To be effective, hand sanitizers MUST contain a minimum of 60% alcohol by concentration. Alcohol kills germs by dessication, meaning that it dries them out through rapid evaporation. A lower concentration of alcohol results in not having enough alcohol to rapidly evaporate and dry out the microbes on your hands. There are many recipes on the internet that result in an over-diluted mixture which will prove to be very ineffective at killing germs.
Notice that the ingredients for this are also useful for lots of other things?
This results in an alcohol concentration of roughly 63% (being more precise requires using tenths of a cup in measurement). You can add essential oils as desired for scent. There are some essential oils that add germ killing ability such as tea tree oil but I have no idea what the diluted effectiveness would be or what quantity you would need them in.
The recipe and method we have come up with for Do-It-Yourself home-made hand sanitizing gel is as follows:
* 5 cups 91% Isopropyl Alcohol
* 2 cups 100% pure Aloe Gel
Mix Alcohol and Aloe Gel on high speed for several minutes until mixture begins to gel. The aeration of the mixture is extremely important to getting the consistency correct. You should see bubbles all throughout the mixture. The end mixture is thicker than water, but not extremely thick. Once you’ve gotten the mixture to gel and achieve a constant consistency, you can pour it into containers for storage and use.
~ Submitted by Stacy Fuller
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