Two-Ingredient All Natural Gel DIY Hand Sanitizer Recipe (2024)

Pop by the liquor store, and then come back to learn how to make your own DIY hand sanitizer recipe with just two ingredients right at home!

Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. I’m just a mom trying to share a solution I’ve found to a common concern. When it comes to health, please always do your own research from trusted sources like CDC.gov and WHO.int!

For the third day of CRAFTWEEK, I’m combining creativity and practicality to show you how to make a common item that’s suddenly become very hard to find. Today’s CRAFTWEEK giveaway is sponsored by Cricut. Pop over to my Instagram to enter to win!

If you’ve been on the internet or out of your house in the last week, you know everybody’s out there prepping for quarantine.

Oddly, I think the most common thing flying off the shelves at my local stores is toilet paper. I have to say that, while wiping wouldn’t be my first priority in a crisis, I guess it would be nice to have…

But cleaning products and hand sanitizer have already completely gone missing from my local stores, too. I’ve asked at three different stores, only to be told that all the hand sanitizer was bought up days ago.

Honestly, my household isn’t getting too concerned about the virus yet. We’re practicing social distancing and keeping a close eye on any new developments.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to give my toddler a very thorough refresher on proper handwashing technique. In fact, I’ve realized most of the adults I know could use a reminder, too, since soap and water should always be the first choice for germ-busting and hand-cleaning!

And when we’re out and about running errands, I’ll give us both a quick squeeze of hand sanitizer to tide us over until we get to a proper bathroom.

I’m going to repeat this one more time for the people in the back: I AM NOT A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL. I AM NOT GIVING MEDICAL ADVICE! What I’m doing is providing a mathematically accurate, research-backed, and cited recipe for homemade hand sanitizer.

How to Wash Your Hands Properly: Use Soap

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that washing hands with soap and water is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from getting sick in most situations. Soap and water are more effective than hand sanitizer because sanitizers don’t work against all types of germs, and they don’t work as well if your hands are visibly dirty.

They recommend washing hands:

• Before, during, and after preparing food and before eating
• Before and after caring for somebody who’s sick
• After using the toilet, changing a diaper, or helping a little one use the toilet
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing*
• After touching garbage
• After handling animals, their waste, or their food or treats

*But please, please, remember to cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue instead of hands!!!

Now that you know the occasions when you should be scrubbing up, here’s how the CDC advises you wash your hands:

1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Singing “happy birthday” twice takes around 20 seconds!
4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

Source: CDC.gov “Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives”

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How to Use Hand Sanitizer

But let’s say you’re out and about, and you don’t have access to soap and running water. Obviously hand sanitizer is a better options than just dusting your hands on your pants — or on mom’s shirt, as is the case with every toddler ever.

The CDC does acknowledge that hand sanitizer can quickly reduce the number of certain types of germs on hands and that if soap and water aren’t available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to get by.

They do emphasize that the hand sanitizer should contain at least 60% alcohol, so that means none of the alcohol-free formulations we love for our kids.

If you’re using hand sanitizer, make sure to do it right:

1. Apply hand sanitizer to the palm of one hand.
2. Rub your hands together to distribute the sanitizer.
3. Rub sanitizer over every part of your hands, including backs of hands and between fingers.
4. Continue until hands are dry, or approximately 20 seconds. Singing “happy birthday” twice takes around 20 seconds!

Source: CDC.gov “Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives”

Does Hand Sanitizer Work Against Viruses?

There isn’t a vaccine yet for the virus that has us all terrified, but the CDC recommends frequent hand-washing with soap and water as a preventive measure. They say to use a hand sanitizer with at least60% alcohol if you can’t get to soap and water. However, if your hands are visibly dirty, you need to find soap and water!

Source: CDC.gov “Disease 2019 Prevention and Treatment”

Dr. David Agus points out that while hand sanitizer doesn’t kill all germs, it is effective against this specific enveloped virus because the alcohol in the sanitizer destroys the shell, or “envelope glycoprotein” around the virus, which causes the virus to die quickly.

Ingredients for DIY Sanitizer Gel

Is all the hand sanitizer sold out where you live, too? Don’t worry — you can make your own!

There are probably hundreds of different homemade hand sanitizer recipes on the internet. And depending on what you’re looking for from your sanitizer, a lot of them may be fantastic. But if you’re looking for something that will kill as much of the really yucky stuff as possible, don’t bother with the alcohol-free formulas.

Remember that the key ingredient is always going to alcohol for really effective DIY hand sanitizer!

