The question that needs to be asked is whether these anti-bacterial products kill viruses and parasites.

I make my own natural hand sanitizer for those times when I can't get to a bathroom to wash my hands. I don't know how appropriate it would be for an elementary school, though. It's also expensive, since it uses vodka.

I take a bottle of vodka and add several drops of lavender essential oil (for the scent and the additional antiseptic properties), then put it all in a glass bottle or jar and pour a little on my hands when I want to use it. I keep a small jam jar of the stuff in my car in one of the cup holders, and I kept a bottle of the stuff in my cleaning kit when I had an eco-friendly home cleaning business.

I keep small spray bottles of GSE (GRAPEFRUIT Seed Extract) and distilled water next to all my sinks. This spray can be used to kill germs, viruses,and bacteria. It does not dry any faster that water will, since it is mixed with water, but it works wonderfully. We use it at our house for almost everything, internally and externally. Use it to clean your hands, the kitchen counter, anything where germs may be. It is a wonderful product. (Since GSE is an oil, I always shake the bottle before each use to distribute the oil thru the water.) Carry a small bottle with you on field trips, picnics, campouts, etc. Even my husband, who used to resist using anything, now asks for the GSE when he gets a sore or cut. It works wonders!

Dirty Moose makes an unscented antibacterial liquid soap, which I gave to my acupuncturist. She loves it and finds it helps, instead of irritates, her skin. I keep a small bottle of it in my purse. Check out www.thedirtymoose.com. I love their goats milk soap, as well.

I looked at the antibacterial liquid soap made by Dirty Moose and they said it contained triclosan. Wikipedia has some good information on triclosan, which definitely raised concerns with me. See the "resistance concerns" and "health concerns" on the wikipedia page on triclosan. I think the safest soap would be one you made yourself with natural or organic ingredients. Then you KNOW what you're using! Lots of good ideas and recipes are included on this page. Thanks!

I think you'll all be interested in a new product available at www.cleanwelltoday.com

It is a natural hand sanitizer that kills 99.99% of germs but is alcohol-free, non toxic, and safe for kids. The active ingredient is a patented blend of essential oils.

I work for CleanWell and I'm a mom of two little ones. I was drawn to this product and this company for many reasons - one of which is that sometimes you just can't get to a sink and yet you don't want your kids eating their snack right after the petting zoo, but you want to clean them with something healthy.

I hope you find this helpful.

I think the concept of "all-natural" is a little misleading. Alcohol is alcohol. It doesn't matter if it's bio-based or good old rubbing alcohol. The bottom line is it's flammable, toxic, has a strong/unpleasant odor and it's a desiccant that really dries out your skin.

In order to be effective, studies show it has to contain at least 60% alcohol

snip"

Occupational Health News & Analysis

Check Your Hand Sanitizer

[Posted 4/6/06] A letter published in CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal stressed the need to pay attention to the quantity of active ingredients found in products marketed as antimicrobial hand sanitizers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that alcohol-based hand sanitizers contain at least 60% (up to 95%) ethanol or isopropanol for the product to have the desired germicidal efficacy. Scott Reynolds, one of the authors of the letter and an infection control specialist at James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tennessee, found out during a classroom experiment on comparative efficacy of hospital-grade antimicrobial soap vs. alcohol-based sanitizer that some of the products on the market do not adhere to the FDA recommendations. For example, despite a label claim of reducing “germs and harmful bacteria” by 99.9%, one hand sanitizer purchased at a retail discount store contained only 40% ethanol, and his experiment showed that the product was not effective as a germicidal.

Subsequent hand washing trials conducted by the authors compared the efficacy of tap water, 40% ethanol, commercial gels with 40% ethanol, commercial gels with 62% ethanol, and 40% ethanol commercial gel supplemented to 62% ethanol. Using tap water, 40% ethanol and commercial gels with 40% ethanol to clean the hands did not decrease the number of CFUs (colony forming units) of bacteria that grew on the culture media; however, using commercial gels with 62% ethanol or 40% ethanol commercial gel supplemented to 62% ethanol decreased the number of CFU significantly.

