DIY Life

It's flu season. In addition to the usual viruses swirling about, this year we have to contend with the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus, too. Are you using hand sanitizer and regular hand washing to keep viruses at bay? Hand hygiene is a key way to avoid getting sick from the flu – and from the common cold, for that matter.

Making your own hand sanitizer is really easy. Want to give it a try? Well ... then first let me clarify the part about it being really easy!

Okay, on the one hand homemade hand sanitizer is easy to make, requiring just two or three ingredients: an alcohol, a gel to achieve that goopy consistency, and an optional fragrance (usually an essential oil or fragrance oil).

On the other hand, the resulting concoction must consist of 60-95% alcohol to effectively kill viruses. That warning is the official word of the FDA, which recommends either ethanol or isopropyl-based mixes.

If the alcohol content is lower than 60%, you'll have made yourself a nice hand cleanser, not a sanitizer. For example, this alcohol-free recipe posted at Pepper Paints includes witch hazel, apple cider vinegar, grapeseed oil and tee tree oil. Mmm. Sounds deliciously fragrant and refreshing. It won't kill germs though.

So, let's look at the alcohol-based options for DIY sanitizer:

A good basic formulation is this one from About's Frugal Living. Things to like: it contains easy-to-obtain aloe vera gel and isopropyl alcohol. Also, it suggests a high alcohol-content isopropyl, which means the finished product is going to sanitize skin effectively.

This Life Hacker recipe sticks with the aloe gel, too. On the other hand, it opts for grain alcohol and I'll admit I'm still unclear on how grain alcohol stacks up against ethanol and isopropyl alcohols in terms of germ destruction powers. Same goes for vodka-based sanitizer.

Bottom line: do your calculations first. Any alcohol works, just so long as your finished solution contains at least 60% alcohol.

This Wiki How post uses aloe vera gel, but mixes in a little vegetable glycerin as well, along with tea tree oil to make it smell lovely.

As for other ideas ... hair gel sanitizer? Yes, according to an eHow post. Mmm, sanitize your hands while you fix your hair, perhaps? But wouldn't it leave your hands feeling sticky?

Meanwhile, another eHow recipe suggests going green, adding organic aloe vera gel to the mixture. This one recommends grain alcohol, too, which I guess is certainly a less processed product than ethanol or isopropyl.

Don't forget you can go with any fragrance you like for DIY sanitizer. It doesn't have to include tea tree oil! For example, this one calls for cinnamon fragrance oil. Yum.

Finally, to really guard against diseases it's important to use hand sanitizer properly: rub it into the skin as if you were washing your hands with soap and water. This gets the product into every crevice of the skin and around the fingernails, while the rubbing action helps destroy germs, too.

Have a healthy day!