An Alberta Chemical Engineer Is Sharing A DIY Hand Sanitizer Recipe After Stores Sold Out
The coronavirus panic is real. As people all over the country are emptying out their local grocery stores in fear of a pandemic, a Reddit user in Alberta has shared a neat little recipe for homemade hand sanitizer. As it turns out, you only need two ingredients to keep your hands bacteria-free, as per this DIY hand sanitizer recipe.
Reddit user shsh_gaurav says they are a chemical engineer with a background "in petrochemicals, oil and gas, and specialty chemicals." Today, they took the time to share a little DIY magic with the online community.
This engineer posted a super-easy recipe for making your own hand sanitizer at home after claiming that "most Costcos and Walmarts ran out of hand sanitizers and tissue papers yesterday."
Indeed, Narcity spoke to Costco, and they've informed us that they've sold out of hand sanitizer all over the province except for locations in Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie.
Customers have been placed on an order list as the stores restock their shelves.
We are already seeing stores getting cleaned out by panicked Albertans. Toilet paper, water, and hand sanitizer seem to be items in high demand.
Thanks to this Redditor, we won't have to be disappointed by empty shelves in the pharmacy anymore. With the help of two ingredients, we can make our own Pinterest-perfect hand sanitizer.
According to the post, we need two things only: isopropyl alcohol and aloe vera gel. Mixing up two parts isopropyl alcohol with one part aloe vera gel will result in this homemade solution that's no different than your name brand hand sanitizer.
According to an article by USA Today on the same recipe, Chemistry expert Anne Marie Helmenstine confirms that it's totally okay to make DIY hand sanitizers with two parts rubbing alcohol and one part aloe vera gel.
Her recipe is corroborated by a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, Dr. David Agus, who says that as long as the sanitizer has close to 70% alcohol content, it should be as effective as name-brand sanitizer.
The isopropyl alcohol shouldn't be too difficult to find, it's just a fancy way of calling rubbing alcohol, most drug stores should have it, and there's a boat-load of it on Amazon.
And you can find aloe vera gel at tons of retailers, both online and in-store. Walmart, Amazon, Shoppers have aloe vera gel listed on their websites.
Aloe vera has lots of health benefits in addition to being part of this DIY duo.
According to Medical News Today, aloe vera helps to heal burns, improve skin health, reduce wrinkles, and even lower blood sugar levels.
In addition to sharing their recipe, this Reddit engineer goes on to tell us that we should wash our hands for as long as it takes to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice.
The World Health Organization advises the public on how they can cope with the outbreak, especially if it spreads in our own country.
Washing our hands is the first point of advice on their list, followed by maintaining social distance, and avoiding touching our eyes, nose, and mouth.
Canada has reported 33 cases of COVID-19 so far, with twenty in Ontario, twelve in B.C., and one in Quebec.
Hand sanitizer is flying off the shelves, so we may need to start making our own.