Hand Sanitizer DIY

Here is the recipe I describe in my video. The transcript of the video follows below:

Hi, it's Mary Beckett, I'm with Blue Ice Essentials. And I did say that I was going to come on this afternoon sometime and talk about how to do hand sanitizers at home if you're having trouble getting them in the stores.

Now, the thing about it is, is I am actually in self isolation because I got back from a trip the other day, and in the Northwest Territories where I am, if you've traveled outside the Northwest Territories in the last 14 days, then you're in self isolation. So after I announced I was going to do this, then I discovered I didn't actually have all the stuff. So we're going to talk about it and I will show you everything except the actual making of the sanitizer because what I'm missing is the key ingredient which is alcohol.

So, I've read and heard various people saying, well, you can use alcohol from the liquor store, you know, vodka or whatever. But the problem with that is in order for your hand sanitizer to work properly, you need to have at least 65 to 67% of the contents of your bottle be alcohol. And the alcohol you get from the liquor store is not 100% booze, right? It's got water in it as well. And so what you need is the isopropyl alcohol that you get from the drugstore. It is generally 91 or 99% pure, and depending on which kind then you would adjust your recipe just a little bit, it won't make much difference.

So the other thing that you really need besides the alcohol, which I can't show you, is a bottle to put it in that's got a bit of a sprayer on it. So this is one that I got off Amazon and I will put this into a blog as well and in the blog post, I'll add a link to where I got my sprayer bottles.

(This is the link for those bottles... 4 oz Blue Glass Bottles)

And the other thing you need is your aloe vera gel. (This is the link to the one I use Aloe Vera Gel)

Now the reason you need the aloe vera gel is if you start spraying your hands with alcohol, it's very drying and your hands will crack and break and no time at all, and so you want to add aloe vera gel.

So the rule is if you're buying the 99% isopropyl alcohol is two things of alcohol to one thing of aloe vera to make the right ratio so that you're not watering it down too much. So that means that you're going to have to 67% more or less alcohol and the other bit will be your, your aloe vera which is good for your skin and healing so hopefully it will counteract the problems with washing hands too frequently or using hand sanitizer really frequently if you didn't have it.

So then you have to add the extra bonus items which is our essential oils. Now, generally speaking, I use the On Guard hand sanitizer which has On Guard in it.

(Buy On Guard (Cda) OR Buy On Guard (USA))

And that is what I would certainly recommend that you use because On Guard is known to be supportive of your immune system, as well as helping to kill germs and stuff like that.

Don't bet that it's necessarily going to do the job by itself and that you don't need that alcohol. This is too scary of a situation to guess whether or not this kills Corona virus and I can't guess that myself. So my thing is go with what the CDC says which is 67% alcohol does it. So that's what you need to do. So if you have On Guard, you can certainly use On Guard in your spray. Now I would recommend putting in at least in a, this is a four ounce bottle, so in a four ounce bottle, I would recommend at least 10 or 15 drops of On Guard. You can add a bit more if you want to, but I don't think it's really entirely necessary because your alcohol is going to be doing a lot of the work for you. And the On Guard is just going to be there to be just in case.

The essential oils that you could use if you don't have On Guard on hand, which by the way, I'll put a link in too - that is also totally available. doTERRA had anticipated that at some point there would be some kind of a big virus scare of some kind because these flu bugs have been predicted for a while. And so they actually have quite a large stock on hand and they're not running out so you can order the On Guard anytime you want and get it delivered. I believe the sanitizing mist which is the hand spray that I'm showing here, was out of stock temporarily but they are restocking, and it should be in stock now. I haven't double checked that should be in stock now in the US, for sure and in Canada shortly. It takes a little while for our supply chain to catch up.

Other essential oils that you could use, reminding yourself what On Guard contains - it contains wild orange. So that's one of the ones that you could put into a hand spray. Alternatively of course you can use lemon. Lemon is another good one or any of the essential oils from citrus. They're all really good at cleaning surfaces.

Lemongrass is another one that I really like to use if I'm cleaning in bathrooms or any place that is inclined to have gunk because lemongrass is really good for keeping things from growing wild.

And cinnamon is another one that is considered a really good alternative for virus killing, germ killing and that's part of what's in On Guard.

On Guard also contains rosemary, which is another one that you could add and Eucalyptus and clove bud oil. So those are all things that you could throw into your jar if you want.

Like I said you want to get between 10 and 15 drops of essential oil into your four ounce sprayer. Once you've added your alcohol in the two to one ratio with your aloe vera gel. And again, like I said, I'll put links on.

You want to make sure when you're buying aloe vera gel remember Aloe Vera, when it comes from a plant doesn't come out bright green. So if you're buying aloe vera gel to go in your hand sanitizer spray, and the colour is neon green, maybe you're not getting pure aloe vera - it's just a thought. I like to make sure that I get mine that is very pure. And so that's what I have done.

Another one that a lot of people really like for sanitizing things and keeping things clean is tea tree. Tea tree oil has been shown to kill some viruses again, like I said, I'm not making any promises that this will kill Corona virus. You Want to make sure that you're putting in two thirds 99% alcohol, that way you are sure that you're getting something that will do the job according to the CDC.

So anyway, you mix up your stuff. So if you're in a four ounce bottle, that's only half a cup, so if you want to put in the two to one ratio, you're going to put in two ounces, or about half a little more than half full of the alcohol first, and then add in the aloe vera. And if you need to, you can top up with a little bit of water, then add in your drops and shake it up.

And like I said, I would show you the real thing and do it myself right here except for that all I have in house right now is regular alcohol. I don't have rubbing alcohol, and so I can't make a hand spray. Because I am in isolation. I can't just go to the grocery store and get some But if you wanted to do this, isopropyl alcohol, Aloe Vera, and a four ounce bottle is what you need. And then whatever your choice for your essential oils.

Like I said, I really recommend On Guard, at least partially because it's known as a really good germ killing thing. But also because it smells really good. And it helps boost your mood while you're using it. And I think at this time of year, that's probably what we need. Anyway, I'm going to post the recipe and the ingredients online after I'm done this, and I'll also add it to my blog on my website.

So if you have any questions, make sure that you just talk to me or send me an email or whatever and I will get back to you as soon as I can with the answers and I'm here because after all, I'm stuck at home for the next 10 days. So have a really good day. Bye bye.