Consumers should know that an effective alcohol hand sanitizer must contain at least 60% ethanol or isopropanol. They must be alerted to the fact that substandard products are sold in some stores, and that some Internet sites share recipes for making ineffective hand sanitizers, such as a scented children’s hand sanitizer containing only 33% isopropanol as the active ingredient.

Related Link:
Hand Sanitizer Alert from CDC "

I taught school for years without kids needing hand sanitizer. One teacher had a wonderful idea. She used a bar of soap in a plastic soap dish as a "hall pass." Our school had decided years ago to take soap out of the restroom because the kids "played with it." This parent should complain with a smile on her face....parents that come storming in are usually known by everyone as "her again" or "him again", but she should complain as probably no one has thought about the problems with hand sanitizer. It has been about time that schools got a handle on how to work with kids and parents need to be recruited to occassionally help out and places where they work need to be open to occassionally allowing a day off for this purpose (and the pay off....they will have better workers!!!!!.)

But now that I have ranted, when we go in the car with kids, we always carry bottled water, a small sliver of soap or small bottle of Dr Bronners so we can actually wash hands if no good facilities are at hand....but usually there are bathrooms and generally they have soap and water. Soap is far better than hand sanitizers of any kind.

What a wonderful website!!!!!

Paula the "Cosmetic Cop" does not agree with using organic products. She especially says that the lack of preservatives...that is... parabens etc is dangerous.

Are there any studies disputing that danger? Her claims bother me because she has done such extensive studies on skin care and makeup. I am enjoying "going green" .

Thanks Debra

I recently discovered a alcohol-free natural hand sanitizer called Clean George that relies on tea tree oil and manuka oil. I love it because it's moisturizing, rather than drying, and the fragrances come from essential oils. Obviously soap and water are always going to be the best, but if you've got to use a hand sanitizer, I'd try this one:

For My Kids All-Natural Hand Wash is featured in the July 2008 issue of The Herb Companion magazine (page 62) under the article "Our Favorite Greener Cleaners". Here's the website: www.ForMyKidsOnline.com

For My Kids All-Natural Hand Wash very simply (yet effectively) contains witch hazel extract, distilled water, organic tamanu oil, organic lavender essential oil, organic sweet orange essential oil, and organic eucalyptus essential oil.

Young Living Essential Oils has a product that is an essential oils based hand sanitizer. I find it to be effective. YL products can be purchased through distributors.

I agree that scrubbing hands with soap and water is a safe and effective way to deal with cold and flu germs. But as a
professional in the green cleaning field, some of my customers still want to use hand sanitizers. So I shopped around and spotted CleanWell Natural Hand Sanitizer.

I could not find a list of ingredients on CleanWell's website (cleanwelltoday.com). So here is a list I copied from the label (hopefully correctly). Active Ingredients: Thymus Vulgaris Oil. Inactive Ingredients: Aloe leaf juice, citric acid, orange oil, copper PCA, dicapryl sodium sulfosuccinate, hydrolyzed oats, litsea oil, oregano oil, sodium citrate, water.

Is this a complete ingredient list? And are copper PCA and dicapryl sodium sulfosuccinate natural and safe ingredients? I started looking up both on the NIH website (toxnet.nlm.nih.gov), but having a hard time finding it, or not sure what the synonyms are.

I see other bloggers already mentioned vodka, but I would like to add some thoughts.

Vodka and water (I use filtered water) in a 1:4 ratio can be used, or pure grain alcohol and water in a 1:5 ratio (recipe provided by Dr. Hulda Clark (drclark.net). I imagine these two liquors are suggested because they are odorless and colorless, but in a pinch, bring out the Jack Daniels! [lol] Bio-alcohol is naturally bacterio- and viro-static, but not fungistatic, so if you add a few drops of essential oil of thyme, oregano, citrus, tea tree or some other antifungal oil, you're set.

Following is my reasoning:

- Rubbing alcohol is toxic, therefore I don't want it on my body.

- Carrying soap around is too much trouble. Instead, I carry a small spray bottle in my purse for hand-cleaning on the go: in the car, in a restaurant, or in a public lavatory. I also keep a bottle by each the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

- There is no need for preservatives, as I use it daily. But if I were to mix a large bottle of it, I would definitely add the antifungal oil.

- I have not found it to be desiccating at all.

