My feed on facebook has been full recently with posts about DIY hand sanitizer. I feel the need to clarify a few points. Most of the recipes i have seen talk about mixing alcohol, aloe vera gel and essential oils.
Alcohol - One of the recipe i saw, ask for 25 ml of aloe vera gel to 5 ml of 70% alcohol. Most store bought hand sanitizers contain 60-95% alcohol by volume. So if you decide to dilute 70% isopropyl alcohol in aloe vera gel, the percentage of alcohol in your finished product will be far below the effective level.
Essential oils - They simply do not mix with water, low percentage alcohols, or white vinegar etc.... Adding them to your DIY
sanitizer will result in a product containing essential oils that are not properly emulsified. Using undiluted essential oils increase your risk for sensitization or injury.
I will go with the recommendation of "wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds". But if you want to DIY your hand sanitizer, i will strongly suggest following the guidelines from the World Health Organisation Guide to Local Production: WHO-recommended Handrub Formulations
Comments