Hand Sanitiser - a Healthier Way

Soap and water is the absolute best choice for keeping your hands clean.  But lets be realistic, sometimes that isn't always available.  Sometimes there are...shall we say bathroom issues to deal with at the park.  Sometimes there are viruses or bacteria running crazy through your house and you need a little extra help to stop it spreading.  Sometimes you need hand sanitiser. 

a little info about hand sanitisers

Hand sanitisers need an active ingredient to kill the germs.  Most of the time this ingredient is alcohol, either ethanol or isopropanol.  Ethanol is plant based while isopropanol is petroleum based.  Non alcohol based sanitisers often use benzalkonium chloride (which is banned in some countries due to its toxicity) or triclosan.  There are also a lot of other ingredients thrown in there such as triethanolamine or TEA (which helps break down oils and is found in loads of cosmetic products), thickeners, preservatives, fragrances and fake skin softeners.  Most of these ingredients are known skin irritants and can cause allergic reactions, contact dermatitis, eczema or worse.  Some of them have more carcinogenic concerns.

the hippier, happier alternative

Yep, it still contains alcohol but without all of the other rubbish.  This is a really simple solution which uses three simple ingredients which you probably already have in your house:

• Vodka.  Stay away isopropanol (also known as rubbing or isopropyl alcohol) as it is derived from petroleum.
• Witch hazel.  It is a natural cleanser which is also good for skin irritations and inflammation.  Witch hazel is available from the beauty section of your supermarket. 
• Essential oil of your choice.  My choice is the amazing lavender oil due to its incredible skin soothing and healing abilities, plus it smells good. 

Mix equal parts of vodka and witch hazel.  Add a couple of drops of essential oil.  Mix it up and put it in a nice little tiny bottle.  Done!

Of course, as it contains alcohol it is flammable and you probably shouldn't leave it unsupervised around children in case they drink it but I'm assuming that is just common sense.

It's a shame that my first blogging post isn't something a little more organic and natural.  However, to kill germs you need potent ingredients.  Hand sanitisers are something that most of us can't live without these days.  The good news is that by making your own you are taking this first step with me on my quest to live a cleaner life.  We have already removed around 7-12 ingredients, half of which are highly toxic, from our lifestyle.  So congratulations to us!