- Bio-alcohol evaporates readily on the skin and this ratio includes plenty of water, so I can\'t imagine any child\'s blood alcohol level increasing from a lick (that was quite the horror story!).

- It is not expensive if the user dilutes it. I do not drink alcohol at all, so just store an economically priced, industrial-size bottle of vodka in the cupboard. (Incidentally, if someone gives me a bottle of alcoholic wine, I just add it to my bathwater.)

- It is my understanding that this type of cleanser does not contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacterial development.

- Besides having more control over my health, I personally like mixing things (think: medieval witchdoctor) and avoiding excess packaging as much as possible, so this appeals more to me than any product I could buy.

I use Young Living Essential Oils Thieves hand sanitizer, which is described as "all natural". Following are the ingredients (Debra could say if any of these are bad):

Denatured ethanol SD-38B (denatured with Peppermint Essential Oil), water, aloe barbadensis leaf, vegetable glycerin, syzygium aromaticum (clove) flower bud oil, citrus limon (lemon) peel oil, cinnamon verum† (cinnamon) bark oil, eucalyptus radiate leaf oil, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil, and hydroxylpropyl cellulose.

Also, Janices makes a hand sanitizer, which contains no color or fragrance:

Water, SDA 40B Alchohol, IPA, glycerin, propylene glycol, carbopol, triethanolamine

Some of those ingredients may be chemicals but Janices is a company selling products for the chemically sensitive and I have not had a problem tolerating her hand sanitizer (I am chemically sensitive).

I agree soap and water are best but sometimes one is in a situation where soap and water is not available or convenient.

Also, I replaced my rubbing alcohol at home with Everclear for when I need alcohol for disinfection purposes.

As a natural and organic cosmetics and body care retailer, I was very interested in the biodynamic grape alcohol hand sanitizer. I contacted Benedetta about their products and had some concerns. They said they can send me wholesale info but not a full list of ingredients for their products. They were also concerned with me listing the full ingredients for any products on my web store, which is store policy for me. I am not suggesting this means there are un-natural ingredients in their products, but typically not listing full ingredients is a red flag.

I was reading about hand washing. I'm a social worker who is changing careers into Nursing and will complete at U of M Ann Arbor next year.

I just wanted to say that many students completed handwashing lab experiments in Microbiology. Handwashing with soap and water with the recommended technique vs. use of ethanol based hand sanitizer.

There is really no need for any debate on this issue as the results were consistent and the evidence was overwhelming. Handwashing does very very very little to rid the hands of bacterial contamination. 70% ethanol based hand sanitizers kill all....let me be perfectly clear on this...ALL of bacterial contamination.

Regular 70% ethanol is cheap and effective. I use Isopropryl alcohol in a spray bottle to spray sprouts and spinich before eating them due to contamination and food borne illness. I also use it to clean utensils and to spray to clean everything in my house. For my test, I performed air quality. I did use garlic oil that I cold pressed which showed no bacterial growth on the agar, compared to the other agar that was left out without cold pressed garlic.

The Microbiology instructor comented however, that my house was obviously very clean....also, for the record, ethanol and isopropryl alcohol are "natural" products. Actually, alcohol is a biproduct from micro-organisms themselves! To kill other micro-organisms and it works excellent! Nothing can replace it....you can handwash all you want and it is next to useless!!! USELESS! You can purchase 10 TSA agar and test this for yourself....the cost is usually $15.00 for 10 plates. Wash your heart out and lay your finger on the agar gently and cover the agar up, incubate overnight at 37 degrees C. Perform the same test after washing with isopropryl 70% and then ethanol-70%. You won't touch another dirty faucet that is for sure!!!

Also, despite use of these products several times per day, I don't have any problems with my skin.

lemon essential oil is a great, natural hand sanitizer. I keep lemon oil and water in a spray bottle and put lemon oil on my hands before I go shopping or out in public. It is also great to put in water. I recommend organic and hopefully wild-crafted oils as they are more pure and stronger.

The ethanol that is used in hand sanitizers is usually made from corn. Those of us with corn allergies can not tolerate it, even when it's used by someone else in our vicinity. The fumes from those hand sanitizers cause me to have serious allergic reactions, and triggers my asthma.

