spread love, not germs

Traditional store-bought hand sanitizers are effective, but they can be hard to find these days, dry out our hands, and sometimes they just smell plain old bad (bleh!). As the weather starts to warm up and we all get outside more, it’s important to remain diligent on keeping our hands germ-free.

According to the CDC, sanitizers with alcohol concentrations greater than 60% are more effective at killing germs than those with lower concentrations. Any hand sanitizers without 60%-95% alcohol may not work equally well for different germs, and may only reduce the growth of germs rather than killing them outright.

perfumery alcohol vs rubbing alcohol

You’ll notice our recipe below calls for perfumery alcohol instead of rubbing alcohol. Both work for hand sanitizer purposes, but we prefer perfumery alcohol because:

• It's ethanol that has been denatured (made so it can't be consumed), whereas rubbing alcohol is isopropanol
• Perfumery alcohol is similar to high-proof Vodka or Everclear, and is believed to have less of a "boozy" alcohol smell than regular rubbing alcohol
• It can be safely used in hand sanitizer and other disinfectants
• It's stronger than a lot of the rubbing alcohol available at your local drug store

our favourite hand sanitizer recipe

It'll leave your hands feeling soft and germ-free!

for a 120ml bottle

3 tbsp Aloe Gel Juice
2 tbsp Hot Water
1/4 tsp Vitamin E
1 tsp Fractionated Coconut Oil (or carrier oil of choice) 
1/3 cup Perfumery Alcohol Liquid (200%)
20-30 drops (or more until desired scent is reached) favourite essential oils

instructions

In a bowl, mix the Aloe Gel Juice and Hot Water. Add the Vitamin E and Fractionated Coconut Oil, mix well. Add Perfumery Alcohol Liquid and mix. Add favourite essential oils (until you reach the desired scent level). Pour mixture into 120ml (4oz) spray bottle, or split into smaller bottles (two 60ml, or four 30ml)

DISCLAIMER: Make sure you are using the safest essential oils available to you. We use Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade. All information mentioned in this blog post has not been evaluated by Health Canada or the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. NOTE: The alcohol might overpower the scent of the essential oils. Adding more drops may not necessarily change this.