How to Make Homemade Hand Sanitizer in 3 Easy Steps

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Do you want to learn how to make homemade hand sanitizer in 3 easy steps? The three ingredients you will need are easy to get at the store or on Amazon. With empty store shelves and not a single bottle of hand sanitizer insight, I had to get a little creative. Especially, when I don’t have access to soap and water in the car or at my desk! This what I do when I can’t find hand sanitizer at the store.

How to Make Homemade Hand Sanitizer

You will need:

1/2 cup of Isopropyl or Rubbing Alcohol (99% alcohol volume)
1/2 cup of Aloe Vera Gel
20 drops of Essential Oil: Tea Tree oil or Lavender oil
Empty bottle

Directions:

1) In a bowl add Isopropyl or Rubbing Alcohol, Aloe Vera Gel, and Essential Oil.

2) Whisk the ingredients together.

3) Using a funnel pour the gel into an empty bottle and label it “hand sanitizer”.

That’s it, now you have homemade hand sanitizer, easy right! The first ingredient kills the germs while the aloe vera reduces the alcohol content to around 60%. Per the CDC this ratio is the minimum need to kill 99.9% germs after 60 seconds. CDC resource

Did you know that …
Tea Tree and Lavender Oil are antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, and antibacterial.
Learn more about the science behind using essential oils for disinfecting.

A Little Bit of History

Did you know this isn’t the first time the USA has faced a health crisis! Pandemics have happened before in our history but we didn’t always have hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes and cleaning spray back then. Many of these outbreaks happened due to poor cleaning and sanitation practices. Here is a list of the outbreaks we had in USA history.

US Pandemic and Outbreak Timeline

2020 – Cronia Virus

2009 – H1N1 Flu – Also known as the Swine Flu spread to more than 150 countries.

1981 – 2007 – HIV/AIDS

1981 – 1991 – Measles

1968 – The Hong Kong Flu

1957 – H2N2 Flu – The Asian Flu

1921 – 1925 – Diphtheria

1917-1920 The Spanish Flu – Spread across the world because of World War 1 but this flu didn’t start in Spain.

1916 – 1952 – Polio

1906 – 1907 – Typhoid Fever

1841 – 1878 & 1898 – 1906 – Yellow Fever

1832 – 1851 – Cholera

1858 – Scarlet Fever

1793 – 1798 & 1820 – 1823 – Yellow Fever

1713 – 1747 – Smallpox, Measles, and Flu

1616 – 1620 – Leptospirosis

Timeline Resources: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization,
The New York Times, healthline.com, and the Columbia Encyclopedia

Now with the little history review out of the way. Are you ready to make your own hand sanitizer! Remember this is not to replace soap and water to wash your hand. This is just a back when washing your hands is not possible. If you or your child has sensitive skin then this might not be a good option for you.

I also have other posts that have instructions for making a no-sew face mask, cleaning wipes, and cleaning spray to help you out.

Post: How to Make Homemade Cleaning Wipes in 3 Easy Steps
Post: How to Make Homemade Cleaning Spray in 3 Easy Steps
Post: How to Make Your Own Homemade Face Mask Without Sewing in 4 Easy Steps

I hope you found this post helpful. Please share with others because sharing is caring!

I make a commission from purchases made through links in my posts, at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure for more information.

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