I'd like to make my own hand sanitizer. I was thinking about vodka or cane alcohol but sine I'd also like to use it to clean my baby's hand I changed my mind. I have some organic essential oils, so I thought of mixing them with distilled water. Will that also work even if I don't use alcohol? And how much EOs and water should I use?

Thanks!

Thanks Debra! by the way, does your book have recipes for it? I've read another study about EOs that also showed them to be very effective but I wonder about quantities. I know there are a lot of recipes in the web but many of those are not accurate. For instance, in many webpages there are recipes with alcohol but not even 60% of it, so they won't work. Just a few drops will be good enough? or should it be 1:1?

Hand Sanitizers

I have MCS. I personally dislike hand sanitizers more than I can express. We frequently ride with others especially to have dinner. In more instances than I care to count the person we are riding with whips out a small bottle of sanitizer from some obscure place and rubs it on their hands before I have time to realize what is happening. Of course the alcohol and the fragrances really increase the burning mouth and I get quite nauseous at times. I immediately open a window, no matter what the weather, but am rarely asked why I am doing so. So now, before riding with others I ask if they uses a hand sanitizer. If the answer is yes we just take our own car. On many occasions we just opt for our own vehicle anyway. In many many public places I have made sick by the use of hand sanitizers and had to leave. This is a plea for people to realize that those of us who have MCS would appreciate being asked if hand sanitizers bother us. I know there are germs out there but the use of soap and water really is a very good alternative. If one feels the necessity to use a hand sanitizer perhaps going to the restroom to use it would be acceptable to them. I'm not intending to be critical, but trying to make clear a real problem that affects many MCS sufferers. Thank you for listening.

I think the reason teachers ask for hand sanitizers is that they don't have time to send all the kids to the bathroom to wash their hands before lunch. My childrens' elementary school uses hand sanitizers such as Germ-X and the teachers have the kids line up and use the sanitizer on their way to lunch.

My oldest started middle school this year, and started getting strep frequently. I asked her if she used Germ-X before lunch and she said often the students didn't because they forgot or they "ran out of time". I asked the teacher to start making sure the students used Germ-X and she did, and my daughter quit getting sick.

Although I am a firm believer in soap and water, I am afraid I am stuck with my child having to use hand sanitizer at school. Reading over these posts, I don't find any natural options that are proven to kill germs and also believed to be completely safe. CleanWell was the only one whose effectiveness rate was listed, and Debra had concerns about the copper. Avoiding chemicals would be great, but I don't want that to make my child vulnerable to repeated strep infections again.

Fran,

Our All-Natural Hand wash is currently undergoing official lab tests, but the preliminary results show that it does just as well as the chemical disinfectants. As far as being completely safe, we use witch hazel extract and essential oils. Additionally, you can always make your own hand sanitizer fairly easily.

Thanks, I hope you post here when the testing is finished.

How about Clean Well soaps & sprays...I tried a sample through Healthy CHild Healthy World? I have purchased them at Target since.

CleanWell's website does say it is "lab-proven" to kill 99.9% of germs.

@ MICHELLE:

Maybe things are different in ontario, but that jam container of vodka in your car cupholder to get you into some real trouble in the U.S. under the open container laws. I don't think an "I use it for hand sanitizer" defense would be effective, either.

alcohol is alcohol whether its green or not its not even by far organic and besides even natural oils dont do the job as well as ethynol alcohol which is still equivelant. the ethanol alcohol strips down the membrane of the cell/bacteeria and deterierates the bacteria on contact.!

Hi! I just found a "hand sanitizer" (the company does not want to officially call it that for legal resons) at www.naturesgift.com. I'm an acupuncturist, and use their essential oils in my practice, and saw the info on one of their newsletters. I haven't bought any, because I'm trying to make it myself, but I have good experiences with the company overall.

Frugal Mom asked about using essential oils to disinfect her baby's hands. I just wanted to comment that not all essential oils should be used on babies. Tea tree and lavender are the safest.

Fran,

I don't have the official lab report in my hot little hand just yet, but the word from France (that's where the company that will be distributing our All-Natural Hand Wash is) is that "Basically, your product is as efficient as an alcohol gel regarding its activity on bacteria and fungi." It passed the tough European Standards for anti-bacterials and anti-fungals. Go essential oils! :-)