Home Made Hand Sanitizer

[dottiedodah]

Just saw this on Good Housekeeping Site : Fill small bottle 1/3 to 1/4 with vodka ,top up with Aloe Vera gel . Use on hands as necessary !

Just wash your hands with soap and water.

Yes. Everyone carries sink and plumbing and soap in their handbag🙄

My DH moaned a few months ago when I got in a job lot of isopropyl alcohol (for doing nails) but now he's eyeing it up to repurpose as hand sanitiser 🙄

@Tinabn not being snarky at all but really interested in your comment that it's illegal to buy. Are you in the UK? I've always used rubbing alcohol for all kinds of things and have a few of them around. I bought it last around 6 months ago now I'm thinking is was it a dodgy shop?

A slight aside: Don’t ask for rubbing alcohol as it’s banned from sale because it can be used in homemade explosives

I always have wondered why I can’t pick up here easily! I’m American (living in the London) and use it to get the water out of my ears after swimming, especially in rivers or ponds. Not that I do that much in the UK but it’s weird not to have a bottle sitting around somewhere.

In the US you’d use Everclear for this recipe, not sure which brands sell grain alcohol here.

you can just wash your hands.

You can't just wash your hands unless you carry hot water and soap everywhere you go! Sanitiser is good to use where you can't get to a sink and hot water and will help reduce the spread.

I'm high risk and use it all the time anyway, especially during flu season, its amazing how many things you touch during the day - handrail on stairs, lift button, door handles. I'm useless at not touching my face so sanitise my hands after touching anything if I can't get to a sink.

I read that vodka would need to be 160% proof for it to give the correct alcohol levels, I use surgical spirit (the next thing to sell out?|) but that needs to be 91% alcohol or higher. It can dry your hands out though.

70%+ imported vodka
Lavender
Tea.tree
Cinnamon
Aloe gel

Just until.you can get to wash your hands.
I have also heard white vinegar or witch hazel can be used instead of vodka.

Tea sanitizer sounds very British! Not entirely effectual but would make you feel better perhaps. The oil incident was entirely my fault following advice in an aromatherapy book but trying to be clever and using my actual pillow rather than putting it on something nearby. It was stingy and a half. More respect for essential oils after that.

I know that hand washing is the best thing, I've written training programs post disaster to that effect. I worked in ebola affected areas where rinsing with chlorine solution was the solution and I'd rather not do that again (wrecks your skin). As hand washing isn't always available there's no harm having a back up.

I quite like the idea of making my own sanitizer. Is there a test I can do to make sure alcohol concentration is high enough? Like try and set fire to a blob? Or would that push me dangerously close to bomb maker territory?

I sick of the soap and water brigade. Where do people get access to this, when out and about. ? There are few public toilets, and they rarely have soap in them.

I wish people would stop circulating dangerous misinformation and that MNHQ would start deleting posts that do so.

Of course not everyone has access to soap and water at all times, but splashing vodka on your hands is totally ineffective and will give people a false sense of security, undermining basic hygiene.

I don't know, the initial advice may be incorrect but its now been extensively discussed, meaning anyone else who has seen the vodka mix online and reads this now has more information that they wouldn't otherwise know.

I have to admit though I did research quite a lot to establish the surgical spirit mix and that vodka wouldn't be enough.

Dillydallyingthrough I asked for it at a well known pharmacy and got a ‘look’ and an explanation, it’s only been a couple of years since they’ve not been able to supply it, maybe they were getting rid of their surplus!

People don't have soap and water when out and about. I've read serious articles that DO recommend hand sanitiser when you're not close to a wash basin.

This was not meant to be seen as an alternative to actual handwash or soap and water (not avaliable when standing in a packed tube carriage holding a dirty rail!)But simply an alternative thats all! My own DS has a masters degree in Chemistry, and we discussed this .He said it would be better than nothing ,and obviously a stronger solution would be preferable .But if you had nothing else would still be better than nothing!Hopefully the retailers will hurry up with new supplies of handwash for those of us who dont walk around with a washbasin in a carrier bag!

I asked for it at a well known pharmacy and got a ‘look’ and an explanation, it’s only been a couple of years since they’ve not been able to supply it, maybe they were getting rid of their surplus!

Are you sure you didn't ask for or were misunderstood to be asking for hydrogen peroxide?

What a waste of vodka, i'd rather drink it than use it on my hands lol

We have it called 'isopropyl alcohol' or isopropanol. Can't remember which. DS thins paint with it for modelling. When I asked him for it he was reluctant to share!

It's only 70%, so I add less water/aloe gel. It needs some water to stop it evaporating too fast. Apparently you need it on the skin for at least a minute to be effective.

Regarding lower concentrations, the only paper I could find which dealt with purely alcohol concentrations (as opposed to with other additional agents) stated that 42.6% (though the language is slightly ambiguous) is the minimum concentration effective against enveloped viruses and that 30s of contact time is required:
doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2017.08.025

Since the initial recipe would yield 10-13% ABV, I can't see it being any more useful than washing your hands in wine.

I have a recipe for the witchjazel hand sanitizer which I have the ingredients for at home. I was sceptical but I'll just use it for dog walks and still make sure I use soap and water for everything else. I cant find the little travel bottles though so I think people are onto the home made hand sanitisers!

It's only 70%, so I add less water/aloe gel. It needs some water to stop it evaporating too fast.

That's an interesting line of enquiry: does adding water result in a higher contact time for the alcohol or does the alcohol content evaporate preferentially, meaning that the water is ineffective and it's better to stick to 70%? My instinct is that it's better to have a higher concentration and use more (or use a gelling agent) but I'm not that read up on that area of chemistry.

But simply an alternative thats all! My own DS has a masters degree in Chemistry, and we discussed this .He said it would be better than nothing

But it's not better then nothing! jesus stop trying to justify it.

If people think their home made hand sanitizer is going to work. then they stop being vigilant about touching their face, eating and touching thing when out.

So stop it. acknowledge you got it wrong and prompt people to use the correct % in a home made hand gel recipe.

I've just ordered rubbing alcohol off Amazon!

I agree with @NewYearNewTwatName.

If the alcohol content isn't high enough to kill the virus its giving false security.

The soap and water only people, if you are out and about touching things what are you doing to protect yourself and others if you're not near a sink? I just don't understand the logic of not using an extra precaution when its available?

How does a masters in chemistry help? I doubt it included much virology.

I'm using lots of soap and water but at work I go three classes before I can wash my hands which can be 90 students. A bit of hand sanitiser after each class would be a good add on I think.