With all the craziness around at the moment, hand sanitiser is in super high demand and is really hard to purchase. The good news is, that it is super easy to make one just as good, if not better than a store bought version.

Hand sanitiser should not be used as a substitute for washing your hands when facilities are available, as this is the most effective way to prevent sickness, but sometimes washing your hands may not be an option straight away, so hand sanitiser comes in handy until you can give them a good scrub under water.

Studies have shown that for a sanitiser to be effective, it must contain an alcohol content of greater than 60%, which unfortunately rules out spirits such as vodka. This leaves you with two choices, Grain Alcohol (Ethanol) or Isopropyl alcohol. Grain alcohol is really hard to find and to purchase from a supplier, you need a license issued by the ATO….so we are going to use Isopropyl alcohol as it can be found at supermarkets, chemists, Bunnings, art supply stores, car shops like Super Cheap Auto. Chemists sell Isocol, which is Isopropyl alcohol 70% concentration, which is commonly called rubbing alcohol but after comments from our original recipe and some sound explanations, we need to use the stronger concentration which will be reduced in strength as we add other ingredients to it.

Isopropyl alcohol comes in several different concentrations, 100%/99%/70% which effects the evaporation rate and is to do with the amount of water content. Basically, 100% evaporates really quickly, whereas 70% hangs around a bit longer and gives the alcohol a chance to kill the bacteria before evaporating. So, we want to use the full strength 99% or 100% ideally, so that it is still strong enough to be effective.

Ingredients

90g Rubbing Alcohol (Isopropyl alcohol 99% or 100% conc.)

30g Aloe Vera Gel (Use Witch Hazel to make a spray instead of a gel)

10g Vegetable Glycerine

Optional: 30 or 40 Drops of Essential Oil (Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Lavender)

Instructions

1. Add essential oils to the vegetable glycerine in a small glass mixing bowl.
2. Add the alcohol and mix.
3. Combine the Aloe Vera gel into the alcohol mix and stir really well. It will start out very runny and will thicken up a little with a good stir. If you want to make it more gel like, add a little more Aloe Vera gel until you get the consistency you like, but be aware that the more gel you add, the less concentrated the alcohol.
4. Transfer your sanitiser gel into a clean dark or amber coloured 200mL pump bottle, and use as required.

Note:

To make a hand sanitiser SPRAY, simply substitute the Aloe Vera gel with witch hazel.