whole foods and looked through the ingredients. it says 62% alcohol and has aloe vera, vegetable glycerin, and some citrus essential oils in it.

i have found a few recipes online, but wanted to see if anyone here had any experience making hand sanitizer? what works best? i know tea tree and peppermint have antiseptic qualities. what other ones work well?

wasn't sure where to post this, so i just decided to put it in the forum i browse most often!

thanks everyone.

 

[Northland Naturals]

any takers?

 

[American Valkyrie]

If you find one, I want the recipe as well! I use tons of hand sanitizer in my massage practice, and I'd love to start making it myself.

 

[PrairieCraft]

There was a thread about this not too long ago. It came down to "just wash your hands", if I remember correctly.

 

[Northland Naturals]

i should expect nothing less from a bunch of soapmakers!

i love washing my hands and do that about 20+ times a day already, but immediately after changing a diaper i don't always want to just drop the baby and wash, so the sanitizer works great because i can apply it while still holding the little one.

anyway, i played with it a bit and here are my results. the vegetable glycerin turned to a gooey solid after mixing with the rubbing alcohol that i had to strain out. i would leave it out or opt for witch hazel instead, or just add more aloe. i used 3 parts alcohol to 7 parts aloe, but that resulted in a pretty liquid mixture so it's not really a gel. maybe i should get it in a spray bottle. additionally, i'm too used to EOs in soap and therefore used way too much, so i have a very strong lavender and a very strong grapefruit sanitizing mixture.

so it's not great but it beats spending $30 on a bottle of stuff at Whole Foods because i can't stand the skin drying alcohol heavy purell stuff.

 

[ToniD]

Hint: You should not "drop" the baby in order to go wash your hands, just lay him/her down gently.

OK, I know I have a weird sense of humor. Your phrase just struck me as funny.

I have been browsing through websites like Making Cosmetics, The Herbarie, lotion crafters etc lately. I don't know anything about making a hand sanitiser, but reading some of those websites might help.

Just remember that whatever you put on your hands will end up being in contact with the baby too. You know, if they end up with lint in their mouth and you have to get it out or something.

 

[Northland Naturals]

Hint: You should not "drop" the baby in order to go wash your hands, just lay him/her down gently.

OK, I know I have a weird sense of humor. Your phrase just struck me as funny.

I have been browsing through websites like Making Cosmetics, The Herbarie, lotion crafters etc lately. I don't know anything about making a hand sanitiser, but reading some of those websites might help.

Just remember that whatever you put on your hands will end up being in contact with the baby too. You know, if they end up with lint in their mouth and you have to get it out or something.

great points! especially about dropping the baby and not putting alcohol drenched hands in his mouth!

 

[Bubbly Buddha]

Interestingly some bacteria which is found in the bowel (and therefore in fecal matter) is not killed by hand sanitizer. Sorry, just a nerdy fact! :wink: