DIY Hand Sanitizer

The WHO has its own recipe for DIY sanitizer, but it’s intended primarily for people in regions of the world where it may be tough to get the commercial stuff.

https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf

If you’re determined to give home-brew sanitizer a try, here is a simple recipe

Ingredients
1 cup of 91% isopropyl alcohol.
½ cup of aloe vera gel (natural or store-bought)
15 drops of tea tree oil (or another antibacterial essential oil)


Both the CDC and the World Health Organization note that sanitizers containing at least 60% alcohol can fill the void if soap and water are unavailable. In theory, then, any do-it-yourself concoction with 60% alcohol should do the trick.

However, it’s easy to mess up the mixture, so that’s the first problem.

Then there’s the aesthetic aspect. Purell and other sanitizer makers add ingredients, such as aloe, that protect your skin from the harshness of rubbing alcohol.

If you don’t do the same, you can dry out your skin, which can actually make you more vulnerable to infection.


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Give your hands plenty of time to dry. A big mistake many people make is squirting their hands and then wiping them off.

Wash your hands. A lot. There’s no better precaution.

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