Homemade Hand Sanitizer
When hand sanitizer is in short supply, don't panic. Instead, make this Purell copycat yourself using ingredients available at any supermarket, drugstore, or online.
Cost: Varies
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- spoon
- funnel
- small spray bottle, liquid soap container , other containers for dispensing
Ingredients
Hand Sanitizer #1
- 2/3 cup isopropyl alcohol (70% by vol or greater) (see NOTE 1)
- 1/3 cup aloe vera gel (see NOTE 2)
- 5-10 drops essential oil optional
Hand Sanitizer #2
- 4 cups isopropyl alcohol (70% by vol or greater) can substitute greater strengths; see NOTE 1
- 3 tablespoons hydrogen peroxide (3% by vol) , see NOTE 3
- 2 tablespoons glycerine , see NOTE 4
Instructions
Hand Sanitizer #1
- Pour the alcohol and aloe vera in a bowl and stir until blended.
- Add several drops of essential oil and stir to help mask the smell of alcohol (optional)
- Use the funnel to pour the 8-ounces of mixture into containers, then label to clearly identify the bottles' contents.
Hand Sanitizer #2
- Pour the isopropyl alcohol into a clean container.
- Add hydrogen peroxide.
- Add glycerine.
- Gently mix the ingredients together either by stirring or sealing and gently shaking the bottle.
- Dispense the sanitizer into smaller individual bottles that have tight-fitting lids.
Notes
- Also known in the U.S. as rubbing alcohol, which comes in varying strenghts but you want at last 70% by vol., or "v/v." Find isopropyl alcohol in drugstores, supermarkets or online in varying strengths.
- This comes in a bottle, and found in supermarkets, drugstores, and online.
- Make sure it's fresh.
- Find glycerine in drugstores, some supermarkets in the baking aisle.
- Hand Sanitizer #1 yield: 1 cup. Hand Sanitizer #2 yield; 4 cups.