The World Health Organization has a couple recipes that they recommend. The first one uses ethanol alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and glycerin. The second one combines 99.8% isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and glycerin. It yields a 75%-alcohol solution, which is well above the CDC recommendation of 60%. However, since both of these formulas are liquid and also seem like they would have a very drying effect on the skin, I went with another recipe.

Source: WHO-Recommended Handrub Formulations

Here’s what I’m using for my liquor store hand sanitizer recipe:

I wanted a less-liquidy hand sanitizer so that my toddler isn’t splashing it everywhere before it has a chance to kill anything when I put it on her hands. Plus, my skin gets super dry this time of year.

I checked a few nearby stores for isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol), and they were out of that already, too. Apparently we’re buying up every single thing that will kill germs. Okay, I can work around that…

So I hit up the liquor store and picked up a bottle of 151 proof Everclear grain alcohol. Everclear – besides being the secret ingredient in every frat party trash can full of punch – is ethanol alcohol. Depending on where you live, Everclear is also sold in 120 proof, 189 proof, and 190 proof. The only one that won’t work for hand sanitizer is 120 proof because it doesn’t have enough alcohol.

Which type of Everclear is better?

Use the highest proof (alcohol content) you can get. Some states don’t allow the sale of the higher proof versions, so I had to get the 151. With a higher proof/alcohol percentage, you can add more aloe without diluting the alcohol too much, so you’ll have more of a gel consistency and more moisturizing qualities in your end product.

The only other ingredient you need is 100% aloe vera gel, which is typically found with sunscreen and other sun-care products.

The alcohol serves the germ-killing purpose, and aloe vera gel will help thicken the mixture up just a bit and adds a touch of moisturizing property to the formula.

How to Make All Natural DIY Hand Sanitizer

Ingredients

If you want to make an exact World Health Organization formulation, again, you can find their recipes here. Everclear is ethanol alcohol, which is the same active ingredient called for by the WHO. Please note that this post contains a few affiliate links, from which I can make a commission if you make a purchase. There’s no additional cost to you!

For 151 proof Everclear (Final solution: 62.9% alcohol/more liquidy)

• 10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) 151 proof Everclear Grain Alcohol
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) 100% aloe vera gel

For 189 and 190 proof Everclear (Final solution: 63.3% alcohol/less liquidy)

• 8 ounces (1 cup) 189 or 190 proof Everclear Grain Alcohol
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) 100% aloe vera gel

For 120 proof Everclear: Do not use!

Update: I’ve had questions about concentration for isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol).

For 70% isopropyl alcohol: Do not use!

For 91% isopropyl alcohol/rubbing alcohol (final solution: 65.0% alcohol)

• 10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) 91% rubbing alcohol
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) 100% aloe vera gel

For 99%+ isopropyl alcohol/rubbing alcohol (final solution: 66.0% alcohol)

• 8 ounces (1 cup) 99% rubbing alcohol
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) 100% aloe vera gel

Instructions

1. Pour 8 ounces of Everclear into a jar.

2. Add the specified amount of 100% aloe vera gel, depending on the alcohol percentage of your Everclear. Check the ingredients above if you’re not sure!

Note: Don’t add too much aloe vera gel, or you could dilute the alcohol too much, weakening it’s germ-fighting potential.

3. Screw the lid tightly on the jar, and shake like crazy. Remember those bizarre shake weights that were sold on late-night infomercials? Channel those people while you’re shaking up your all natural hand sanitizer recipe…

4. Pour into smaller containers. I’m not a fan of plastic, but for something you’ll want to throw in your purse or diaper bag, it’s a better option than glass. The mini plastic shampoo bottles in the travel section of stores like Target are perfect for this. Keep one in the car, your purse, your diaper bag, on your desk at work – you get the idea!

5. LABEL YOUR CONTAINERS! This is not negotiable, you guys. We want to keep everybody safe, so it’s important that this doesn’t accidentally turn into somebody’s breakfast drink!

If you have a Cricut or other cutting machine, you can cut out cute little “sanitizer” labels from peel-and-stick vinyl. Here’s a free file you can use!

Printable Instructions

Now that you’re on your way to sucking all the moisture out of your poor skin, you’re probably going to want to exfoliate, moisturize, and relax. Here are some other posts you might like:

• Matcha Green Tea Sugar Scrub Cubes
• DIY Mint Chocolate Sugar Scrub
• Recipe for Pink Himalayan Salt Bath Bombs
• Vanilla Coffee Soap Recipe
• All Natural Turmeric Bath Bomb Recipe Without Citric Acid
• Fresh Lime Coconut Soap Recipe