Friday, March 25, 2011

Alcoholic Hands: A New Plan For Hand Sanitation

I have quite a relationship with hand sanitizer.  As a total germaphobe I love to slather it on as soon as we get to the car (or sooner if we are eating before being able to wash our hands).  I do of course prefer washing with soap and water, but hand sanitizer makes the ride home less stressful for me.  When I was teaching kindergarten, I put it on all of the time.  At that point I was using the Purell-type sanitizer.  When I switched over to natural products and realized that the kids lick the sanitizer off their hands and supposedly get drunk, I started using Cleanwell.  It is made with thyme oil and is supposed to kill germs while being non-toxic.  I just recently ran out of my stockpile of it so I started looking at other options in case I was missing anything.  Some sites claim that Cleanwell doesn't work as well as it could and other sites say that the kids can't get drunk off the licking alcohol.  Alcohol based sanitizers are the best type for germ control, but they have all that other stuff besides the 60-70 percent alcohol.  Some people make their own with aloe vera gel, alcohol and essential oils, but the aloe vera sounds expensive and Essential oils on skin over and over can sometimes cause unintended problems.  Quentin is less likely to eat his hands these days and seems to understand that soap is for washing instead of drinking, so I have a new idea for sanitizer.  When the Cleanwell spray bottle runs out next week, I am going to replace it with a tiny bit of 60%-120 proof (or more) grain alcohol.  I don't want to fill it completely in case someone gets into it.  Any alcoholics out there know where the cheapest, most disgusting tasting, strongest grain alcohol in Red Bluff is?  I can see the cashier now, "Suuuuure, you are going to make 'hand sanitizer' out of it...hey, aren't you the chick that always buys the petroleum in bulk?  You're disgusting. Even for Red Bluff."

UPDATE: After fruitless hours perusing the liquor section in several stores, I was informed that 120 proof is not sold in California.  I guess I will have to drive to Nevada to make my own sanitizer.  The cost per use is going way up.

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