![\"DIY](\"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/sanitizer.png\" "\\"DIY")
As people will no doubt have found out, those members of our society who don\u2019t wash their hands even after they\u2019ve had a shit have been resolutely buying crates of hand sanitizer and thus preventing those of us for whom it might have some benefit getting any of it. In some cases, they\u2019re selling it on eBay for stupid prices.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually quite easy to make your own. For hand sanitizer to sanitize, it needs to contain at least 60% alcohol. Vodka has been touted across the internet as a suitable makeshift option, but normal vodka is only about 40% alcohol, and it simply doesn\u2019t work. You can<\/strong> get some spirits which are 96% alcohol (which people have died from by drinking it neat), but anyone who is stupid enough to pay how much they cost in the first place puts themselves on this year\u2019s list of Darwin Awards candidates immediately. It would be cheaper to pay the extortionate prices for a faeces-covered rip-off on eBay, being sold by \u2018stevethetwat99\u2019 in Manchester (made up name, by the way).<\/p>\n You can use ethanol or isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as your sanitizer base. IPA is often also called \u2018rubbing alcohol\u2019, though the great unwashed appear to have latched on to it and have cleared out most stocks of that.<\/p>\n I use ethanol \u2013 to be specific, bioethanol \u2013 which is used as a fuel for stoves and such. I always have a supply because it\u2019s what I use in my homemade screen wash as the antifreeze element.<\/p>\n You need the following:<\/p>\n I used a 250ml plastic bottle with a flip-top lid intended for hand creams (don\u2019t ask why I have any of these in the first place).<\/p>\n Calibrate the bottle first. Pour in exactly 175mls (or grammes) of water. Mark the level with a felt-tip pen. Now add another 75mls (or 75 grammes) of water and mark that level, too. Empty the water away and shake any drips out.<\/p>\n Now you can make the sanitizer. Fill the bottle to the first mark with your alcohol. Then fill it to the second mark with Aloe Vera Gel. Add a few drops of the two oils (up to 10-15 of each, though neither is essential, and you can use anything you like the smell of as long as it\u2019s only a few drops), then screw on the lid and shake well. It takes a while for the gel to disperse, but once it has your sanitizer is ready to use. This version contains 70% by volume of alcohol.<\/p>\n Be careful if you buy \u2018rubbing alcohol\u2019 as it is often already diluted to 70% and adding anything else will stop it sanitizing properly. It\u2019s best to buy neat IPA, which is usually freely available as a cleaner.<\/p>\n \n