DIY Hand Sanitiser: How to Make the Pandemic Essential at Home

The foremost precautionary step that doctors and medical professionals are stressing right now is to wash and clean our hands.

Now, it’s best to establish that using a hand sanitiser is no substitute for washing your hands with good old soap and water. Wash them as frequently as you can. And every time you’re at it, thoroughly clean between the fingers, under the fingernails, and the back and front of your hands for no less than 20 seconds.

That’s a protocol, and you must not tamper with it. It’s a great way to eradicate germs, viruses and bacteria efficiently.

But for those who don’t have the luxury of a washbasin, such as while commuting, at work, or even in public places such as a bank or a hospital, it’s best to resort to a hand sanitiser especially, if you’ve touched a heavily hand-held device or any other item which may have passed too many hands.

While hand sanitisers are vanishing off supermarket shelves like hotcakes, here’s how you can make a batch for yourself and your family members.

Be careful with the measurements for it to work, but it’s not impossible.

Pro tip: Remember that 60 per cent of an effective hand sanitiser must be alcohol. It can either be isopropanol (or rubbing alcohol) which is easily available in pharmacies. Or you could go for the ethanol (a strong spirit of the drinking type) with 60 per cent alcohol, for it to work.

Ingredients

2/3 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol. Also known as ‘rubbing alcohol’, it is available in most pharmacies.
1/3 cup aloe vera gel
15 drops of tea tree, lemongrass or eucalyptus oil

Method

• Pour the alcohol into a medium-sized container with a spout.
• Add natural or store-bought aloe vera gel. (Note: natural aloe gel is typically thicker so you will need to rub the final product more on your hands to absorb it.)
• Add the essential oil.
• Whisk and beat all ingredients until they form a smooth gel.
• Sanitise a bottle of your choice and pour in your home-made hand sanitiser.

Also Read: ‘They Work 24/7’: How Mumbai Airport ‘Hired’ Bacteria to Clean Toilets

(Note: you can sanitise your bottle by spraying some of the alcohol into it and letting it sit until it has completely evaporated.)

It’s a super easy and effective way to do the job without spending a bomb or panicking when you don’t find enough sanitisers on the shelves of supermarkets!

In case, you cannot afford the time of making one by yourself at home, head here to lay your hands on all-natural calming hand sanitisers.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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