Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the USA have been hoarding antibacterial soap and disinfectant hand gel on a large scale .
Supermarkets such as Jumbo and Picnic have strict limits on the number of orders for soap and disinfectants. Customers can put a maximum of one or two pieces in their online shopping cart. At Etos disinfectant hand gel itself is completely sold out.
It is not surprising that people stock up on soap and promotional hand sanitizer. Washing your hands thoroughly regularly is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Ordinary soap without alcohol is in principle sufficient if you soap your hands for at least 20 seconds. “You use hand alcohol or alcohol gel when there is no hand-washing facility and your hands are not visible or not tangibly dirty.
Professor of Food Microbiology, agrees. “If you really want to do it right, you should wash your hands with soap and water before using the disinfectant hand gel. Otherwise it does not work, then gives you only dirt away with it
Still, some people swear by disinfectant hand gel. The bottles and pumps fly out of the shelves.
Fortunately, it is easy to make your own disinfectant hand gel. You only need two ingredients for this :
- 96% alcohol
- aloe vera gel
In a clean bowl, mix two parts of alcohol on one part of aloe vera gel. Optionally, add a few drops of essential oil, such as lavender, orange, or peppermint. This creates a fresh scent. Then put the mixture in a (pump) bottle.
It is important not to use too low an alcohol concentration, otherwise the hand gel will not disinfect. A too high concentration is also not good, because that can irritate the skin. In short: if you want to err on the side of caution, try to score a bottle in the store. That has been extensively tested.