Natural Hand Sanitizer
I don’t buy into the anti bacterial, commercial, chemical laden soaps. I’m a soap and water girl. No need to make those bugs stronger! I actually have these great soap pumps that I add about one Tablespoon of castile soap-(lavender, Rose or citrus Mmm good smelling) and I add a few drops of essential oils, again lavender or a citrus oil. Not only are essential oils aromatic, but they fight germs too!
Lavender oil is an antiseptic, disinfectant, bactericide
Lemon oil is an antiseptic, disenfectant, insectiside and fungicide
We are getting ready to leave for vacation and I usually carry hand sanitizer with me for times when we aren’t close to soap and water. After reading theis Mothering Magazine article and googling around the internet I decided to make my own hand sanitizer without harsh chemicals.
First I gathered up all my ingredients: Bragg’s Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, Aloe Vera Gel, Witch Hazel, Rosemary oil, Lemon oil, sweet orange oil, Lavender oil, tee tree oil and grapefruit seed extract (citracidal), a bowl for mixing and easy pouring, and some little squeeze bottles.
These are approximate measurements.
4oz aloe vera gel
less than 1/4 c witch hazel (I filled the 1/4 c about 2/3 full with witch hazel and filled the rest with the cider vinegar)
1 to 2 T Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
at least 40 drops of grapefruit seed extract
20 drops tee tree oil
and 20 to 30 drops of the remaining essential oils. I added more of the orange for scent. I mixed it all up well and poured it into the little bottles. An easy way and natural way to fight those germs!
As I said we are hitting the road again for some fun and excitement! My dear hubby has a conference and we get to tag along. He has such a nice boss! We will be visiting Philadelphia and NYC. I don’t know if I will post while we are away. I am hoping to visit at least 1 raw restaurant while I am gone so Thursdays recipe post will hopefully be a restaurant review!
Tags: aloe vera gel, antiseptic disinfectant, Apple Cider, apple cider vinegar, citracidal, essential oils, grapefruit, grapefruit seed extract, hand sanitizer, lavender, lavender oil, Mothering, mothering magazine, NYC, Philadelphia, RAW, raw apple cider vinegar, recipe, Rosemary, Sanitizer, tee tree oil, Vera Gel, witch hazel
Windi
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Is there a substitute for lavender oil, we are chemically sensitive to that.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Is there a substitute for lavender oil, we are chemically sensitive to that.
I was curious what was the point of the aloe gel and the witch hazel in this recipe. The witch hazel has alcohol in it which is drying, unless i use the thayer face stuff – and that has a lot of its own ingredients. I could look around for better aloe gel, but the easy to find stuff has a lot of unwanted ingredients/preservatives as well.
I noticed in the comments that it is pretty “runny” stuff so I am assuming the gel doesn’t manage to thicken it much which was my original thought. Do you think water with EO and GSE would be effective enough (similar to your cleaning spray found elsewhere)? On that thought was does the vinegar do?
Thanks