Essential Oil Hand Sanitizer Recipe
This is an amazing recipe that goes on smoothly, but dries quickly. Of course, it also does its job in killing germs (including viruses). You can pour this directly on your hands and rub together, or you can spray on a cloth and wipe hands or other surfaces. This works great for wiping tables at restaurants, or cleaning off a shopping cart before putting your child in the seat.
I suggest getting an empty essential oil bottle and mixing the blend so it is ready to use later when you run out of hand sanitizer.
The recipe is made of
- 4 oz vodka
- 1 tsp vegetable glycerine
- 2 drops grapefruit seed extract
- 50-60 drops anti-infectious essential oil blend
The anti-infectious essential oil blend can be made of the following:
1 part +Lavender (anti fungal, anti viral, anti bacterial, antiseptic) AND 1 part *Tea Tree (anti fungal, anti viral, anti bacterial, antiseptic)
PLUS any one or two of the following:
**Lemon Tea Tree (anti fungal, anti viral, anti bacterial, antiseptic)
***Lemon Eucalyptus (anti fungal, anti viral, anti bacterial, antiseptic)
**Thyme (linalool type) (anti microbial, anti infectious, antifungal)
*Geranium (anti viral, anti microbial)
*Ravensara (anti infectious, antiseptic, anti viral, antibacterial)
+Safe for babies 3+ months
*Safe for babies 6+ months
**Safe for children 2+ years
***Safe for children 10+ years
Mix the oils with the vodka & glycerine well in a glass spray bottle. You can also add some aloe vera to this blend. If you aren't concerned about it drying well, you can substitute witch hazel instead of the vodka. This recipe would work better if you are using it to spray on a wipe.
All of the essential oils listed above can be purchased from Eden's Garden. If you are not familiar with essential oils, a small bottle will go a long way. One thing I love about Eden's Garden (aside from their super low prices and great quality) is that you can buy different size bottles of each oil. So if you want to make a big batch, you can order larger bottles, or if you want to just try it out, you can order smaller bottles.
If you are wondering at all about the "feel" of this solution, let me try to explain. It is not oily, OR drying. It goes a long way, but dries quickly. We generally squirt some on the wipe, and wipe hands. I have a little wet bag made out of PUL that I use to hold the used wipes. One day we went to 3-4 different stores, wiping our hands after each visit. At the end of the day, our hands were not dry at all. The solution is slippery enough to clean hands, but doesn't leave a residue behind. My 3 and 4 year olds loved it! We used it before we ate/after they played, on the table, on shopping carts...anywhere that germs could be hanging out that they might come into contact with. It is definitely the solution for us, since I have two young children who will touch EVERYTHING in the bathroom if we try to wash our hands there.